I WAS recently watching a YouTube video by an American expat explaining the dire situation of Filipino fishermen.
The YouTuber, a Californian, correctly attributed the problem to logistics, incentives and the convoluted way we handle our economy.
But of course, it’s not just our fishing industry that needs fixing. My take is that our agricultural, industrial and financial systems need to be reformed, and they need to be reformed, not because they cause harm or are unfair (the common rationale) but because they are obsolete.
Most Filipinos know this and will demand reforms in favor of consumers and fishermen. Those who make such appeals usually argue based on moral and social justice-related reasons on why systems like these need to be fixed.
I belong in the minority, in the sense that I consider economic restructuring as a matter or economic necessity, as opposed a moral duty. Our old system is decrepit because for a long time, we have relied on easy access to the global labor market to prop up our economy.
Moreover, we have always assumed that Filipinos will continue to grow larger in population, or that the global and financial institutions will always be around to sustain the country.
Those things are slowly fading away. The world is economically bifurcating. Our population growth fell to 1.7 per woman last time I checked. And global institutions are either changing or rendered irrelevant.
In the past, we thought we could ignore our dysfunctional economic system because there were other options, overseas Filipino workers, business process outsourcing, dollar from abroad. The situation was bad but tolerable.
Our leaders cannot afford to think like that anymore.
We must be ready for an uncertain future, and if you don’t believe this warning, remember the Corona Virus. Remember the economic fallout of the Ukraine war, and later, the United States bombing of Iran. Those are just the appetizers.
A whole lot of other problems are converging that can devastate many countries. We had best be ready and restructure our dysfunctional economy while we still have time./PN
