Missed opportunities

Andoni Aboitiz dropped by the other afternoon. He is in charge of the Cebu operations of the Aboitiz conglomerate which includes a sprawling shipyard in Balamban, Cebu. He invited me to visit it sometime ago. That Japanese shipyard built in partnership with Aboitiz took such a long time to be.

I’m very eager to see the BRP Jose Rizal, the frigate that was recently built in South Korea expressly for the Philippine Navy. The frigate is armed with missiles. We could have built it ourselves, and we need at least a hundred of these to patrol our long shoreline and protect our sovereignty. We do not need battleships or aircraft carriers, and this frigate which has cost us so much is something we could have built ourselves – a hundred of them – if our leaders had the vision and the will to set up a maritime industry. Way back in the early 1950s, as a staff member of the old Manila Times, I went on patrol on our navy boats; all the way to Sabtang in the Batanes and to Kaohsiung, the southern tip of Taiwan.

With Commander Ramon Alcaraz and Captain Charlie Albert, we journeyed south to the Tawi-Tawi islands, Setangkai, Simumul, then to the Turtle Islands, and then to Sandakan in Borneo.

When Alex Melchor, fresh from Annapolis, joined the Navy, I went with him on a small patrol boat all the way to the southern tip of Palawan and the vast Sulu Sea. I had talked with our naval officers about the possibility of building a maritime industry. Much earlier, President Quirino, who was the architect of our economic development after World War II, knew this because we are an archipelago and have had a history of maritime adventurism and excellence. Before the Spaniards came, the Portuguese already noted our seamanship, the big boats built in Sulu and the cannons forged there. In the 17th century, the best sailing ships in the world were built in the Philippines of the finest Philippine hardwoods – the galleons that crossed the Pacific to Acapulco in Mexico bringing the fabulous goods of the Orient, particularly of China, eventually to Europe. Those galleons were built by Filipino craftsmen in Cavite, Pangasinan and in the Bicol region. They were the prized loot of British buccaneers whose cannons could not pierce the molave hulls of these splendid ships. Incidentally, I’m really very sad that the galleon replica as envisioned by former senator Edgardo Angara and former Mexican Ambassador Tomas Calvillo is on hold – a fitting monument not just to Filipino seamanship but as a bond between the Philippines and Mexico.

In the 1960s, I knew two shipping magnates, Miguel Magsaysay of Magsaysay Lines and Carlos Fernandez of Compania Maritima. I asked them then why they did not set up a maritime industry when we have a very rich maritime tradition. I got the same old excuse that we need maritime designers, metallurgists and the latest engineers steeped not only in maritime construction but in the communication system that goes with the ships.

South Korea had no maritime industry of such magnitude that the Japanese had, but through great effort in the 1960s, they developed shipbuilding capabilities, and today the shipbuilders of that nation are building the biggest ships and tankers in the world.

I was very happy to learn that the Aboitiz shipyard built that fast ferry that leaves Ormoc for Cebu in just an hour. The shipyard in Balamban is now producing ocean-going vessels. Another shipyard in Subic, Korean-owned, has ceased operations, and I hope it will be owned and operated by Filipinos.

Technology transfer therefore is a major need not only in shipbuilding but in other major industrial activity in this country. The Korean example is a good model – it illustrates how a country can modernize and achieve prosperity within one generation.

Marcos wasted that generation with which the Philippines could have been modernized. Filipino leaders should keep this in mind if we are to deliver our people from poverty.

Looking back, I realize the many opportunities and possibilities that we missed, not just in developing a maritime industry but all the subsidiary industries based on steel which we gave up when the steel mill in Mindanao was sold.

We also had a thriving shoe industry which was emasculated by huge imports. To provide shoes for our Armed Forces alone would have been a good enterprise. I saw the textile industry die, its demise caused by smuggling of cheaper textiles from other countries. We see in its collapse the need for government to support local industries through the judicious application of tariffs.

Way back in the 1960s, the American entrepreneur Harry Stonehill took me to his ramie plantation in Mindanao. Ramie, mixed with cotton or synthetics, is a durable and fine clothing material. It, too, died when it should have been developed not only for local consumption but for export. The best paltiks (hand guns) are crafted in Cebu; why not build an ordinance factory there? The finest modern furniture anywhere in the world is designed and made in Cebu but there is no more rattan and handsome wood for them. And all that exquisite jewelry from Meycauyan, etc. – they are almost extinct.

Remember that during the Spanish regime, we were also exporting cotton to Europe. Our agricultural potential should take priority in our development programs. For instance, we need not import garlic or vegetables. With agricultural development, we can feed our own people. In the rice industry, good rainfall and irrigation will enable us to have three harvests a year. This should make us self-supporting in rice, and more so if we can emulate the Japanese farm organizations to raise income of our farmers.

A lot of this development depend so much on the attitude of government, if it will even subsidize agriculture. Buy agricultural produce at a higher price than normal or, as in the case of the United States, pay farmers for producing less.

There are ongoing efforts to change the Constitution to enable foreigners to own land. I oppose this position vehemently. Foreign participation in the economy is welcome but not with the ownership of land because we don’t have enough of it.

In making these observations, as Andoni Aboitiz emphasizes, good responsive government is the fundamental requirement for economic development.