Any Suggestions How To Save The Philippine Economy?

[Mr Lee]

Any suggestions how to save the Philippine economy? I think we all should try to make suggestions online and hope that someone from the government takes up some of the ideas as their own.... I know that Filipinos read these forums and I know that they do not like us telling them what to do, but reading it and using the idea as their own, might work for all of us. I also feel that helping them will be helping ourselves, because as the economy gets worse and worse, crime is no doubt going to go up. People need to eat and feed their families and some will do whatever it takes out of desperation....... So if we want a safer Philippines for whatever reason, the heck with the rest of the world, then we all need to put our heads together and try to think of ideas to bring more foreigners to the Philippines and whatever we can think of to help them to get through this crisis. I am bringing a friend with me to Cebu next week and I have another friend who will be visiting me in March....... I figure I want to do my part to help the economy, besides the money we spend and the more guys who go to the Philippines and the more guys who end up marrying Filipina's or dating them, the more money will filter in. JMHO Slowdown epidemic spreads; 300,000 layoffs seen By Ayen Infante 01/29/2009http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20090129hed1.html

[TheMason]

Any suggestions how to save the Philippine economy? I think we all should try to make suggestions online and hope that someone from the government takes up some of the ideas as their own.... I know that Filipinos read these forums and I know that they do not like us telling them what to do, but reading it and using the idea as their own, might work for all of us.I also feel that helping them will be helping ourselves, because as the economy gets worse and worse, crime is no doubt going to go up. People need to eat and feed their families and some will do whatever it takes out of desperation....... So if we want a safer Philippines for whatever reason, the heck with the rest of the world, then we all need to put our heads together and try to think of ideas to bring more foreigners to the Philippines and whatever we can think of to help them to get through this crisis. I am bringing a friend with me to Cebu next week and I have another friend who will be visiting me in March....... I figure I want to do my part to help the economy, besides the money we spend and the more guys who go to the Philippines and the more guys who end up marrying Filipina's or dating them, the more money will filter in. JMHOSlowdown epidemic spreads; 300,000 layoffs seen By Ayen Infante 01/29/2009http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20090129hed1.html

I admire your determination to improve the Philippines, Mr. Lee. My view is that increased tourism will not help the economy too much. Think about it....where do tourists spend money? Hotels, airlines, malls, restaraunts and bars, and sight seeing. Now think about who owns the businesses that tourists typically frequent. Do you really think that money is trickling down to the average Filipino?I'm not economist or expert in this area, but here's my general thoughts.I think the first thing that needs to be looked at is the agriculture sector. It's insane that farmers are going bankrupt and the RP needs to import so much rice. If there was agriculture reform they could make farming a profitable endeavor and decrease dependence on imported foods. They need to look at everything from land use to farming methods.Second, I think the RP needs to rethink the approact to foreing investment so they can encourage it more effectively. This has been discussed before so I won't reopen this topic.Finally, no reform will be effective unless the existing tax revenues are reinvested in the country. The current govt. system is inefficient and money is not spent wisely.I agree with you that the Philippines is declining and the situation will get worse. I think increased crime is a given and massive civil unrest is quite possible. When I look around me at how things are going, I'm concerned the Philippines will be the next Zimbabwe or Haiti.

[Mr Lee]

I admire your determination to improve the Philippines, Mr. Lee. My view is that increased tourism will not help the economy too much. Think about it....where do tourists spend money? Hotels, airlines, malls, restaraunts and bars, and sight seeing. Now think about who owns the businesses that tourists typically frequent. Do you really think that money is trickling down to the average Filipino?I'm not economist or expert in this area, but here's my general thoughts.I think the first thing that needs to be looked at is the agriculture sector. It's insane that farmers are going bankrupt and the RP needs to import so much rice. If there was agriculture reform they could make farming a profitable endeavor and decrease dependence on imported foods. They need to look at everything from land use to farming methods.Second, I think the RP needs to rethink the approact to foreing investment so they can encourage it more effectively. This has been discussed before so I won't reopen this topic.Finally, no reform will be effective unless the existing tax revenues are reinvested in the country. The current govt. system is inefficient and money is not spent wisely.I agree with you that the Philippines is declining and the situation will get worse. I think increased crime is a given and massive civil unrest is quite possible. When I look around me at how things are going, I'm concerned the Philippines will be the next Zimbabwe or Haiti.

Thank you, I am just trying my best to at least try to help and do some preventative medicine, so to speak....... I understand where you are coming from, but hotels, restaurants, bars, stores, airlines, and I could go on and on, all hire people and for the most part they hire Filipinos, so I do believe that the money tourists and those of us that live in the country spend, does trickle down to many of the average Filipinos and to their families....... People who work in those places are mostly average Filipinos and they would not have jobs if tourist and people like us do not come and spend money.........I agree with you that whatever we do may not change things much, but the alternative is to do nothing and let it all happen, so whatever we do has to help somewhat and there has to be a way that we can somehow help things to not digress as bad as they might without the money being brought in and spent. Expats come from some of the richest and modern countries in the world and usually have steady incomes, so there has to be something we can think of to help IMHO.Believe me that I am at a loss how to make a big difference for my family there, and I have tried everything I know, so our thoughts are not far apart, and I do agree with you that if things are not made better or at the very least kept status quo, then most places in the world are going to get pretty dangerous pretty fast and the poorer the country, the worse things will undoubtedly get....... The one saving grace is, that for the most part Filipinos are a happy people and usually accept their status in life, but no one is willing to let their family starve and that is when things will get very bad IMHO.

[johnrxx99]

Well done Lee for raising this topic.Tourism helps at the lower end of wage rates and gives employment. The problem however is the management of staff, indeed the lack of it. Service provision is appauling and the worse I have ever come across. Tourists like service and to be pampered. With one or two exceptions this does not happen. The people are friendly and could do it well but it seems only in Western managed establishments are staff given training and closely supervised. How often have you seen staff just standing around chatting and ignoring the customers?I have always felt the fundamental problem is overseas workers. The best are encouraged to leave and make money to send home or marry a westerner. The family the squabble about who gets what of the rakeoff. This encourages laziness, a dependance society and hoplessness in those left in the country.I would heavily tax inward remittancies and plow it all into education, which should be free to all. I would revamp the education training and curriculum, monitor teacher performance and introduce incentive salaries.Money held overseas should be taxed as if it were held in the country. All of the oligarch families stash their money overseas and are not taxed. That would increase the tax take by 50% That should be used to make health free for those that cannot pay and subsidise the biggest tax on the poor, medicine. Health costs in this poor country are a scandal.Doctors should not receive a "cut" of the cost of drugs they prescribe.The cost of getting a job should be zero. At present, you have to pay for an ID card, police clearance, baranguy clearance etc. It costs 2000 peso+ to get the paperwork to even apply for a job. Minimum wages should apply from day one. At present if you employ on a 6 months contract you don't have to pay the minimum. After 6 months you have to reapply!Jobs should be available to all. No advertising for young unmarried girls with big t*t*. No sex, age or ethnic restrictions.No member of the family of anyone in government should be allowed to tender for work from the government.I could go on but it will get even more boring. I haven't added inward investment, foreignor ownership of land etc as that is personal and wont help the Philippines a jot. It is a nice to have but it wont get the kids off the street, give pride in the country and make the best people want to stay here.

[Old55]

I love the Philippines but it grieves me to see the country slowly fail because of over population and corruption. Last weeks Sun Star said farmers are complaining about black market vegetables from China undercutting local prices in Manila. How can that be? Philippines should be exporting food not importing it!The ruling families love the fact many motivated and educated young people leave Philippines as OFW

[johnrxx99]

When the UK was failing in the 70's and top people were leaving we called it the brain drain. It was a symbol of shame and ridicule.In the Philippines it's seen as wonderful that the brightest want to leave as the only way to help their parents and family. Your right Old55 in that the current power structure wants it brightest to leave and so they are left in peace to carry on ripping off their parents. A perfect solution and avoids the cost of locking up political activists.Loose your brightest and deter foreigners who could improve society - you know it makes sense.

[cagayanstar]

Lee ,I worked in the government as a secretary for almost seven years but in my own personal opinion this country is hopeless.Knowing how corrupt the government officials are is very frustrating.I love this country and before, I cared about what was happening around,the status of the country and so many things that had something to do with it but now I just give attention to fulfilling the needs of my love ones and myself rather than expressing a concern of my country.

[Mr Lee]

Lee ,I worked in the government as a secretary for almost seven years but in my own personal opinion this country is hopeless.Knowing how corrupt the government officials are is very frustrating.I love this country and before, I cared about what was happening around,the status of the country and so many things that had something to do with it but now I just give attention to fulfilling the needs of my love ones and myself rather than expressing a concern of my country.

cagayanstar, I understand how bad things are in government, but you have not seen anything yet IMHO, and things are about to get a lot worse IMHO and the streets may become totally lawless, that is, if nothing is done to help the economy and if things get as bad as economist are predicting they will, and I pray they are wrong and that it won't get that bad, but it can never hurt to prepare in case they do. I have seen what happens when poor people go literally nuts and start rioting, pillaging and killing to get food and whatever else they can get to sell for money or trade for food and staples to live on, and I was hoping to help prevent that, in any small way that I can. Apathy will only lead to disaster IMHO and even with the corruption, IMO there has to be some things that might be able to be done to soften the economic blow that the Philippines is most likely to feel.

[Mr Lee]

The one saving grace is, that for the most part Filipinos are a happy people and usually accept their status in life, but no one is willing to let their family starve and that is when things will get very bad IMHO.

Strange this should come out in the paper after I said something close to it, just the other day. 'Filipinos won't lose cool during recession'Filipinos are resilient, a trait that may prevent them from turning violent because of joblessness and eventually help them survive the global economic crisis, a business leader said Friday.http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/30/09...uring-recession

[johnrxx99]

The one saving grace is, that for the most part Filipinos are a happy people and usually accept their status in life, but no one is willing to let their family starve and that is when things will get very bad IMHO.

Strange this should come out in the paper after I said something close to it, just the other day. 'Filipinos won't lose cool during recession'Filipinos are resilient, a trait that may prevent them from turning violent because of joblessness and eventually help them survive the global economic crisis, a business leader said Friday.http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/30/09...uring-recession

As a business leader I guess he would hope that - he can drive around in his big SUV without a brick through the window, lolIMO what the Filipinos need to do is loose their cool, however that won't be good for us expats as we'll be a target as well.It is only by people showing they are pissed off do things change in the west and it may even work here.