Our economic elites

We have reached a point where depending mainly on the government to lift our nation from the pits is no longer realistic. Every Filipino with the ability and resources to do something that will make a positive difference should not hesitate to do so.

- BOO CHANCO

Our economic elite, the less than one percent of our population that has cornered much of the nation's wealth, should take heed. They are historically responsible for making the country's economy the mess it has now become.

History tells us why we were overtaken by war-torn countries like South Korea and Vietnam. Our economy was second only to Japan for the longest time, but we lost that because we have an economic and political elite that's so greedy that they prevented our economy from becoming internationally competitive.

Our elites were largely rent-seekers. They cultivated politicians who granted them favors, providing unfair advantages that their potential competitors, local or foreign, could not overcome. Corruption, of course, was involved. Our elite bankrolled the public careers of their favored politicians - something that's still happening now.

During the time of the late president Carlos Garcia, they launched a Filipino First policy that focused on import-substitution industrialization. That called for high tariff walls to protect the Filipino elites from world-quality competition. Then these so-called Filipino industrialists produced shoddy and expensive products that shortchanged the consumers.

We had a steel industry that was in the business of merely importing steel in coils, which they cut into roofing sizes and added the curls like beauty parlors. Calling them a steel industry is an exaggeration. And even when the government financially supported what was claimed to be an integrated steel mill, it failed because its management standards and the cost of its products prevented it from being competitive.