When will our ‘economic growth’ become social progress?

What does it profit our Philippine economy if it grows fast but loses its soul in terms of shortcomings in inclusiveness and social progress, with lots of unresolved challenges like one of ASEAN’s highest unemployment rates, massive poverty, lack of basic social services, ecological dangers, and breakdowns in peace and order?

Can the concept of “social enterprises” by some cooperatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or idealistic entrepreneurs be one way to help fill in this gap to help rectify social problems? How can social enterprises be more competitive and viable?

These were some of the topics at a recent small breakfast with social enterprise (SE) advocates Roberto Calingo of the Peace and Equity Foundation, former top banker Joey Bermudez, former Goldman Sachs executive Gretchen Phillips, and Dr. Marie Lisa Dacanay of the Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia. Pacita Juan of Echostore and journalist Tina Arceo Dumlao invited me to join this breakfast meeting.

These social enterprise advocates are inviting the public to join two major conferences, the 3rd Social Enterprise Conference from Nov. 26 to 28 at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ortigas Center, Quezon City (youth and students can get free entrance, as per www.socialenterprise.ph); and the First Social Enterprise Advocacy and Leveraging Conference in Asia (SEAL-Asia) from Nov. 25 to 27 at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City.

When will our fast economic growth boost the growth of micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises? How do we address challenges such as the stark contrast between numerous new high-end residential enclaves and condominiums vis-à-vis the burgeoning urban poor colonies in our cities? How do we reconcile the record-high upswings of our stock market in recent years, while ordinary folks struggle with the affordability of food in the local wet market?

Here are some of my suggestions to hopefully transform the Philippines from just a political democracy into a more comprehensive economic and social democracy:

1. Boost government spending in basic social services. Invest more in infrastructure (decisively upgrade and expand public transport facilities like the MRT and LRT) and telecommunications (why is it we supposedly have the most expensive yet slowest Internet services in ASEAN?), public schools, and medical care, which will reduce poverty, support SMEs and offer more opportunities. Education is the great equalizer. Let us pour more resources into public education and improve its quality. Let us legally require that all children go to school and support them, instead of our situation now of so many streetkids all over our cities selling sampaguita garlands or begging for alms day and night.

2. Pass an anti-trust law. Why is it that our legislators still cannot pass an anti-trust law to ban and forcibly break up monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies in many segments of the Philippine economy? Monopolistic or oligopolistic situations are inefficiencies that drain our economy of dynamism, oppress the mass consumers with higher prices and lousy quality or services, and these conditions ultimately have a negative impact on the monopolistic or oligopolistic firms themselves. Look at “Communist” China. The state there broke up the casino monopoly when they took over Macau from the Portuguese colonizers and the central government also cracks down on erring firms, whether led by local tycoons or huge multinationals.

3. Enact a social enterprise promotion law. I suggest that our senators and congressmen pass a law promoting the concept of social enterprise, and give them incentives or support so they can become dynamic players in our Philippine economy. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel; I suggest that our legislators Google or fly to South Korea or Singapore to  learn from them. South Korea has a progressive capitalist economy and a “Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency.” Singapore also has an impact investment platform.

4. Independent foreign policy should focus on strategic economic benefits. Instead of becoming unnecessarily enmeshed in superpower rivalries, why not build up and forge a truly independent Philippine foreign policy that is not subservient or too tied up with any superpower, but let more countries court us in the furtherance of the Philippines’ strategic and economic interests? For this topic, I recommend that our leaders read and assess the analyses in the Nov. 11 Huffington Post column of Ateneo de Manila University professor Richard Heydarian entitled “After Aquino: Time for ‘Effective Governance’ in the Philippines.”

5. Promote factories. Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs) and call centers are good for our economy, but I believe we still need to boost our faltering manufacturing sector with factories, which alleviate much unemployment and poverty by hiring poorer and less-educated people. Let us also compete with Malaysia, Indonesia and even Cambodia for more foreign direct investments in factories, not just woo so-called “hot money” inflows into our stock market with no long-term commitment to job creation and our economic needs. A great opportunity is the rising labor and manufacturing costs in China; the government there is always increasing labor wages and effectively pushing their formerly labor-intensive export factories out of its coastal regions to their hinterlands or Southeast Asia.

6. Promote agriculture. Outside of tourism and manufacturing, another sector of the our economy that badly needs coherent national government initiatives and strong political will is agriculture. Is it true that President Noynoy Aquino has two de facto agriculture secretaries in the persons of his former congressional seatmate, Secretary Proceso Alcala, and his new appointee, former Senator Kiko Pangilinan? Why not only one clear leader in this very crucial sector? Why not more political will and bold, fresh ideas to help millions of farmers and their dependents rise from the age-old bondage of rural poverty? Why don’t we learn from our neighbors Taiwan, Thailand, China and Vietnam, where agriculture and the welfare of farmers are top national priorities? Rice smuggling and low production, the high prices of garlic — these are just symptoms of a malaise plaguing our agriculture sector, ironically in a country with rich agricultural resources!

7. Exert good governance over political bickering. I beseech our leaders to moderate — if not cease — the bitter political squabbling in our Senate, Congress, and other agencies in government. Maybe P-Noy and others can put their foot down once in a while to promote harmony and more work among our politicos?

Let us encourage more hard work, efficiency, and higher productivity in government and the bureaucracy, instead of our so-called “leaders” and “public servants” spending so much time, wasting our taxpayers’ money and distracting the whole nation with their telenovela-like dramatics and vicious political wars way ahead of the election season!

Make no mistake, I support all good efforts to expose and try and change the culture of corruption in our Philippine politics, endemic since the pre-colonial era of the oligarchic datus and worsened by the Spanish colonizers. It’s okay to have political debates, but why don’t our leaders also focus on less headline-grabbing topics like the economy and our socio-economic needs?

While we conduct anti-corruption exposés and fiery democratic debates, let us not forget the urgency of our society’s socio-economic, technological, industrial, agricultural, research and development needs so that we can have fast as well as sustained and inclusive economic development.

Instead of waiting for “trickle down” economics, let us be proactive and visionary; let us push systemic and sweeping reforms to translate “high economic growth” to real social progress!

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