Multi Tasking – A Disambiguation for a Slave Driven Job Function

ANTO COMETA

There’s a clear distinction between performing different tasks in order to be familiar with certain functions needed to execute appropriately a particular designation and requiring or dealing with various responsibilities to be able to swathe a nugget of activities essential for the business operation. If we will take the latter as the principle of multi tasking, it is a clear manifestation of employee mismanagement or human capital exploitation.

In third world countries such as the Philippines, the concept of multi tasking is a widely imposed attribute carried out in work places across all industries. Fraudulence in job acquisition has been one of the major sources of grievances and dissatisfaction by majority of workers who were given clear job functions prior to the commencement of the assigned task(s) and then transcended to deviations of the normative occupational description during the course of the worker’s employment in the company.

Multi tasking has been widely exercised and expected to be part of the job. In most cases, companies require the worker to perform several tasks which are oftentimes beyond the scope of the designation given. Even if the title or the role of the employee limits or sets the scope of the functions to a specific area of accountability, it has a propensity of being extended or curled in order to give way to lengthened work assignment.

Companies have a notion that multi tasking is not a bad business concept as it facilitates management of its resources, predominantly for those that do not have sufficient means to acquire or increase the manpower. This cuts or saves operational cost since it necessitates several different tasks to be performed by an individual. However, there is an important factor that has been overlooked which is directly connected to the systems of operations of a business, and that is the capitalization or investment in employee productivity. Productivity is measured or defined by the output generated by the individual in terms of the goods produced or services rendered. In labor terms, it is usually determined or quantified as the output created by the worker in a certain period of time.

Labor productivity is more often than not misrepresented as an exclusive central component of business operations. Employee productivity does not only shape the mechanism of the business but also affects the entire industry. It is not limited to the execution of tasks in the organization. It also concerns the development of the individual in terms of work and contribution in the industry and society. Multi tasking oftentimes hinder both the productivity and the development of the worker as efficiency, delivery and quality are compromised. Consequently, the worker and organization suffer from the cost of employing such aspect.

The (Over)View of Pluralism

ANTO COMETA

“If pluralism is a valid view, and respect between systems of values which are not necessarily hostile to each other is possible, then toleration and liberal consequences follow, as they do not either from monism (only one set of values is true, all the others are false) or from relativism (my values are mine, yours are yours, and if we clash, too bad, neither of us can claim to be right).”

– Isaiah Berlin

Pluralism holds the view that diversity amongst individuals and groups is a significant factor that is quite essential and beneficial to society. It is defined in the context of liberal democracies wherein the concentration of power should not be exclusively held by a single or group of elites but should be dispersed among the various ideological and economic pressure groups of the society.¹

The players of pluralism referred to as the pressure or interest groups interact with each other in such a way that they may be able to compromise, compete, have a concession and negotiate with each other. The primary objective is for the group’s principle to develop into the dominant interest and to eventually become the majority. However, given the system in which they operate, pressure groups tend to be controlled and confined within the premise of the system itself.

Pressure or interest groups represent the positions of the bloc or people they belong to. These groups act based on the beliefs and common goals that they share with the rest of the faction. The significance of pressure groups is situated in the ideology and manner of influencing the public or liable parties. They seek to convey their causes, advocacies and programs by influencing people or society in general. These groups are entirely different from political parties – Political parties seek to convey their concerns by being elected in public office whereas pressure groups put across their concerns by influencing the public or the different sectors of society through awareness and persuasion.

Antagonism towards other pressure groups could generate instability and disorder within the system. It could be extremely despotic, which could present threat to the current libertarian state of the society or nation. In order to re-establish pluralism, the dominant group should be removed from the system or be replaced by a less domineering group having the same ideology.

¹ Pluralism, http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9060460/pluralism

Rebuilding the Culture of Industrialism in the Philippines

ANTO COMETA

In the early 1980s, the economic condition of the country started to experience a stumbling block that has greatly affected the major sources of the nation’s revenue. This period marked the major decline in Philippine exports in the global market and has also affected the credit rating and borrowing of the country in international financial institutions. The fell of the industrial sector (as well as the agricultural sector) in the country could be attributed to the economic crises that the country has experienced. But was it mainly on these crises that the industrial sector had befallen to its current state? How could we revive an industry that has been in its lowest depth (as far as the country’s condition is concerned) for decades?

Before the 1970s, the country has been exporting primarily raw or semi processed goods such as mineral products. Years after, the country has been exporting manufactured commodities chiefly electronic components and garments.¹ This has boosted the Philippine economy which made the country more affluent compared to the neighboring countries in the region. However, the growth in Philippine industries stagnated – there were no increase in both production and employment. The manufacturing output of the county was cut down because of both political and economic crises in 1983.² By the middle of the period, the current administration then developed economic restructuring programs in order to propel the wobbly industry. The economic plan was then effective which made the industry working at full capacity again. However, the programs implemented not were not sustained or fell short of efficacy on a long term period.

The fall of the industry has evidently affected the labor sector. This increased drastically the rate of unemployment which led to the brutal fact of people going abroad to earn sufficient money for their families. The per capita income of the country was intolerable (actually until now). The 1993 GNP of the country was estimated at $830 having an annual GDP per capita growth of .065% between 1986 and 1993.³ This has increased the percentage of the country’s population below the poverty line.

After a decade, the impact of globalization has significantly aggravated the current condition of the industrial sector in the country. The move towards globalization is not a dreadful economic step. However, the number and share of foreign equities in the business sector compared to local is increasing, thus affecting the domestic businesses in general. Currently, the largest sector in terms of the country’s economic revenue generating component is the services sector. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies constitute the largest part of the services market. Ample number of the labor force in the Philippines is employed in these businesses, majority of which are operated by foreign entities.

There are still industrial businesses that are operating in the country. Although for the most part, these are oligopolistic businesses which are run by a handful of family business tycoons way back the start of industrialization in the country. They have survived by cutting down the cost of their operations – downsizing their manpower and usage of available technology for their businesses.

The attitude and practice of domestic entrepreneurship as well as investing in industrial businesses has been considerably decreasing if not nominal due to the economic impediments and lack of efficient programs, support and policies governing the domestic market. If we were to trace the setback, it started from the crises that the country have faced and has been intensified due to short lived and unsupported domestic economic strategies. If we were to revive the industrial sector, the government should pay much attention to the domestic market concerns. The government should invest more on reviving local industries such as setting limit if not a decrease in the entry of imports and expand the domestic industrial market output and exports. This should be backed up by both fiscal and monetary policies in order to protect and gain confidence that the industrial businesses could still be profitable.

¹ Economy of the Philippines, http://countrystudies.us/philippines/
² The Industry, http://countrystudies.us/philippines/
³ Philippines, http://www.unsystem.org/SCN/archives/rwns94update

The Benefits and Costs of Economy and Economic Growth

ANTO COMETA

The Philippines’ economy over the last 10 years could be referred to as a cyclical unsustainable nation. To be more precise, the economic crises that the country has experienced have ranged for more than a decade, but the last 10 years could be considered as a milestone in the country’s devastating condition.

What are the goods and bads of an economy? In Bertell Ollman’s article – Market Economy: Advantages and Disadvantages¹ he discussed the seven main characteristics of a market economy in which both benefits and costs go together. The first characteristic is that people could buy the goods and services they want (or need) only if they have the money to buy for such. Second, Money is a necessity of life – actually this is a fact that no one could contest. Third, In order to acquire money (to suffice the first characteristic) people are forced to do and sell anything. Fourth, the objective of production and investment is to maximize its profit and not to satisfy the social needs. Fifth, the control over those who produce the wealth of the society is no longer carried out but through money and the conditions of a certain task that an individual accepts in order to earn. Sixth, allocation of limited goods is based on money and not through coupons or the basis of who worked harder and longer as well as who needs more than the other. Lastly, In view of the fact that no individual is held back in doing or trying to become wealthy (except illegal means I guess), people gets the notion that each individual gets what they economically deserve.

Economy or the growth in the economy should lead its people to an elevated or at the least a decent living. Growth is already positive in theory or by definition and ideally it should be, but there are several implications when growth is combined with something that concerns the welfare of people and various institutions, such as a country’s economy.

When we say there’s growth in the economy what are the benefits that the people or the country gets? The primary advantage of the growth in economy in terms of the real GDP Per Capita is that the living standards of people improve. In the aspect of labor and employment, this only means that there’s an increase in the employment or reduction in unemployment. In an ideal economy, labor should be at full employment. According to Milton Friedman,² full employment means the lowest level of unemployment that can be sustained given the structure of the economy.

On the business side, it provides a higher business confidence which gives a positive effect on both local and global stock markets as well as to small and medium enterprises. And as for the government, this only means one thing (or maybe the other which is quite rampant in the country) – greater fiscal dividend. Since economic growth boosts revenue coming from taxes, the government could spend more money to finance (more) projects.

Growth in the economy however, does have several negative impacts or inevitable consequences particularly for third world countries having a market economy such as ours. One of the disadvantages as an economy grows is the risk of inflation. If the demand for the goods and services increase rapidly (thus affecting the cost to go down rapidly as well) in contrast to the long run productive potential, this could put pressure on the interest rates to rise which in results to the loss in the competitiveness of domestic businesses in international markets.

Another, which is directly related and is much applicable in the country’s condition, is that as the economy grows, growth in social-economic inequalities also increases. Unequal distribution of the benefits from the economic growth in terms of profit allocation widens the gap between the people who has the more purchasing power to acquire goods and services as compared to those who have less. The tendency of rich people to become wealthier and the poor increasingly befalls to intolerable poverty. This could also mean increase in gaps between regions in the country which are unreached (or left) by economic reforms and projects as compared to those that are.

At the labor sector end – the risk or increase in workers exploitation. The most feasible movement of businesses to increase its profit is to increase its production and decrease its work force. This could be done either by labor downscale or cut back in employee benefits. Wealth accumulation is a prevalent behavior among the elite (primarily business owners) in order to maintain their stature. Wealth accumulation is a negative behavior and one of its manifestations is the unwillingness to allocate profit to capital. There are several ways to allocate or convert profit into capital. One is to improve the means of production by increasing technology, resources, and manpower. Another is to increase the labor wages to improve employee morale and therefore an increase in production.

The attributes outlined above suggest that in a market economy such as ours, the society’s or the economy’s survival is based on how we could maximize the capacity and resources to generate the means to suffice the necessities (at the least) of individuals (or the nation) and minimize the effects that go along with those.

¹Bertell Ollman, Market Economy: Advantages and Disadvantages, Oct 1999, http://www.nyu.edu/projects/ollman
²Milton Friedman, Natural Rate of Unemployment, http://www.huppi.com

Achieving an Industrialized Philippines

JEFRAN FERNANDEZ BARAQUIO

The failure of the Philippine economy to achieve a full industrialized state is a confluence and a result of political and economic policies that can be traced back to as far as the post war period.

The Philippine post war economic policy is said to have taken the trajectory of Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) —which puts premium in strengthening the locally owned industries catering to a huge domestic market to contain dollar outflow and encourage domestic entrepreneurship (Kuruvilla, 1996). This strategy saw the rise of a new domestic-industrial capital elite; and expanded manufacturing sector which registered growth rates of between 11% to 14% from the late 1940’s to early 1960’s (Toussaint, 2006). On the downside, the dependence from imported capital and technology to sustain this strategy had a negative impact on the balance of payments (BOP) in the 1960’s and onwards (Ofreneo as cited by Kuruvilla, 1996). The IMF-WB provided a short-lived solution (and imposition) to this dilemma by extending “stabilization loan” on condition that the Philippine government adopts an export- oriented industrialization (EOI) by deregulating and opening its economy to unrestricted foreign investments (Bello, et. al. as cited by Kuruvalla, 1996).

The export oriented industrialization (EOI) is an imposition of the IMF-World Bank to the Philippines. It is wedded in the antiquated Ricardian notion of industrialization based from the “comparative advantage of cheap labor”. Under this scheme, the country became the agro export base of Western democracies while suppressing the creation of industries of steel and machine tools—which are necessary for self sustaining economy (Bello, 1981). This strategy further pushed back the Philippine financial status under the Marcos dictatorship. Foreign borrowings ballooned to unimaginable proportion just to keep the economy afloat, without really contributing substantially to the vision of industrialization.

Nothing much had improved from the changes in administration from Marcos to Aquino to Ramos. The share of the Indusry and Manufacturing Sector to the GDP has continuously declined, if not stagnated from the 80’s to the early 2000, and so as the employment from these said sectors. Imports remain high, and this is not accompanied by strong figures in exports —thus resulting to imbalance in trade. The country’s savings rate remains weak and can not support infrastructure requirement of the growing economy. And all these compounded by rampant bureaucrat capitalism in all levels of government (Diokno, 1988).

The question remains – what does it take for the Philippines to achieve an industrialize state. The basic fundamentals should be strong for the “leapfrogging” to happen. The Medium Term Development Plan pegged that the Philippines should register at least 8.0% to 8.5% annual GDP/GNP (MTDP Report at www.NEDA.org.ph). The Asian Development Bank (ADB) reinforced this sentiment by saying that the Philippine economy should grow continuously by 8% for two decades to achieve ICT status. Central to this proposition is modernizing agriculture and service sectors AND simultaneously upgrading homegrown but globally competitive industries (housing, coco chemical); and finding niche opportunities in biotech, maritime, pharmaceuticals industries among others. Equally important is the upgrading of technological capabilities on a sustained basis (The Blueprint @ www.pcij.org.ph). This is to support and/or prime modernization efforts in agriculture and industry sectors.

The Agriculture Sector has remained in the feudal age. It is necessary that meaningful agrarian reform should take place. In addition, resources should be mobilized to pump in technologies in terms of irrigation system, post harvest facilities, and support infrastructure. The peasants should have access to credit and financing institutions to increase productivity and to encourage small to medium capital formation. As for the industries, direct investments both local and foreign are still needed to spur industrial activity. These however, should have “strong linkages to existing domestic industries (The Blueprint 2 www.pcij.org.ph). Another significant point is to close in trade deficits. Diokno asserted that this simply increasing export output vis-à-vis import (Diokno, 1998). Import dependency should be minimized specially for consumer goods that can be substituted by domestic industries.

In terms of labor and employment creation, the economy must have the capacity to create high quality sustainable jobs in all sectors. In addition, the government should promote industrial harmony for two reasons —1. regular dialogues between labor and management to encourage long term investment and increased productivity; and 2. it promotes settlement of disputes thru arbitration and conciliation (The Blueprint @ www.pcij.org.ph).

On top of all of these is the key role of Government and its institutions in ensuring better governance. Better governance where people has the capacity to enjoy life and “government output of Public Goods” which include economic sustainability, law and order, public infrastructure, and basic services (Diokno, 1998).

Bibliography

1. Bello, Walden, Building on Martial Law, 1981.

2. Bello, Walden, et.al. Development Debacle. IMF-WB in the Philippines, 1988.

3. Diokno, Benjamin, Macroeconomic Challenges Facing the Philippines’ Industrialization Drive. Development Research News, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, 1998.

4. Kuruvilla, Sarush, Linkages Between Industrialization Strategies and Industrial Relations/Human Resource Policies: Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, & India. Collective Bargaining, Labor Law, & Labor History, Cornell University, 1996.

5. MTDP @ www.neda.org.ph

6. Project Blueprint for a Viable Philippine Situation. www.pcij.org

7. Toussaint, Eric, The World Bank and the Philippines @ www.cadtm.org. 15 January 2006.

Best Way of Labor Fixing in the Philippines

GRACEY CORIAGE

Minimum wage rate – refers to the lowest basic wage rates that an employer can pay his workers, as fixed by the board, which shall not be lower than the applicable statutory minimum wage rates. (Article 121 (C) of the labor code amended by R.A. 6727)

Labor cost – represents all costs incurred by the employer in the employment of labor. Specifically, it covers “remuneration for work performed, payments in respect of time paid for but not worked, bonuses and gratuities, the costs of food, drink and other payments in kind, cost of workers’ housing borne by employers, employer’s social security expenditures, cost to the employer for vocational training, welfare services and miscellaneous items such as transport of workers, work clothes and recruitment, together with taxes. BLES (Labstat vol. 8 No. 15 October 2004)

We may determine wage fixing Under the Article 121 (C) of the Labor Code as amended by R.A. 6727 under Rule II section 2 states some standards and criteria for Minimum Wage fixing which is being characterized into four major groups:

Needs of workers and their families

1. Demand for Living wages
2. Wage adjustment vis-a –vis the consumer price index
3. Cost of Living and changes therein
4. Needs of workers and their Families
5. Improvements in standards of living

Comparable Wages

1. Prevailing wage levels

Capacity to pay of employers/Industry

1. Fair return on capital invested and capacity to pay employers
2. Productivity

Requirements for national development

1. Effects on employment generation and family income
2. Equitable distribution of income and wealth along the imperatives of economic and social development
3. Need to induce industries to invest in the countryside

The increase in Minimum Wage has been a battle cry for all Filipino people in the employment sector. This has long been a dilemma for people in the government to fix the wage system of the Philippines. The minimum wage set by the government given by employers both in some private and public sector cannot suffice the daily cost of living for the family of 6 or more of a minimum wage earner of the society. It also affected those who assumed the position of being the “bread winner”. Defining Living wage which refers to the amount of family income needed to provide for the family’s food and non – expenditures with sufficient allowance for the savings/investments for the social security so as to enable the family to live and maintain a decent standard of human existence beyond mere subsistence level, taking into account all of the family’s physiological and other needs. Given both terminologies – Does this coincide to a more ideal “living wage” a family should have?

We may correlate the meaning of “Living wages” to that of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs where in it must be attained first and satisfied before continuing to the next. Level one of this need is the physiological needs which are the following: food, clothing and shelter. To be able to sustain this need you must be in a level or capacity to do so. How will these needs be met by a minimum wage earner if we based it on the statistics sited as of June 2006 a person residing in metro manila (NCR) is earning P350 as his minimum wage which on a daily basis a family living wage should be P780. We may observe based on the given facts that there is difference of P430. The increase in minimum wage of P350 (P300 as basic salary + P50 for COLA) too many was “salvation” for people who is receiving minimum wage. On the contrary based on the given facts is still insufficient for decent livings were some families out there who don’t even have three meals a day. It cannot even sent an ailing member of the family to private hospital with a first class in technology because of that they will settle for public hospital or clinic that at times scarce in hospital equipment.

Wage fixing is a very rigorous process to do because it will entail the participation of the government and employment sector both in private and public. In accordance to these changes it results to strikes held nationwide if these said changes are not applicable to the labor sector. The outcome of course must be favorable to both parties as well. The best way of wage fixing that we can use as a tool in changing our set of implemented rules and regulations are as follows:

1. It lies on how the government determines what their people needs. The guidelines were being implemented by RTWPB. They implemented guidelines that dictate economic impact it will do to the country but never did they equate the purchasing power of each individual.

2. If RTWPB implemented criteria for wage fixing the government should find ways to regulate the increase of prices that the world market dictates of things that the country is dependent on. This way the minimum wage will still be applicable for many parts of the archipelago.

3. Fixing wages should not be based on the employers’ capacity to pay but on the capacity of the worker to provide for himself and his family the basic necessities at the very least.

4. The government may try to look in adapting the Keynesian analysis in determining the supply and demand curve of the Philippine Setting.

Resources:

1. http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_02_maslow.html
2. http://www.bulatlat.com/news/6-22/6-22-wages.htm
3. http://www.dole.gov.ph/faq/details.asp?id=F0000192

Q1 2007 Brief Situationer

JEFRAN FERNANDEZ BARAQUIO

The latest Quarter 1 report from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) pegged the Philippine GDP/GNP growth at 6.6%/6.9%, with the Net Income Factor from Abroad at 3.6%. The Service Sector is the primary driver of the growth, contributing to about 9.1%, followed by the Industry Sector at 5.3%, and the Agriculture/Fishery/Forestry Sector contributing the least at 4.2% (NEDA Report at www.neda.gov.ph).

The seemingly rosy picture of the overall Philippine economy is misleading. A closer look on the data will reveal that the growth is in sectors that are not structurally tied-up to the Philippine economy. The Agricultural Sub-Sector, which only churned out 4.1% growth for Q1, has consistently grown more slowly than the rest of the economy. It has grown slower in all, but two quarters in the past two years. (NEDA Report at www.neda.gov.ph), and this has resulted to a drag in the overall economic performance.

Statistics will show that at present, there is about 3 to 4 million jobless Filipinos, who are mostly under 35 years old, under-educated (have not finished high school), and are domiciled in the rural areas (Habito, PDI, May 2007). Statistics will likewise tell us that about one-third of the current jobs in the economy are employed by the Agriculture and Agriculture related Sectors (NSCB Report at www.nscb.gov.ph). Juxtaposing the two will tell us that the economic performance of the said sector in particular, and the total Philippine economic growth in general could have been more meaningful had it created more substantial number of jobs.

The total unemployment rate looks discouraging and is continuously high. This remains to be the biggest failure of the present administration despite of the very good numbers of the GDP/GNP. Except for the minute increase in Agriculture, the Service and Industry Sectors employment data show that the number of individuals employed has significantly declined (as of Q4 2006, NSCB Data at www.nscb.gov.ph). Recent data suggest that the Philippines has a 51% employment-to population ratio — or about only 5 out of 10 Filipinos of working age can land a job. The 6.6% / 6.9% growth is not good enough to generate enough jobs to absorb the fast growing working-age-population which is estimated to be about half million every year.

While it maybe correct to say that the Call Centers and BPOs contributed significantly in job creation, this is very unreliable since it is easily affected by swings of both internal and external economies. For instance (and with all due respect), if Indians get rid of their accents, call centers will shift immediately. Or if the Chinese get their “Ls” right instead of “R”, imagine the shift? This is what it means of the prior assertion that growth, in this case, job creation, is not structurally tied to the Philippine economy. And that there is a need to address abruptly the mismatch between opportunities of employment in this service sector, and upgrading skills and competencies of the jobless.

In addition to the unemployment crisis, the country is likewise to contend with the surging underemployment. Recent data suggest that as of April of 2007, underemployment rate stands at 18.9%, and specifically with the visible underemployed –the proportion of part time workers wanting additional working hours, has been increasing for the past years. In absolute terms, there is 6.4 million underemployed, 4.2 million of which is visible underemployed (DG Romulo Neri at www.neda.gov.ph). This phenomenon is indicative of growing poverty incidence. Underemployed are very susceptible in becoming poor due to insufficient income to pull up their family into the poverty threshold. The Regional Data on Poverty Incidence further show that indeed, regions with high underemployment rate (rather than unemployment rates) tend to have relatively higher poverty incidences (NSCB Report at www.nscb.gov.ph). It is more likely that poor families are found among the underemployed for the simple reason that they can not afford to be unemployed.

Another point worth noting, based from the Q1 NEDA GDP/GNP Report is to cross check the Industrial Origin vis-à-vis the Expenditure Shares. The latter shows who is spending (which is important) that makes the economy running. Nothing much can be said about these items as they all posted mediocre performance (some are even negative) versus last year (NEDA Report at www.neda.gov.ph). Personal Consumption which includes Household Expenditures is expected to be low. As discussed earlier, joblessness and underemployment is a problem. And even for those holding a stable job, these individuals have to contend with issues of limited and non-expanding salaries— thus less consumption that resulted to less economic activity.

Government Consumption is up by more than double versus 2006 average (NEDA Report at www.neda.gov.ph). But this can be attributed to interest payments to foreign creditors. Capital formation is low for both public and private, and these are not good signs as these have negative effects in future growth and job creation. With a close to zero growth of capital outflow, the Philippine economy will remain to be stagnant. And this will again impact negatively on the issues of unemployment and under employment (Diokno-Pascual, et.al, at www.PCIJ.org/iREPORT, 2006).

Not all have gone really bad in the Philippine economy. The strengthening of the Peso versus the Greenbucks is yielding positive results. Exports are up as always (NEDA Report at www.neda.gov.ph), but surprisingly high considering that the Peso appreciated so much for the past 12 months — thus making our products more expensive—exports should have significantly slowed down. This could only mean that the country’s exports are really good. And while it is not ultimately good nor ultimately bad, the only other positive point that’s keeping the Philippine economy afloat is the remittances of the OFWs abroad. Human resource is the country’s prime export product. And this is helping the government in preventing a “wholesale economic collapse” (Pascual-Diokno et.al at www.PCIJ.org/iREPORT,2006).

Beyond the numbers of the Q1 report, one is not required to look farther to assess the current state of Philippine economy. The delivery of social services remains to be the least priority of the current administration as evidenced by—the perennial problems of lack of classrooms, books, and teachers every opening of classes; disaster preparedness which is really a disaster; the recently concluded election marred with fraud and violence; rising costs of basic commodities; graft and corruption; growing poverty and under/unemployment; and the general sentiment of helplessness of the greater number of the Philippine population.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Habito, Cielito, No Free Lunch ”Agriculture and Job Creation” , business.inq7.net, Last Updated 20 May 2007

www.neda.gov.ph
1. DG Romulo Neri Q1 report to PGMA
2. Q1 GDP/GNP Report

www.nscb.gov.ph
3. NSCB Annual Per Capita Poverty Threshold Per Province 2006-2007
4. NSCB FAQs on the Official Poverty Statistics of the Philippines
5. NSCB First Quarter National Account Press Release
6. NSCB MDG Indicators
7. NSCB Statistics Labor and Employment April

www.PCIJ.org/iREPORT
8. Diokno-Pascual, et. al, The Economy, Walking on the Knife’s Edge,2006

Synopsis of John Dunlop’s Industrial Relations Systems

ANTO COMETA

John Dunlop’s analysis and study in the concepts, structure, function, practices, outcome and the institution that are constitutive of the employment relationship have paved the way in the establishment of a main framework of an industrial relations system.

According to Dunlop, the system is composed of three main actors and their organizations, the context or setting in which they interact, the common ideology held by the actors and the body of rules that govern the system. These are the fundamental components that shape or outline the industrial relations system in which they belong to.

The actors – hierarchy of managers, the hierarchy of workers and the specialized government agencies are the central personas in an industrial system. The interaction and relationship within the three creates the set of rules of the workplace or the principles of the system. Establishment (and development) of the set of rules is the focus of an industrial relations system. The body of rules in the system administers the actors in the place of work. The function of experts and professionals are very crucial in order to establish and govern the body of rules in the system. This are organized and consists of (a) procedure and authority for making rules (b) substantive rules – related to market or budgetary constraints and related to distribution of power in larger society such as compensation, duties and discipline as well as the rules of discipline and (c) administration of rules governing work place and the work community which involves policies of management hierarchy, laws of worker hierarchy, regulations / decisions/ orders by government agencies, collective bargaining agreements and the customs and traditions of work place and work community.

The entire industrial relations system becomes (or mandated to be) stable because of the common ideology or beliefs shared by the three actors of the industrial relations system. It should be fitting and consistent to allow a mutual set of ideas that identifies an acceptable role for each actor. This also characterizes and delineates both the position and function of each in the entire system or their relationship with the rest of the actors. These set of ideas or beliefs are the factors that integrate the system as a unit. Displacement of the existing ideological equilibrium takes place when a belief has a significant modification. Accordingly, this will create a new position or set of rules within the entire system.

The system operates within or prescribed by technology, product markets as well as the locus and distribution or power in society. These are the contexts or environments in which the main actors interact. The technological characteristics of the place of work may influence the type of management of a particular work community as well as the organization of its workers. Moreover, this may also dictate the required labor force of the organization, the requirement for supervision and possible regulation of the government or government agencies. Product markets for the most part affect management group, however, this is dependent on the type of system in which it operates. The distribution of power is not within the confine of the industrial relations system. This operates outside of the system yet influences the key actors of the system itself. These are types of power orientation or authority that has direct influence over the key actors.

The industrial relations system necessitates unison, interdependency and equilibrium of the components. Even if the balance in the system is displaced, it would be re-established on condition that no major alteration would occur in the actors, contexts and shared ideology.

Re-establishing the Culture of Industrialism in the Philippines

GRACEY CORIAGE

Industrialism – An economic and social system based on the development of large-scale industries and marked by the production of large quantities of inexpensive manufactured goods and the concentration of employment in urban factories.

It was in the year 1980 that there was industrial restructuring. These were the times that most industries are on the verge of downsizing, relocations and even shut down. Mergers and acquisition is the best remedy for such industries to continue. Demands for a more “flexible” workforce were being imposed in the labor market and not only has that demanded for fewer government restrictions on production and employment practices. These industrial restructuring resulted to growing inequality and between countries of the world. Being part of the Third World Country the industry in the Philippines has always been a big challenge. If we compare this to the so called “Asian tigers” of the archipelago such as Singapore, Hongkong, Taiwan, and Korea not to mention the communist china our country is really way behind the race. Globalization improved the economy of our country in some ways on the area of outsourcing businesses.

The industries of the Philippines in the areas of Manufacturing, Mining, Energy and Tourism Had had been declining over the years. Government I guess plays a major role in the declining of this industry let’s have an overview of some of the said industries to prove some points.

Based on the site that I visited it states that Manufacturing Industry during the year 1985 it has declined to as low as 40 percent in capacity. The production is only concentrated from Metro Manila to most regions of Southern Tagalog and Central Luzon. The investment in small and medium – sized firms of handicrafts, furniture, electronics, garments, footwear and canned goods are coming mostly outside of metro manila particularly in Cebu and Davao City. The year 1990 pave way for the Oligopolistic role of ownership where a single firm has control over all players in the industry which contributed to only 25 percent of the value.

The Mining Industry on the other hand contributed 1.5 percent in GNP because of the rising in operational costs and a depressed market has affected the industry which Mining operations suffered from labor disputes, higher mandated wages, higher interest rates, typhoons, an earthquake, and power shortages which results to the foreclosure of Nonoc Mining and Industrial Corporation. We also impressions have to consider the Energy Industry which also suffered because of inadequate planning and bureaucratic delays which of course results to decreasing in the output of some industries that will have again a domino effect in our revenues. If my memory serves me right there was time during the Aquino regime that we experienced long hours of power shortages through out the country and also we experience an exorbitant price in power consumption.

As for the Tourism industry, it also suffered in a way in terms of promoting the country for some investors to come in. Because I remember there was a time that the people from the provinces move in to manila to find a job so that they alleviate their cost of living up until the time that manila became congested that shanties keep “sprouting like mushroom” in different areas of the archipelago and the pollution as well as the increase in the number of crimes being flashed on television and in the broadsheets. This became a bad apple in promoting our country.

A brief overview of each industry made me think of the question given.

How do we rebuild our culture of industrialism?

Rebuilding our culture of industrialism entails a lot of participation and cooperation of each individual in the society. This also entails the participation of the government sector of the country to have strict implementation of rules and regulations in regards to each industry.

• Strict implementation of policies imposed on each particular industry set by the government.
• A cultural awareness that enables Filipino people to value our natural resources. This will result to proper usage of raw materials being used in some industries that needs it.
• A policy to regulate the importation of goods from other countries specifically china. This will resort to people buying our own products.
• To provide free technical and vocational skills to those people who have limited means of such.
• To enhance and develop technical and vocational skills by providing a budget for all learning institution that provides courses for such industries.
• Hone the skills of those people that are part of the said industries by providing trainings.
• Government should invest on trainings to areas that need further learning in terms of sending them to countries to acquire knowledge on any particular field of industry of their choice.
• Promote ingenuity and innovativeness by giving incentives or rewards to people
• To urge investors to capitalize more on the area of handicrafts, furniture making and others.

Resources:

http://countrystudies.us/philippines/
http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/sociology//pdfs/SOC366-Chp1 (Jan10-17,07).pdf

The Present Philippine Economic Condition

GRACEY CORIAGE

Economy

Refers to the human activities related with the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services.¹

For the past decades, Presidents of the country from Former President Corazon Aquino to President Fidel V. Ramos to media frenzy ousted President Joseph Estrada and now the incumbent President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for which all presidents made mentioned in their State of the Nation Address (SONA) the country’s economic growth. This has also been a part of debates from all walks of life.

Is the Economy Growing or Groaning?

The Economy of the country has always been a struggle. It is a struggle and challenge to the president serving the country. I made mention the fluctuation in the local currency with the high in prices of commodities and electric consumption. Oil and gas price hike in the world market that permits increase in our daily cost of living. We may add the political turmoil that plagues our government ever since.

In spite of all the things have been said and on what’s happening around us, I should say for the year 2007 the economy is picking up – it is growing. Based on the article posted thru GMA.T.v by Ms. Patricia De Leon quoted below:

“The Philippines on a roll,” President Arroyo said.

“This is the fastest phase in almost two decades. 9.1 percent growth in services; 5.3 percent in industries; 4.2 percent in agriculture. We have also gained from the tripling of investments in economic zones and priority sectors,” she added.”

Pro administration and the Opposition like wise as to say on the recent development in the Philippine Economy. High Economic growth was basically a shocked to all of us. The increase in Gross Domestic Product Of 6.9% for the first quarter indicates that the Philippines are really picking its way up.

(GDP – is one of the ways for measuring the size of its economy. The GDP of a country is defined as the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time.²

Based on the article that I read which tackles about the flight of the Peso in the Market (Philippine Stock Exchange).

“Stock market is an important component of the “leading economic indicators.” that means, what happens in the stock exchange becomes clearly evident in economic numbers several months down the road.³

True to the fact that Stock market has the numbers to show. The exchange rate of the Peso versus the dollar at 46.010 made way for the Influx of foreign investors to the country to try again and invest for believing in the confidence of the economy. The return of investment in terms of revenues will benefit both parties and will provide jobs to unemployed Filipino through out the archipelago. This investment will be in a form of rising job opportunities in the service sector specifically call centers, BPO and many outsourcing companies that will provide employment to fresh graduates and also to underemployment Filipinos. If again the trend in the economy will continue and will be sturdy for the rest of the year this will also prevent migration of Doctors and Nurses. According to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III he said that “the continued growth of the country’s domestic product (GDP), which rose to a 17-year high at 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2007, will help encourage Filipino doctors not to try out working overseas. Filipino doctors have reasons to stay and work in the country’s private and public hospitals.”

This migration really has to stop; Because of these developments we can convince our health practitioners and other Filipinos who wants to work aboard is to just stay here and serve our people and to promote the sense of patriotism. Further more another domino effect in terms of the flight of peso in the stock market will be in a form of roll backs in price hikes as well as decrease in prices in commodities. The recent positive outcome I heard over the news the other day is that Manila Water Works will lower the rate in consumption effective July 1. If the trend will continue for the succeeding months Filipino people through out the country will now have the capacity to save more and a lot such expenses to other things. In addition to that, OFW remittances contribute in the surge of the peso as well. One factor is the increase in bank lending this also means that there is economic activity going on. BSP reported that lending to the wholesale and retail trade sector as well as the transportation, storage and communications sector grew by 14.3 percent each. “The rising volume of funds being channeled to the services sector reflects the evolving structure of economic activity which has increasingly relied on services as a key driver for growth,” the BSP said.

To end such a very Challenging piece of point view – Is it good or bad? The answer is the former and not the latter. The change the Philippines are experiencing right now in terms of economic growth is a good sign. The Growth was back up by the strong performances of Trade, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Fishery and Private Services. On the expenditure side, main growth drivers were higher household spending, exports of goods and services, and government consumption.⁴

These results to more investments, infrastructure, jobs and it will also enable Filipinos to alleviate their standards of living. It is a sign that the country is slowly but surely rising up for the first time in at least a decade. The facts show that.

¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy
³ http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/06052007/opinion02.html
⁴ http://www.nscb.gov.ph/sna/2007/1stQ2007/2007qpr1.asp