No To Filipino First Policy! Yes To A Filipino Interdependent Policy!

It's a common misconception among many Filipinos today that if we allow foreign investors then the Filipinos become beggars to foreigners. They're just missing the point because they don't realize what international marketing is all about. I guess it's all because these anti-progress thinkers have a severe lack on the basic knowledge of economics or that they're too used to the pro-oligarch media. I guess a lot of Filipinos think that the Philippines is better off attempting the foolish notion that a country progresses through self-industrialization rather than pursue economic liberalization for the Philippines. What they don't realize is that while the Philippines has its right of sovereignty but it also must become interdependent. For the nth time what does it take to enter their thick skulls and hard heads that foreign investors are NOT foreign invaders?

What does it mean to pursue a Filipino interdependent policy? This means that while the Philippines retains its sovereignty as a country but it doesn't close its doors to foreign investment. This doesn't mean non-regulated free trade. Rather, this means foreign investors will be allowed to do business in the Philippines with 50% or higher ownership but they must follow the rules and regulations of the land. This creates the interdependent cycle that, "Filipinos need jobs, foreign investors need Filipinos to help them do business in the Philippines and local investors need foreign investors." scenario. It may sound contradictory to the Pinoy Pridist as well as the PNoy Pridist but let's think about the scenario.

Filipinos need jobs but are there enough local businesses in the Philippines to support all the residents of the 7,107 islands? The answer is not at all. There aren't enough local businesses in the Philippines to fill the supply and demand gap of Filipinos who need jobs. Sure there are Filipino businessmen here and there but it's a minority. The solution is to allow more foreign investors in a regulated free trade where foreign businesses must comply to Philippine laws. This also creates the scenario that first Filipinos need jobs then foreign investors need Filipinos to help them in their business venture in the Philippines. This Filipino may take the form of the local partner (assuming that this multinational corporation has a habit of forming joint ventures around the world with 50% ownership) or the Filipino workers. The Filipinos who need jobs fulfill the need for manpower for foreign investors doing business here in the Philippines.

Like it or not but local investors do need foreign investors. Before crying out Neri Colmenares' crybaby mentality that foreign businesses will automatically destroy local businesses please take time to read this post. There's a benefit for foreign investors towards local investors assuming the latter is competent and takes the opportunity to benefit from them. Having foreign investors doing business in the Philippines don't only act to serve as competition to force local investors to do better but they can also serve as customers and service providers. A local supplier of raw materials may be making a lot of money selling supplies to foreign manufacturers of finished products. A local transportation company may make a lot of money shipping materials for foreign investors. A local manufacturer may benefit from a foreign supplier. A foreign transportation company may help local investors get more transportation to help in their businesses. That's just a few scenarios how foreign investors and local investors can benefit from each other.

On the other hand, Carlos P. Garcia's Filipino first policy (honestly, him given a hero's burial is just stupid and his body should also be exhumed should the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.'s body be exhumed) is not helping the Philippines. The OFW phenomenon is making the Philippines a country of beggars. How many times do I need to keep telling people that the OFW phenomenon doesn't mean that the Philippines is taking over the world? Instead, the OFW phenomenon makes Filipinos beggars towards other countries. Please, OFWs are subject to foreign laws which makes the Philippines more dependent on other countries. Only if the Philippines allowed more foreign investors to come in and do business while subjected to just and fair laws then it would have created an interdependent policy. 

Also, before those ultranationalist whiners start crying, "But that's not Filipino, that's foreign." they better check out the stuff they're using. If they're so nationalistic they can start by leaving the Internet because Filipinos didn't invent it. They better make sure that they're not using anything born out of foreign influence. They rant all they want on the Internet but were their personal computers or laptops made in the Philippines? Where there mobile devices made in the Philippines? To even throw a question where the equipment they use of a Filipino brand? If that's so then they're just self-contradictory idiots. Please don't give me the, "But we're just using them against foreigners." because if they're so anti-foreign why even use stuff made by foreigners in the first place? They should just use indigenous materials and be in the stone age because without foreign influence the Philippines would be stuck in the stone age.