A book review presentation in Development Studies
By:
DIANA C.
DELAROSA
IV-18
BSEHISTORY
When I first saw the presentation of the book review entitled Anti-Development State: The Political
Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines, I knew that this book will
give interesting information about the Philippines issues to underdevelopment.
Well, as I read the book, I found it very interesting because it poses the
reality of the Philippine economy. I found the book different to others because
of the title itself, “Anti-Development” that adds curiosity and excitement to
me to read and make a review about it. Well, the book meets my expectations
because it is really worth reading. To make it easier to understand the book
per chapter, I made an analysis per chapter to easily understand the main idea of
the book. Here are the main ideas of the book per chapter:
CHAPTER 1- THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PERMANENT CRISIS
Chapter one talks about the Philippine Economy
during the Aquino administration wherein it only focuses on paying debts during
Marcos regime. Structural adjustments were implemented to but to achieve
greater economic efficiency through liberalization,
deregulation, and privatization. the rise of the neoliberal economist said
that free-market policies were the secrets of the success of NIC’s and as a
result tariff liberalization (EO 264) was created which committed the
Philippines to unilaterally bringing down tariffs. But the offshoot of this is
bad because instead of bringing about prosperity, unilateral trade
liberalization has resulted in the rapid erosion of this country’s industrial
and agricultural base. They are the causes of economic stagnation in the
Philippines because they misinterpreted the factors that lead to rapid growth
among our neighbouring countries.
CHAPTER 2- AGRARIAN REFORM: THE PROMISE AND THE REALITY
Chapter two is about the Agrarian Reform which
seems to be the constant promise of every president who sits in the position
but this promise about land reform program did not came into reality. .
Agrarian reform is not just a poverty-alleviation program because it also aims
to abolish feudalism by creating a class of independents small holders. CARP
has failed to change the feudal landscape, because s the national government
have been unable, or in most cases unwilling to resolve the fundamental issue
of sustained access to land. The national polices of the government have always
favored economic and political elite, thereby entrenching poverty, and social
and economic inequality. Still the issue in owning property is still one of the
major issues on Philippine administration.
CHAPTER 3- THE NEOLIBERAL REVOLUTION AND THE ASIAN FINANCIAL CRISIS
Consistency
was the hallmark of the Ramos administration compare to Aquino administration.
The program of liberalization, deregulation and privatization was pursued. But
during 1997, Ramos administration faces the problem of Asian Financial Crisis.
The Philippines never really recovered from Asian Financial Crisis, the
percentage of Filipino’s living below the poverty line rose from 1997 31.8% to
33.7% in 2003.
The
center piece of the program during Ramos administration was liberalization. The
administration saddled the country with a neo-liberal policy paradigm that
eventually brought on disaster. Opportunistic protectionism was a plague on
Philippine development.
CHAPTER 4- MULTILATERAL PUNISHMENT: THE PHILIPPINES IN THE WTO,
1995-2003
When
Philippines joined the WTO it had been spared to the range of both free trade
and monopolistic competition. Despite its entry into the WTO, Philippines have
remained a “center of poverty and stagnant productivity” according to the study
of Department of Agriculture (2001). In the signing on to the GATT-WTO, the
Philippines essentially gave up the ability to use trade policies as a
mechanism for industrialization.
CHAPTER 5- THE PANACEA OF PRIVATIZATION
Privatization, or the transfer of ownership from
the public sector to the private sector is currently the topic of many intense
debated both in the Philippines and in international. By 2003 privatization was
in deep crisis. In the rush to privatize the government forgot to deal with the
need to have an independent regulatory capacity leaving regulatory institution
open to opportunistic political intervention. The main reason why privatization
is pushed because the private sector is eager to get its hold on successful
public companies. Privatization in effect is nothing more than a seemingly
neutral term for subsidizing the private sector.
CHAPTER 6- UNSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The current state of the environment proves that
all the efforts of the government towards environment crisis afflicting the
country have been critically negated by the governments’ consistent adherence
to neoliberate and have been successfully sabotaged by the very
resource-extractive interest that in sought to reign. Sustainable Development
cannot be reconciled with neoliberal policies of privatization, deregulation
and liberalization because they are ultimately about different means and aims.
Hence, the government measures to respond to environmental degradation have
been and will continue to be rendered meaningless and futile for as long as the
contradictory policies that undermine them as well as the interest remained
entrenched.
CHAPTER 7- CORRUPTION AND POVERTY: BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE?
The statement “Philippines is so poor because its
leaders are corrupt” is wrong because many either countries suffering from as much
or even more systematic corruption than the Philippines have succeeded in
developing and reducing poverty. It only distracts us from the real reason, it
is also being manipulated to underpin neoliberal policies and stabilize elite
rule via liberal democracy. While corruption definitely needs to be condemned
it is not the reason behind the country’s stagnation. A more adequate
explanation lies in the state being subjugated by a succession of ruling elite
factions to serve narrow interests instead of the larger goals of sustainable
development and social justices. It s being used as a public discourse to
advance private narrow interests: to maintain and strengthen ruling elites grip
on power, and to further undermine the states capacity to control domestic and
foreign capital. The answer to this problem is firsts to empower the state rather
than to further weaken it and second, the relative autonomy of the state must
be enhanced rather than diminished so that it does not just always remain a
prize in the inter-elite struggle but also becomes a serious and more powerful
contenders in its own rights. An anti-corruption program should be designed
again and ensure to implement it well. Reforms in the Philippine economy will
require much more than another People Power.
INSIGHT
The
book of Walden Bello for me is very helpful. As a Filipino I felt that I should
have known that book before and read it before for me to know what are the real
happenings in the Philippine economy. The author identifies the real problem of
the Philippines after Marcos regime and the idea that came out is that after
the Marcos regime the problem of the Philippines towards development is still
problematic and did not answered by next President of the Philippines after
Marcos. As I read the book, I found out that Philippine government is very
envious to those Newly Industrialized Countries (NIC’s) that they want
Philippines to like those countries. For me it is not bad because Philippine
Government somehow has planned for the country’s development but they are
forgetting that the NIC’s did not start wealthy those countries has undergone
different problems and issues before attaining the development. I can say that
Philippines should wait for the right time because development is a process. It
is also evident in the book that the power of the elite that is dominating the
Philippines today is the real reason behind underdevelopment. Because of the
power of the elite that dominate the Philippine economy and the even the
government their interests affect the policy making and even the domestic and
foreign capital. After I read the book of Walden Bello, my perception towards
Philippine poverty changed. Before as any other Filipino I believe that poverty
in the Philippines existed because of the corrupt leaders, yes it is partially
true because the true picture of the Philippine poverty is because of the
ruling power of the elites that dominated Philippines. The book helped me so
much in creating a big perception of the truth in my own country. Today, I will
not just believe in the slogan “Kung
walang corrupt walang mahirap,” I do now believe as what my status in
facebook says, “KUNG WALANG MAYAMAN
WALANG MAHIRAP!” I am very thankful that I read the book and I personally want
to share it to other Filipinos’ for them to have a wider knowledge about the
problem and issues in our own country and for them to help in creating or
making solutions towards it.
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