Confounding investors

If there is one thing the Philippine government is an expert at, it is shooting itself in the foot and continually changing the rules of the game for foreign and local investors, so much so that we continue to be an economic laggard in the Southeast Asian region, with investors wary of our wishy-washy economic policies.

- MARIANNE GO

This penchant of the government to revise its economic policies has resulted in the failure of our country to build a strong industrial sector in terms of manufacturing, transportation, distribution, mining, shipping and construction.

We have likewise not been able to build competitive technology, health care, consumer staples, energy and utilities sectors either, relying instead on attracting foreign investors while regularly changing the rules of the game.

Even our agriculture sector is in such a sorry state that we cannot ensure our own food security in terms of our staple grain — rice — and must import from our neighbors.

We are barely self-sufficient in chicken and pork production and mostly dependent on beef and dairy imports since we do not raise any significant amount of cattle even for our meat or dairy requirements.

Our lack of a strong industrial base thus makes us vulnerable in terms of trade, with our only strength in the export of our valuable human resources — adaptable, hardworking and educated overseas Filipino workers.

No wonder foreign investors and foreign investments continue to avoid us and head to our neighboring Asian and ASEAN competitors.

Our economic policy in the past has been myopic and protectionist, afraid of foreign competition — which has only made our products inferior and uncompetitive rather than innovative.

And when we do manage to get something right, such as with our telecommunications sector, our government finds another way to shoot itself in the foot again.