Arroyo government’s new business: Filipino kidneys for sale

This is not only disturbing, but soooo creepy. (Pleeease Ellen, let me curse this Del Mundo :)).

Selling filipino organs for purposes of medical tourism is the height of exploitation of the poor sector of our society. This practice is an open secret (gossips about this have been circulating abroad for a couple of years now). But making it public is a different issue. I bet, pipilahan ito ng mga mahihirap.

Glueria and her sipsips are empty soulless scanvengers of human bodies! Mga Vampires at MANGANGATAY TAO!

Istrikto pa sa Swiss Guards ng Vatican ang gwardyas ng blog mo, Ellen.

Got this in my mail.

First World by 2020?

By Antonio C. Abaya

Written Nov. 01, 2006

For the Standard Today,

November 02 issue

It is bad enough that the most vocal proponents of Charter Change in favor of the parliamentary form of government make naïve and uninformed predictions of economic prosperity once we go parliamentary.

Economic success is the result of correct economic policies and strategies, not of the form of government.

There is no more eloquent proof of this than the economic success of various countries in East Asia which had/have widely differing forms or systems of government: Malaysia and Singapore (parliamentary); South Korea and Taiwan (presidential); and China and Vietnam (nominally communist).

What makes the ChaChaCha even more contrived and therefore not credible is the outlandish claim of President Arroyo that if we were to dance the ChaChaCha with her, she would lead this country into the exclusive First World Club by the year 2020. Or words to that effect.

This is pure nonsense. And as a trained economist, she knows that it is. But the fact that she publicly made this preposterous promise at all shows to what lengths she would go to deceive ignorant and uninformed people – such as the 6.3 million signatories of the Sigaw ng Langaw – to support her thinly disguised maneuvers to remain in power beyond 2010. Like Ferdinand Marcos before her, she is an original ULAP – Uma-asang Laging naka-Angkla sa Poder.

The terms First World, Second World and Third World became fashionable in the 1980s and were used to categorize the countries of the world into separate clubs based on levels of economic development.

First World was the countries of Western Europe, North America (except Mexico), Japan and Australia/New Zealand, all fully developed industrialized countries that were/are capitalist liberal democracies.

Second World was the socialist countries consisting of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China and their respective vassal states, that were wedded to Marxist-Leninist concepts of economic development and socio-political organization.

Third World was the rest of the world, notably in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, struggling to pull themselves up by their boot straps or resignedly sinking into the quicksand of poverty, tribalism and anarchy.

(Saudi Arabia and some of the Persian Gulf sheikdoms also have First World credentials, but they are not germane to this discussion because their wealth, largely in the hands of the ruling families, is not due to hard work, innovative technology or aggressive trading policies, but solely to the geological accident of petroleum deposits in their territories.)

That was in the 1980s. In 2006, the Second World has largely disappeared, after the de-communization of Eastern Europe (1989) and the Soviet Union (1991), and the re-embrace of capitalism and the profit motive by China (starting in 1979) and Vietnam (starting in 1986). Strictly speaking, the only Second World countries left are North Korea, Cuba and inconsequential Laos.

Since the 1980s, several Third World countries have graduated into the First World – Israel, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea – as a result of their adoption of correct economic policies and strategies, foremost among which was the export of manufactured goods and the industrialization that was both the start, and the result of, it.

The dividing line between First World and Third World is markedly evident in per capita GDP (GDP divided by population).

The “poorest” countries in Western Europe, Portugal and Greece, had in 2004 per capita GDPs of $17,900 and $21,300, respectively. In our part of the world, New Zealand had $23,300, Japan $29,400, and Australia $30,700.

The new members of the First World Club have per capita GDPs within this range: South Korea $19,200; Israel $20,800; Taiwan $25,300; and Singapore $27,800.

But not even the most developed former communist countries of Eastern Europe have managed to reach First World levels: Poland $12,000; Estonia $14,300; Hungary $14,900; and the Czech Republic $16,800.

(All figures, in US dollars, are from the 2006 World Almanac and Book of Facts.)

So how does the Philippines measure up against this criterion? About three weeks ago, President Arroyo announced with much pride that our per capita GDP had reached $1,433.(It had been hovering around the $1,000-$1,200 level for about ten years.)

This is credible, though modest, economic progress, for which President Arroyo deserves credit, principally due to improved tax collection through the EVAT and increased exports and agricultural production. But part of it is also due to the appreciation of the peso, from P55 to P50 per US dollar. Pesos now translate into more US dollars than they did six months ago.

(OCW remittances are inputted into GNP, not into GDP. But their significant presence in the economy does help appreciate the currency and thus help raise the GDP.)

But between our $1,433 and Portugal’s (the poorest First World country’s) $17,900 is a wide gap that no one and nothing can bridge in only 14 years, not even if our economy were to grow at the breakneck speed of 10% per annum, like China’s, contrary to President Arroyo’s claim that she can, “if you stay with me until 2020.” Or words to that effect. This merely confirms speculation that she wants and plans to remain in power beyond 2010. Hence the ChaChaCha towards parliamentary.

Even if our $1,433 were re-computed on the basis of purchasing power parity or PPP, it would still amount to only about $5,000.

The only other country that I know of that used the year 2020 as a benchmark was Malaysia under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who in the 1980s set the national goal of becoming a fully industrialized country by the year 2020. His government promoted this goal as “20/20 Vision.”

To this end, Mahathir geared the Malaysian economy towards the export of manufactured goods, following the examples of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. In 2004, Malaysia’s exports totaled $123.5 billion.

Malaysia’s industrialization has included a national car and a national motorcycle whose parts are fabricated from flat metal sheets or milled from raw metal blocks, not merely assembled from imported components, as the Philippines has been doing for the past 50 years.

When Gen. Prem Tinsulananda rose to power in Thailand in 1982 via a military coup d’etat, he announced that his economic program would focus on exports (of manufactured goods) and tourism. In 2004, Thailand’s exports totaled $87.9 billion.

By contrast, the Philippines’ exports in 2004 totaled only $38.6 billion. In 2006, this is expected to reach more than $42 billion, a major increase for which President Arroyo deserves credit. But it is not enough to elevate us in 2020 to the present level of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, whose exports in 2004 totaled $250.6 billion, $170.5 billion and $174.0 billion, respectively.

And tourism? In 2006, we expect a total of 3.0 million tourist arrivals, compared to 13.5 million in Thailand and 15 million in Malaysia.

My point is that despite the spectacular successes of Malaysia and Thailand in exports and tourism, there is no guarantee that they will reach First World status by 2020. Another global economic crisis, like the one in 1997, can wreck even the best-laid plans.

On the other hand, having missed out on the exports boom in the 1970s and 1980s, and the tourism boom in the 1990s – and additionally saddled as we are by a scandalously high population growth rate – the Philippines has absolutely no chance of reaching First World status by 2020, even under the most ideal conditions, and even if our GDP were to grow by 10% per annum, like China’s, in the next 14 years.

As a trained economist, President Arroyo knows this. Making preposterous claims which she knows she cannot keep, to ignorant and uninformed people, diminishes her credibility and stature as a leader.

Ellen,

I’ve been getting this “Sorry, you can post a new comment once every 15 seconds. Slow down, cowboy.” since yesterday.

And yes, the entries are mixed up. Actually, it’s been very difficult to log in here since the Luli(bye)article.

The “censors” are testing the bloggers patience!

I tried to submit minor corrections to my entry yesterday but no can do. Grabe talaga!

Kahapon ko pa sana na-submit yong article ni ACA.

Mrivera, if you don’t mind, sino ba ang current labor officials diyan?