Socio-economic re-engineering

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

4/8/2013

Daily Tribune

As soon as the US-South Korea vs North Korea saber rattling dies down with a halt to provocative US-South Korea military exercises, and as the Fitch ratings upgrade brouhaha fades with more intelligent and realistic perspectives, Filipinos will wake up to the truth that there is no solution to the ever deepening crisis of the Philippines until we re-engineer Philippine society away from the Edsa I globalization and privatization paradigm imposed by the Yellows.
Wiser Filipinos will thus confirm with what this column has been saying, echoed recently by Ben D. Kritz, who wrote in The Manila Times: "The credit rating, strictly speaking, is a judgment of the country's risk of defaulting on a debt, and therefore has no logical relevance to any investment that is something other than a loan to the government…"

Below are two reactions to our past columns on the matter; one is from Bobby Tangco of the University of the Philippines who quoted a paragraph from our column, "Moreover, what the country needs is socio-economic re-engineering to re-distribute population back to the provinces and small islands, forming small farm units powered by bio-digesters, wind and solar energy, for a nationally food and energy self-sufficient and sustainable economy."
Bobby's thoughts on my prescription: "Yes! This is what I would also suggest the non-armed revolutionaries do. Needed also is capital investment and honest (really honest) entrepreneurs who have no deep desire to live in another country upon retirement."

The other came from Gerry Natividad, erstwhile government adviser and consultant, now a gentleman farmer-aqua-culturist who has deepened brown skin to show for his praxis of his new philosophy:
"You are very correct about 'balik probinsiya.' I myself am no longer convinced the deliberate labor export program I proposed during the Cory administration will work for us in the next 20 years; though, right now, we are reaping the positive economic effects of billions of dollars remittances. Now our remittances have strengthened consumer buying power. The downside, only a few economic power blocks are capturing the swollen flood of dollars and pesos. Yet our manufacturing sector is in its death throes.

"Your socio-economic engineering should involve both human and financial resources. For decades our government has thrown trillions of pesos into rice and corn, yet we are a country that imports both. Not much has been done for our coconuts and marine reef resources. You know by now, that by government laying the organizational and financial infrastructure for setting up small processing plants and markets for coco water, skimmed milk, virgin oil, coco flour, etc., tens of millions of our coconut farmers and farm workers will be economically emancipated. But even right now, unpatriotic or unthinking agents of government are plotting against the coconut industry as they espouse the replacement of coconut by palm oil plantations.

"Having stayed over three years, off and on, in our fishponds in Anda, Pangasinan, I have realized the economic potential of making more productive our marginalized tidal flats, tens if not hundreds of thousands of hectares of them, all over the country, extensive reef systems that are covered by less than a meter of water during high tide. What needs to be done first is to have a massive mangrove replanting and management program. Mangrove complexes are the very nursery of the sea. All sorts of life thrive in them. Fish fries migrate there, to feed and live in a more protected and less hazardous (environment) before returning to the seas. In mangroves, several fish and crustacean species can be cultured, from bangus, saline tilapia, and high valued sea bass, groupers, sea urchins and cucumbers…

"But first things first, a well planned mangrove plantation is the first line of defense of coastal communities from sea surges and typhoons. Mangrove systems stabilize lands and cause soil accretion, while cleaning up the surrounding seas of jetsam and flotsam and the ever present man-made plastics … The beautiful thing here is it doesn't cost a fortune … In less than five years we will have beautiful mangrove plantations which will be ready to be used for sea farming and eco- tourism. We have enough mangrove stands that can produce the seedlings needed to start new mangrove systems. Fisher-family folks can be organized and employed by government to plant, care and expand the systems where they can be granted by government 25 year foreshore leases (yes that's how long the leases are) so they can participate in the program long term … Hope flows eternal for our country."

There are basic and common sense laws to learn from the history of floundering societies successfully re-engineering a comeback: China after 500 years; Vietnam and Cambodia after US-inflicted devastation; Cuba over the US embargo; Iran after each US sanction, etc.

The keys factors begin with the social re-engineering ideology and program, which our country's intelligentsia shows it possesses; next is political leadership, with both popular and military support; and, finally, winning political power to implement such ideology and program.

(Tune in to 1098 AM, Tuesday to Friday, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.; watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturday, 8:00 p.m. and replay Sunday, 8 a.m., on "Maverick Candidates;" also visit http://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)