Corruption and Neoliberalism in the Philippines Essay

contempt this years onslaught of devastating earthquakes, factional rebel sieges, and just ab by newly, record collapseing typhoons, the Filipinos is doing surprisingly soundly for itself. In fact, The stinting expert Intelligence building block reports that though the wreckage caused by last weeks Supertyphoon Haiyan leave behind resemblingly s confused GDP somewhat, frugal damage will non be significant, the Eastern Visayas region accounting for scarce two per cent of the expanses GDP.Economic tout ensembley, at least, the Philippines has had genuine year the first half of 2013 axiom GDP growth at 7. 3 percent, the racyest growth rate in Asia it precept seen record world-wide direct investiture take aims moved itself from low-income to center of attention-income dry land in the solid ground Bank country database and for the first time, became a creditor rather than debtor to the Inter subject pecuniary Fund (IMF) (Desierto, The Economist). N eertheless, the p all overty rate stay at 27. percent with little exercise in the past five years, unemployment is at seven percent, and underemployment dwells to hover around xx percent (The Economist Intelligence Unit). Despite record growth levels in the Philippines, bouffant numbers of Philippines still struggle to reclaim employment and meet their basic needs. hostile Policy and Fund for Peace fool named the Philippines as one of their pull in 60 fai tend assures in the 2013 Fai lead States Report. Ranking 59 bulge of 178 countries, the Philippines scored a s escapedly improved exclusively critical 82. 8 (Failed States).Five of its trounce scores occurred in security apparatus, including issues exchangeable riots and fatalities from rebel activity factionalized elites, including power struggles and flawed alternatives group grievance, including iolence between groups tell apart legitimacy, including decadence, level of government effectiveness, and illicit economies and dem ographic pressures, including people growth, inhering disasters, and disease (The Indicators). The aftermath of recent disasters and rebel conflict be in all likelihood to raise these judge for the coming report, manner of speaking the Philippines stiffr to the brink of miscarryure.Why, in the middle of unprecedented scotch growth, is the country faring so sadly in terms of ontogeny indicators like scantiness and political stability? Mainstream reading talk about assures that quick scotch growth leads to evelopment and mendicancy reduction, to a greater extentover this has stock-still to be the case for Filipinos. In a previous paper I prove the issue of the accuracy, reliability, and tenseness of penury measurements and the increase handle itself, except there atomic number 18 larger factors at play as well.In this paper, I discuss how the tarradiddle of decomposition and liberalism, two contested besides highly influential issues, bring in negati vely impacted learning as a whole in the Philippines and perpetuated the poverty of its population. harmonize to a recent poll by the online periodical The Philippine Star, an verwhelming major(ip)(ip)ity of the Filipino online habitual viewed decadence as the wizard largest cause of poverty in the Philippines. Revisiting transp argonntness Internationals statistics in the put devoidness Perceptions Index, Filipinos scored their country a 34 on a scale of 0-100, with O organism highly corrupt and 100 organism very idle (2012).Personal fix recalls an overt general mistrust in government officials having the peoples interests at heart, and a series of news reports expatiate impeachments and craps related to graft and putrefaction deep d bear both government and ongovernmental organizations from 2010 to 2012. Despite universe an independent democracy since the late mid-forties (the Marcos regimes dictatorial break nonwithstanding), the Philippines has suffered corrupt go vernment officials in about every presidency, almost notably those of Marcos, Estrada and Arroyo (The Economist Intelligence Unit).harmonize to Dr. Diane Desierto in an op-ed commerce out to current President Benigno Aquino, depravation has strained the Philippine economy for decades, and the unrecoverable public funds lost to corruptness at the cost of national investing is a national outrage. Most of late in the news is the Pork drumfish Scandal, where President Aquino and the ombudsmen have charged 3 senators, 2 former lawmakers, and a businesswoman for misusing over $200 million in state funds (Hookway).Pork Barrel is a state allocation of funds locate aside for senators to use on maturement projects of their choice, of which the president says the accused used for put on project proposals to take personal kickbacks. universe protests against the scandal have been wide, and the people be calling for not however the obliteration of the Pork Barrel fund itself, but of the presidents testify expending fund as well. President Aquino faces the p sparkle of upholding his strict anticorruption docket, appealing to the public, and maintaining support of aright lawmakers and congressmen (Hookway).James Hookway argues that Aquinds decision on the scandal will heavily determine foreign investor confidence in the Philippines, influencing the path of the countrys breeding. indeed most schooling professionals agree that corruption and wondering(a) government are in return related to the development of a country. The polish off indicators in the Philippine Failed States Report outwardly suggest governance issues re a threat to the state and a major cause of internal violence and conflict. right governance has been the recent focus of many a(prenominal) World Bank projects, the group stating that, a capable and accountable state creates opportunities for poor people, appends better operate, and improves development outcomes (qtd. in Bello, Is putrefaction the Cause? ). Jeffrey Sachs names governance failures as a top factor in a countrys scotch stagnation and nightfall and William Easterly argues that bad governments, not a poverty trap, are sole culprits in the frugal decline of a country (Sachs 57 Easterly 43).Easterlys stance on corruption is tough continuing to provide aid to countries with corrupt governments is inefficient, as most countries with bad governments fare significantly worsened even with aid than do countries with wakeless governments (42). In the Philippines, all signs in mainstream deal point to corruption as the major reason for continuing poverty despite high economic growth. Yet there is a small but ontogeny number of people arguing new(prenominal)wise. According to activists like Walden Bello, while corruption is pestiferous to the trust and moral bonds of a democracy, it is not the principal cause of poverty.Between 1990 and 000, he argues, the Philippines and China reported the same levels of corruption yet China grew by 10. 3 percent, while the Philippines grew by only 3. 3 percent (Is Corruption the Cause? ). It is not corruption, he says, but the negative effect of neoliberal change policies that have keep poverty levels at the rate they are today (Bello). As Peet and Hartwick explain, neoliberalism was the economic solution to Keynesian economics and the failures of Import refilling Industrialization (IS) that in like mannerk hold of development discourse in the 1970s with the emission of the Reagan and Thatcher governings.Influenced by Hayeks theories, neoliberalism favored free markets and stripped-down government involvement impertinent of peremptory interest rates and money add up (Peet 78-83). In response to the economic c tramps brought on by ISI in the 70s and 80s, developed nations and international organizations (10s) came up with the Washington Consensus, a arguing of constitution reforms and conditions for debtor countries to the I MF to follow in order to receive loans.Reforms included pecuniary discipline, decreased public expenditures, evaluate reform, low interest rates, trade liberalization and deregulation, privatization of public goods, and an increase in oreign direct coronation (FDI) (Peet 84). According to Walden Bello, neoliberalism has become a hegemony of economic paradigm, especially in the Philippines. After the constrained exile of Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquinds rise to power, Bello says the country was more than primed for neoliberal structural adjustment policies when it turned to the World Bank during an economic crisis in the 80s (Neoliberalism).A number of factors led the Philippines to strongly adhere to neoliberal policies. One, technocrats close to former President Aquino were highly influenced by Reagan, Thatcher, and the free-market economic paradigm. Two, the University of the Philippines School of Economics make its anti-Marcos White Paper on the Philippine Economy, captur ing the popular mood of the time that Marcos was conclusion that the state had become subject to chum capitalism and was an inefficient root system of development progress. Three, international events like the collapse of European amicableism, the successful revitalization of U.S. and British economies, and the rise of newly industrialized Asiatic countries (though Bello argues these countries successes pall more from protectionism than neoliberalism) inspired the Philippine elites and middle class, who had the most influence over olicy discourse (Neoliberalism). With ISI and Keynesian economics shrouded by bad memories of the Marcos regime, and the Communist partys preoccupation with the anti-fascist struggle, Bello states there were no credible substitute(a)s for the country but neoliberalism.In the 90s the Ramos administration kicked structural adjustment into high gear, being one of the few administrations in the region to fully adhere to IMF conditions. focal to Philippin e adjustment was fixive obligation liberalization and deregulation to increase FDI and spoilt enthronement, as well as a furious signing of multilateral ariff agreements with the WTO, ASEAN, the IMF, and the linked Nations (Bello). The economy grew 4 percent during Ramos presidency, until the Asian Crisis hit the Philippines in 1997.Suddenly, $4 6 billion in tough investments tlew out ot the country, triggering a downward slide into economic recession and stagnation. With the WTO Agreement in Agriculture, the Philippines went from a nourishment kale exporter to a net importer (particularly in rice, a main fasten of the topical anaesthetic agriculture sector), sparking a crisis of food insecurity and a loss of capriole security in the agricultural constancy. The Philippines similarly saw its local cloth and manufacturing industries fail by the early years of this decade, the countrys textile industry had shrunk from 200 to less than 10 firms (Bello, Neoliberalism).Loss of local industry was supposititious to be bolstered by consumer social welfare and change magnitude spending as foreign investment brought diverse and stable employment but this has not been the case for the Philippines rather unemployment and underemployment rates have remained at a coherent high. Despite this and recent protests against globalisation in the country, neoliberalism emains the central focus of economic policy in the Philippines (Bello).Ligaya Lindio McGovern overly feels neoliberal policies and incommensurate globalization have been detrimental to the welfare of the Philippines, not only from a macroeconomic standpoint, but from a micropolitical level as well. According to McGovern, neoliberal policies implemented in the Philippines have only proven to pull in foreign actors and investors, perpetuating poverty in the country and detrimentally affecting the welfare of women and juvenility in particular (2).Food insecurity due to restricted agricultural acc ess in world markets and an change magnitude ependency on imports (coupled with fixed high prices to maximize profits) hurts women as they are mainly responsible for the nutritional welfare of the family. Privatization of water and social services puts foreign control over at one time local businesses, limiting the poors access to health care and clean water.Foreign influence over industry has led to the contractualization of labor, meaning short- term, low right work that puts workers in a shoddy bargaining position. This has led to a massive loss of Jobs, setting preconditions for migration as Filipinos (mostly womanish domestic workers) go ab thoroughfare to encounter work. This has subsequently led to an increased photograph in Filipino women for exploitation, downward mobility, and loneliness, and has been a root cause of the rise of piece trafficking that has plagued the Philippines in recent years (McGovern 5-14).Ligaya argues that it is neoliberalism and the aslant distribution of globalization-not corruption-that has led to a rise in militant groups such as GABRIELA, Migrante International, and the New Peoples Army, all of whom fght against foreign and American imperialism through economic policy (McGovern 21). In recent years, the ideas of Bello and McGovern have taken hold, particularly hrough development economists like Easterly.While lamenting bad governments as a source of gross inefficiency in foreign aid appropriation, Easterly also speaks strongly against the macroeconomic, universally applicable solutions to poverty offered up by neoliberal policies. He argues such policies are too hulking and too utopian with too very much distance between principals at the top and implementers at the bottom to provide kosher feedback and accountability, too much collective obligation to create incentive, and too many large, nonspecific tasks bogging down change agents on the heavens to be effective (14-18).What, then, in light of both argument s as any corruption or neoliberalism as the major source ot poverty and inequali i the Philippines to do to fragment its gap between economic and social development? For Bello, the administration must(prenominal) rid itself of the neoliberal hegemonic stronghold and adopt alternative economic policies that focus on local empowerment of the people and permanent national employment. Getting over neoliberalism, he says, involves get beyond the worship of numbers that very much acts as a shroud to the real, beyond the scientism that masks itself as a science (Bello, Neoliberalism).McGovern advocates a similar, though more drastic road a new Philippine state altogether that creates national alternatives to the neoliberal schedule (21). Like Stiglitz argues in his book, McGovern feels that true globalization has never been experienced, as powerful, industrialized countries overbearing the flow of goods maintain protectionist policies in their own states while pushing for liberali zation that benefits them in poorer countries (3 Stiglitz 62-101).In order for globalization to function, protectionist policies must also be advocated in industrializing countries, if not to the extent that ISI brought them in otherwise regions. Proponents of free trade and economic development, on the other hand, argue that the Philippines must maintain its rapid GDP growth, continue to improve speculative investment climate, implement a broader tax base, and increase foreign ownership of its economic sectors (Elkan). In other words, institutions like the IMF continue to push neoliberal policy as an effective means for development.Increasing speculative investment and foreign direct investment means combatting corruption and bad governance for most proponents of the dominant discourse the corruption scandals that have haunted the Philippines for decades have been a indrance to a thriving economy and led to increased political violence, and must be dealt with in order to see a red uction of poverty in the country. Ultimately, though, it is exhausting to see how focusing on either one factor will lead to any real improvement in social welfare without also addressing the other the two are both too entrenched in Philippine government.These are not dichotomous factors, rather they are deeply intertwined and coexistent in influencing poverty and social instability. Personal experience lends perspicacity into instances where both corruption and neoliberal effects on society were clear. With a wages allowing me middle-class status in my neighborhood, I still could not afford to deal rice from the local farmers, and could barely afford the only slightly cheaper imported rice. During election time, the Congresswoman led a mass campaign to expand the main highway, only to abandon the project post-elections, leaving the road broken and difficult to traverse.Viewing development as a multifaceted and merged process comprising both macro and micropolitical elements, resolutions to development issues must also be viewed as such (Sen). Poverty reduction and development in the Philippines must nvolve both the annihilation of rampant corruption and alternative options for neoliberal policies, which have largely failed the country outside of real GDP. Additionally, the government must focus its efforts on the needs of its people, rather than its own personal agenda, according to Desierto.In light of the recent typhoon and previous natural disasters, she says, not a single administration has ever committed to making an integrated natural disaster prevention, remediation, and reconstruction system our countrys highest national security priority (Corruption, Climate, and Congress). every(prenominal) administration nas promised he eradication ot corruption, though. Thus, it seems that the administration has allowed foreign institutions and its own political agenda to distract itself from the true needs of its people, which untruth at the core of deve lopment.The key to poverty reduction then, in the context of the Philippines, is the increased and direct participation of Filipinos in decision-making for incoming economic and social policies.