Local execs promote economic nationalism

Local government executives have realized that the promotion of economic nationalism should start at the grassroots level, with local government units as the basic unit of government.

This is the agreement reached by the workshop group on local governance and nationalism during the forum organized by the Fair Trade Alliance.

"The role of local government in promoting economic natio-nalism should be emphasized to unite the local populace behind a nationalist development agenda," said Rep. Franklin Lozada, Jr., one of the resource persons of the forum.

The group agreed on the following roles of local government units, local chief executives in particular, in promoting economic nationalism:

1. Promote entrepreneurship programs by implementing livelihood projects.

2. Promote exports by introducing training, product development and market access.

3. Streamline business per-mits and licenses

4. Strengthen Local Development Councils by proper representation of concerned sectors

5. Provide fiscal and non-fiscal incentives

6. Implement the automatic release of LGUs internal revenue allotment

"Every act of a local chief executive should be accompa-nied with his political will. If political will not prevail, the people’s will should influence the implementation of these reforms," added Lozada.

To uphold economic nationalism, a bold measure to suspend membership to the World Trade Organization for 15 years was recommended. To be effective, it is proposed that the 15-year period should be broken down in three stages.

The first five years should be devoted to restructuring industries to equip them for foreign competition. In the second five years, Philippines should start extensive selling promotion and market access campaigns. Finally, the last five years should see the implementation of product development programs to help assure the strong presence of Philippine products in identified markets. – Philexport News and Features