In an ever growing and rapidly changing world, where globilization, economic, technological, social, multicultural and fast growing economies/communities from around the globe are expanding exponentially, I've always wondered what changes, if any, the Philippines can due right now to ensure a future were it is capable of competing with other countries (surviving) and not be left in the dust struggling to make ends meet. ( and since now we are considered a NIC [newly industrialized country] ::sigh of relief:: it's a small sigh of relief to be considered NIC instead of a "third world country" although this is still debatable.

Anyway, just out of curiousity, what do you guys think the Philippines should do in the next couple of years to make itself more complete and be able to compete at least in some sectors in the global market?

I am myself a Filipino (Fil-Am) who hasn't been home for 21 years, so any feedback on the economy, social and technological stance we be much appreciated. In my opinion, 3 main topics must be addressed and hopefully inacted ASAP. They are:

1. Education (MOST IMPORTANT)

I think as a whole, we fall behind in terms of academic achievement in relation to other countries. I really think that by investing heavily on future generations, we would get rid of such ugly things like the poor and rich disparity gap amongst other things. If we focus our energy and a good percentage of available money into improving our education at all levels (elementary - college) and making it also accesible and affordable for everyone, the "hole" we are currently in will disappear.

2. Inject some national pride

I've been hurt many times by the way Filipinos and even Fil-Ams view each other. What's up with this whole Illokano vs. Tagalog vs. Visaya vs. Fil-Am etc. Aren't we on the same boat? I've also noticed alot the social ladder that befalls many pinoys. For example, we physically judge people by their looks. Spanish or American looking people are "better" persay because they have western features and a light skin tone compared to many flat nosed, dark and short filipinos. Colonial mentality needs to be abolished and we need to educate everyone that whether we are dark, light, visaya, illokano, tagalog, cebuano we are all FILIPINO. We need people to inject some pride so we feel proud of our heritage and be proud to say it out loud that we are who we are. No more I'm spanish, chinese AND filipino. WTF? We are FILIPINO. We need to get rid of this inferiority and CRAB complex and learn to treat each other equally instead of trying to pull each other down. "If people learn to love their country, they will always try to ensure its survival"

[On the side note, we should retain our "hospitality" but make sure we aren't seen as "pushovers" since we are sooo nice]

3. Fix Infrastructure/utilize resources

One great example of infrastructure planning that I have recently studied is Makati. Just like Orange County here in California, it is a PLANNED city-so streets, buildings, roads, transportation etc. run more fluid because people outlined things beforehand. I've also read that traffic in the philippines is #1 in the world. If thats the case, that can literally be billions of lost pesos a year due to idleness and stagnant work. In essence, we need to fix the national debt, fix labor wages, improve productivity, rely more on BPO instead of being an agricultural nation, interact more with world markets instead of domestic ones, and most importantly (IMO) try a export-driven market were LABOR-MANAGEMENT (IE the government and the people) are in accord and to not hinder each other but instead work as a team. Lastly, utilizing our natural resources effectively would greatly help in the GDP and economic output of the PI, and would result in a high efficiency society.



What do you guys think?

Appropriate a bigger slice of the annual national budget for education. Development is man made but the more educated your people are the better quality of development they will produce. As it is, a major chunk of our national budget is being used to pay up our national debt and very small percentage is appropriated for education.

Have the political will to minimize corruption. I did not say eradicate because corruption is well entrenched in our culture such that eradicating it is like asking for the moon.

I really hope that a charismatic leader with a good grasp of the economy and isn't corrupt will be elected as president in the future. PGMA has all the correct policies but the problem is she is taited with corruption.

I agree.

4) ban speedy.

hey u....

1. EDUCATION - I think our education is fine. Of course, it can always be upgraded. It all comes down to what a person who just graduated can do with that education. Philippines dont really have the environment for people with education to grow and make alot of money and thats why people go to other countries. To do that, we have to BRING IN money in the philippines so we can have a better chance to create and better INDUSTRIES.

2. NATIONAL PRIDE - Yeah, a little more NATIONAL pride is always good but I dont think that is the problem. I think what the problem is people having lack of information about our own history and thats why people are so confused. And then you have this inferiority complex which results this bisaya vs tagalog or whatever. That is an individual issue. I really dont think this is vital for our success because we can have all the national pride in the world and still be broke.

3. INFRASTRUCTURE - I mean yeah sure. Buildings can look a little more better, roads definitely needs to be fixed . But really with so many people travelling around one small city, you just cant help but have traffic.

4. BETTER BUSINESS MOVES - For the country to become better off, the government really NEEDS to fund projects that aims to sell product on a international level. And they need to stop hiring fukers from outside the country that filipinos can do. They are giving out BILLIONS of dollars to foreign businesses.

5. FOREIGN OWNERSHIPS - They need to start taxing the hell out of these fuks who start business in our country because they are taking ALOT of money out of our hands. You have Indian nationals owning call centers. You have korean nationals owning spa's, restaurants, hotels etc. You have chinese nationals(not chinese people who have geniunely love and lives in the philippines)that can give a fuk about philippines owning everything. You have other people owning our oil resources. I am not being racist or anything but damn, we should be the ones making the money in our own land not somebody else's.

6. CORRUPTION - This is the one thing that is holding as back big time. This is why there are SO MANY poor people out there. This is why our system is how it is today. One corrupt move can set off a long chain reaction that will keep holding the people back. And its unfortunate that almost everybody that are in the position to corrupt do corrupt things. To clean it up we need a strong authority with a strong force so we can fix this. Without this, we will always be in square one.

7. OVERPOPULATION - People need to be taught how to use condoms..... lol..

[quote name='Iki' date='Jan 11 2008, 03:58 AM' post='3418490']

[1. In regards to this comment, there is a direct relationship between success within a countries economy when is concerns how well people learn academically. Just for your information, look up how well the Philippines stacks compared against other nations (especially those who are first world or developed nations... US, SKorea, China, Hong Kong, all developed nations top the score boards. Coincidence? The education or values that one generation has will ultimately effect the way our economy runs). If we are uneducated about technologies and sciences and are left behind because of our lack of understanding, its inevitable that we will become worse. I do agree alot of filipinos dont grow up in an enviroment were money isn't plentiful and so obviously we need to bring in more money, up the pay and whatnot, which ties in with the government and how they need to cooperate with workers instead of undermining each others abilities.



[2. When you're talking about national pride, I read here somewhere before that if we don't know our history, its hard to feel like "someone" because we are unaware of who we are. I agree with that. What i'm trying to get at is instead of trying to belittle each other, we should unite as one. None of this I'm better than you because of my physical characteristics or because I'm from Forbes Park and you're from the barrio. And regarding this inferiority complex, it can't be an individual issue. It has to be a national issue- It's been imbeded and ingrained into our minds ever since. (I remember reading an article from Yes! Magazine (mind you its my mom's ^_^) and it always mention in this exact order "_____ who is Spanish Filipino or _______ who is spanish, chinese filipino) why do we need to put spanish, chinese or w/e infront of filipino; obviously its an inferiority complex passed down and sealed into our brains. I've always heard stuff like that even when I was younger. "Use Likas or papaya soap" so you're lighter. My grandparents have also talked about colonial mentality. It's been a generation thing for a long long time...

3. INFRASTRUCTURE - I mean yeah sure. Buildings can look a little more better, roads definitely needs to be fixed . But really with so many people travelling around one small city, you just cant help but have traffic.

[3. That's what I mean. Aesthetically speaking, of course having nicer buildings and a better scenic feel of a city would be good, not to mention it will also attract foreign business and most importantly TOURISM. What I'm trying to get at is do you really think that the roads and transportation of the PI is adequate in the near future? With the population growing at almost 10 fold, how do you think traffic will be in the near future? If we don't fix things now, by the time we are married, our kids will be clogged in congested traffic and other problems. And its natural for people to go to places that are tidy and clean, not clogged with traffic jams, outdated street and buildings, and poor transportation system.

[4. I agree that the government needs to fund projects aimed directly at supporting filipinos through business transactions @ the international level. Regarding foreigners who are hired, it makes sense that you would hire people from the global business market to run things-they have alot more experience and have experienced these things alot more than their filipino counterparts who are more likely trained for the domestic level-not the international level. What I see is an option is for the philippine government to learn from these so called outsiders and teach these skills to filipinos. Or, let our government encourage filipinos to work outside the PI and learn valuable skills from other countries and assure them if they work back in the PI, they will get a good paying job and some incentives. [What i'm trying to say is, we need skills outside our boundaries, and we can either go out there and get it or learn from people who already have it and apply it]

5. FOREIGN OWNERSHIPS - They need to start taxing the hell out of these fuks who start business in our country because they are taking ALOT of money out of our hands. You have Indian nationals owning call centers. You have korean nationals owning spa's, restaurants, hotels etc. You have chinese nationals(not chinese people who have geniunely love and lives in the philippines)that can give a fuk about philippines owning everything. You have other people owning our oil resources. I am not being racist or anything but damn, we should be the ones making the money in our own land not somebody else's.

[5. I think this can go both ways. If you tax foreigners TOO MUCH, they will leave. They shouldn't be penalized because they are not ethnic filipino. I've also heard that Skorea is now opening alot of doors to do business with small and medium sized businesses throughout the philippines. If you tax foreigners too high, they will be discouraged and feel "cheated." Also, even if foreigners are opening businesses in the PHilippines, that doesn't mean they are the only ones who benefit. I 've read online that the Korean population alone generates more than 1 billion dollars to the philippine economy. China and the US with their big companies like intel and texas instruments are also looking to the philippines for expansion because of the attractiveness of the philippines, but its location in Asia. We are really like a beacon for good businesses from around the globe. Shipbuilding because of our oceans, property buying since we have alot of unused land etc... Tourism because of our beaches and most importantly, people are attracted to the FILIPINO people because of our world reknowned hospitality and our generally friendliness.

[6. I always hear people talking about corruption. I know this is a really big factor. Can you guys elaborate more on this? I've also heard that although GMP has driven the economy up to a national high of about 7% growth for the fiscal year of 2007, her people are corrupt.

Lastly

I don't wish to be reprimanded about this, but I do think the population of the philippines should stabilize. No offense (really) but for some reason if I heard that the philippines would have as much people as CHina by lets say 2050 I would feel queasy. they should enact laws to prohibit more than X amount of children. And I say this mainly because poverty is already widespread, and the more people born into poverty obviously the country will suffer. (if this is vague, I can elaborate more later--this is a main idea learned in sociology regarding rich/poor)

http://www.colaycofoundation1.com/news.html

http://www.colaycofoundation1.com/news.html#betterside

I hope this provides some insight on our country and give ideas on what we can do to improve on this and many other aspects of our economy and society.

It's kind of a statistical reality that when a country progresses, the population growth stabilizes. When parents are successful, its usually hard for them to find time raising kids. Big families are usually poor, which means each child will have less resources for themselves. So it makes sense to educate the public.

But, I do agree in population control. But I disagree in limiting the number of Children couples are allowed to have. I believe in a program of Family Planning, and promoting Sexual Education - In these areas the Catholic Church is really a hindrance.

Our population will naturally stabilize when we become a developed nation, but right now, we have to have Family Planning and Education - screw what the Catholic Church says, because what is good for the state should always come first.

generally

the poorer the country the more baby boom they have....

the richer they are, baby booming is kinda controlled
just look at europe, they're having baby problems
kinda opposite with pinas

there was this news that u get to recieve cash in germany for giving birth to babies...

not only that bro. But in Europe some places have Maternal leave for about 2 years. Yeah, and the Father can even use up some of that time as well.
Europe is the sht. While I'm busting my as$ here in the U.S. 25-40 hours/week, and going to school at the same time. These Europeans have it easy with 32 work weeks, paid vacactions, and free Colleges in some places. Not to Mention Universal Health Care!
Prisons are free, Colleges should be free too, provided one can do the work.

wauw you dont have that in the states
yeah the only thing i have to pay for is dentist(18+)... college is free bs-phd and you get paid to study every month if youre 18+

i dunno. im thinkin pinas should turn into like a tropical playland like hawaii. not guam since guam is tiny & dead. but more like maui, hawaii. like lahaina area.

it would be so awesome of pinas became america's 51st state. we would be upgraded into the first world.

what! You get allowance too! My scholarship only pays for half. My mom and I share the remaining half.
I wanna go to Europe. Well, at least I have a car. I think that's the only perk that America has on Europe.

We don't have 2 years Maternal leave in the States. I think its around a year or so. The father can't use up that time. We have 40 hour work weeks, which means you have to work 40+ in order to get overtime pay. Thats 8 hours for 5 days before getting overtime; this shouldn't be the case for the Worlds Richest Country, well biggest economy - same difference.

I'd rather take the bus or train than drive, if that means I can get beer wherever I want when I was 16. Clubs in Vegas, you have to be 21 to get in, thats next year still for me .
Europe is so much better.

Actually, the reasons why Europe can attain all of those incentives is mostly because they are taxed WAY HIGHER than americans, filipinos, and everyone else. They might have all these incentives, lower work hours and be able to sustain a family longer, but they pay half of their income to the government. It also makes sense that they'd be able to do these types of programs since they have properly allocated resources.

Well, at least I have a car. I think that's the only perk that America has on Europe.
what do you mean about that? Those in Europe dont have cars?

I mean, I've had my car since I was 17. I don't really know if Europeans drive to school. In the U.S. almost everybody drives to High School. I would think that Europeans pay like $5 a gallon when I pay $2.6 - $3. All my friends have their own cars.

Yeah, Europe is only good if your an average working man, relying on pay check to pay check. Here in the United States, it's awesome if you are a businessman because of all the tax incentives and breaks, or if you are a professional doctor or lawyer. In America, you can get really really rich, but not a lot of people do. In Europe, there's a more equal distribution of wealth.
I don't know. I prefer America, I guess, because you can be filthy rich if you have the ability. In Europe, the government takes more of your paycheck, however, if your pay check isn't much, you'll benefit greatly from the government. Europeans vacation more than Americans, work less, and live longer, but I'd like my own huge house with my own huge property. America is more on privatization, while Europe is more socialization

@ gcdplz...

5- These big businesses make enough money. They dont even pay decent wages to their employees. They get tax breaks, alot of them dont even pay taxes in alot of the $hit they earn. If there is money to be made, I really dont think a tax that is higher than what it is today will drive off businessman. Yes, they bring alot of money into our economy and they take alot too. The profit really goes into the pockets of shareholders which are foreigners. Look at dubai, they dont tolerate that $hit. They HIRE foreigners to build their businesses instead of having foreingers as owners. FILIPINO OWNERSHIP is the future.

6- What else is there to say about corruption?. People will try to take money in whichever angle. Its part of politics in the philippines. Its whats killing us.

It doesnt matter if you are in america or europe, if you a living through weekly paychecks you are obviously not wealthy. Which means privatized and socialized system has nothing to do with it. You can get wealthy on both. Privatization only creates more greed and socialization regulates that potential for greediness. The bad thing about socialization is that it creates more strain on services because everybody have access to it.

So wether you are in america or europe, you can own a huge house and own huge property. There is really no difference.

nobody even mentioned about an ideology so strong it can hold the people together towards achieving our goals...

Thats one thing thats missing in our country and why we can't also unite.

Yeah u are right... the least we can hope for is that our people learn how to compromise...

Aha. But my dear sir there is a difference. See, if you are an ordinary worker in America, you have to contend with many costs, debts, insurance, and all that. 45 Million Americans are without healthcare, meaning if they get sick - they are screwed for life because medical bills are horribly expensive - However, in Europe, the doctor is free. If you are struggle to make ends meet, and your son/daughter is going to college, he/she gets accepted in a really good University out of state, guess what, he/she could be paying loans for 10 years after he graduates. In Europe, state run colleges are free and they're the best in the world, and allowances are given if you're qualified to do the work.
In Europe also, you work 32 hours, and after that it's overtime baby, you get paid vacations too. If you have a child, you get money from the state, and they have free daycare, unheard of in America. In America, you get tax credits for having a minor dependant living with you, and school is free, but only up to high school.

The difference for the average working man is huge. Europe has an incredible social safety net that securely catches people from falling into poverty and substandard living. In America, you are more or less on your own.

This is partly because most European countries don't have to spend Billions upon Billions on Military Technology like the United States. The war in Iraq could pay for every college student's tuition every year and there would still be something left for other stuff. The priorities of the government is kind of messed up.

Ok, that is not what were debating about. We were debating which place is EASIER to get rich at, US or Europe. Making a comparison between privatized vs socialized system NOT which place is harder to work at for middle class. You made a point that you prefer living in the states and you say its more easier to get rich at than being in europe because of all the taxes you have to pay. Which is not true. Even if you have a successful small business, you are not even considered rich because you still dont get alot of tax breaks. But as your business gets bigger and bigger the more tax breaks you get. Its the same in both countries.

You are opening another set of debate which is the whole system itself...

True. I've never been to Europe though. I'm under the impression that its harder to get rich in Europe because of the taxes.
I've always heard that its easier to set up business in America because most places are so friendly to business like Texas. However, many ordinary people don't get the good benefits like workers in Walmart. However, doctors, lawyers, and other professionals make a killing here.

U.S. Doctors are kind of richer and better off than their European counterparts. Partly because of the free-for-all, capitalization of medicine in the United States.

I see the Philippines rapidly rising just like China and Vietnam are. With the economic improvement that the Philippines is going through and the rising number of tourists+investors, it's all up to us to know how to capitalize on the situation.
Start by learning Chinese, Japanese and Korean so we can have better exchanges of knowledge, investments, and technology.

No, not really... If you work an ordinary job its already har for you because you are living off paycheck to paycheck. It dont matter which country takes off more. You dont get rich by having a regular job. You get rich by setting up a corporation using all the tax benifits that it has. Which both provide.

Yeah, it would seem that but you have to realize that sales tax is way lower in the states because their healthcare is privatized. Which means in the end europeans ARE paying for their doctors through their government. And they probably limit the amount of doctors/specialist they have per population so there is room for large income just like in canada. So regular GP's probably dont have that much of difference wealth-wise.

err u do it first chanlang...
then we follow



ok, though maybe not me

I'm putting my brain to good use by learning Chinese right now, unlike you letting your brain to rot. Plus there are many Filipinos now doing just that.

Get the MOD to ban this fool for using a racial slur again.

like ur no better



what about what you've said like
burrito
oh why don't ur illigal family immigrants from mexico go pick some of my granps tomatoes...

ur worst than me

demolition of squatters and relocate them...
sila pa may ganang magalit eh in d first place hindi naman sa kanila ung lupa
hindi ba nila naisip na sa ikakabuti din ito ng pilipinas
kaya minsan napapaisip me bakit ba panay turo at sisi sila sa gobyerno
eh ayusin nga muna nila ung buhay nila...

and agree to the OP! a TRUE change must be brought on to the Filipinos so that pinas may live health as country. i really don't care if we become a 1st rate country only the health of the country matter to me.

EDUCATION IS THE KEY. IT MUST BE FREE AND MOST ALL UPDATED AND FOR THE FILIPINOS!




the Japanese will own the robotic fields and will the #1 (i think) leader in the space exploration. the Koreans will become #1 in the car business and for the chinese will be well be the worlds factory if they don't get their act together. Us will be the #1 in human export as "product" if we continue to let the church go about their business. but then again



your going to be left behind. your childrens children will be poor. that cool as they say the strong will survive.

I still prefer 32 hour work weeks though. That is insane, I'd be getting 8 hours overtime every week. I don't care really about more taxes if I go to school for free - it's like $3000 per semester and it could be as much as $25000 out of State(of which you lived in). Some of my friends are in thousands of dollars in debt already, and its still their second year in college. I dont know. I think America is messed up in how we have very misplaced priorities. A lot of people are in crazy amounts of debt.

papano nila ayusin ang ma buhay, nila ko alaw mag turo sa kanila?

ana o na. ginalow ma mag squatter. sana mo sila lalagay?

tapo na, wala na problem? NO nag doon pa problem, right? ginalow mo lang.

you just shed yourself of responsible, once again.....

We can follow Singapore's model. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_and_Development_Board

See, Singapore had huge slums before. What the government did was build highrise low cost government housing units. High Density Housing units with all the
modern and safety features, and they even had their own recreational facilities and parks. Rules inside these flats were strict. However it should also be done in this manner:
"To prevent social stratification that may lead to social conflict, the housing of different income groups are mixed together in estates and new towns."
Which means, that poor underprivileged people live in the same neighborhood as other people in better economic standing. That's what the New York "Projects" lack, because the price of up scale land was too valuable to use on poor people.

We need this in Manila, Cebu, Davao, and any emerging city in the Philippines.



I mean, it only makes sense. I hope the City Mayors will choose this solution.

^ just like in hk too
how i wish the city mayors have enough fundings when it comes to poor communities

diba may mga ngo ba un???ung mga pumupunta sa squatters area and nagtuturo about family planning and so on

Ha! Burrito is a food and i said that to counter you, so who started it first jackass?

err...
burrito is a food, duh
and as far as I can remember
It was u who started it...

Uh, nope my reactions to you on here was primarily about your own bias. Nice try.

1. increase revenues by simplifying the
the bureaucracy and in turn minimize
PETTY corruption and spur investments.
2. UP corriculum concerning POLITICS
Should be revised. I think i will not
elaborate this.
3. promote national pride by Increasing MILITARY
and SPORTS SPENDING.
4. Abolish the NPA-NDF. they hinder economic development,
they burn businesses that do not pay tax to them.
5. Strong foreign policy with our allies esp usa india spain
japan pakistan india and indonesia.

like spoon-feeding; your life is such a bore (joke)!

1. ) Education is the most Important thing. No matter how expensive a school is, they should never be taxed.

Basic education should be its strongest. Everybody should be given good oppurtunities to succeed. Pay teachers more to upgrade their standard and increase incentives for teaching - that way, the best don't leave the country for greener shores.

Also, encourage the competition of schools, through standardized testing, and school evaluations (CHED should create a report about every school for every 3 years. CHED would give negative ratings for substandard schools, and close schools that have consecutively horrible records).


2.) Free enterprenuership training. Government should create an investment Bank that caters to giving loans to small businesses - however, the requirement is a business degree or a Certicifate of Attendance in the Free enterprenuership program with a good grade. Teach people how to create their own jobs, and give loans to qualified individuals with sound ideas.

3.) Eliminate Sales Tax. This will cause the prices of things to go down significantly, meaning more money for the family to spend, or save, or invest.

4.) Allow companies to be more than 60% Filipino owned, this will increase the number of business in the country, thus more jobs. Companies that don't have a Filipino majority ownership can be taxed more, which creates more revenue.

5.) Increase security by hiring more police, or improving law enforcement. Follow the Guiliani, or Duterte model. Reduce crime to the absolute minimum.

6.) Invest in Government Land Development Projects, like the South Reclemation Project for Cebu. This will spur development, and create good revenue for the country. The government should engage in as many legal money making oppurtunities as possible. Sweepstakes, ball games.

7.) Invest in Public Sports and Recreational Facilities in the country to boost National pride and create a better atmosphere. Its a good way to keep kids out of trouble, and keep them inspired to be great.

8.) Legalize Gambling or maybe Prostitution but Tax it like a crazy mofo. This is just my opinion. Plenty of revenue here.

Great Post tor!
Specially 1 and 8

haha exactly what i was thinking, though i still think they hold some minor flaws on 1.
I think the competitiveness of the school system would automatically get "principals" to offer more for competent teachers, i read it as if government should just pay the teachers to get better, but to make teachers do it because they can see the benefits is a much better route. (i dont know if we meant the same, but just understanding the words differently)

i think privatizing a lot more school under guidelines laid by a central agency could help a lot, im thinking in the future where (probably) more government owned schools will pop up..

i'm not exactly sure, but I'm almost sure that this is the only form of taxation outside of tariffs that the government actually take from the majority of the Filipinos...I'm pretty sure if you cut ALL sales tax, it will damage Filipino internal revenue pretty bad.

Well, just replace it with a Proportial Flat tax. I don't believe in the Sales tax because its inherently regressive. Meaning that the poor will probably pay more and prices for goods become really expensive. The reason why the government loves Sales tax is because it saves a lot of money for the government, as business do the sales taxes on their own. I also don't believe in Progressive taxes, because it discourages making lots of sweet money.

That's just my opinion. Actually, Sales Taxes and Proportional tax don't affect the poor at all, but rather they affect the rich significantly. Lets take two situations, one has 10% sales tax, and the other has 10% flat proportional income tax. If a someone makes $1 Milllion a year, he pays $100,000 to the government according to the Proportional tax. In the sales tax, he pays as much as he spends, he could simply only use $500,000 for his means, and he will pay $50,000 - a savings of $50,000.

It makes no difference if you spend 100% of your pay check which tax should be imposed - which is pretty much most of the population. Rich people don't usually spend %100 of their income - therefore, they save tons of money if there is only sales tax.

very nice. however, those are primarily government to dos. for our part, let's learn our laws well and follow them so there will be no more talk regarding implementation issues.

1. I have to agree that education is one of the key aspects in developing the country over the long term. A good portion of the taxes we pay should be sent directly in improving education. We also need the top Universities to work together and expand by forming partnerships with schools from around the world. Competition between schools should also invigorate and add steam to expanding exponentially.

2. I don't think there's a need for free entrepreneurship training. What the government needs to do is find away to create loans bracket that directly benefits the middle-class or small businesses. Lower the APR, the interest rate and whatnot. If the interest rate and other factors are low, it can lead to stimulation of spending from consumers to bring in more income to the country and both domestic/foreign businesses.

3. In my opinion, I don't know what the annual taxes are in the PI, but I would raise them to about 38-41% for single households and 32-35% for families. In return, the government should make basic healthcare, medicare and insurances free. [I say this because Europe has used this system and it has worked out tremendously over the long run]

4. At least 70% of businesses should be Filipino owned. I agree that a slight tax increase on foreign businesses should be enacted, but at the same time provide them with incentives or perks for bringing in foreign investments.

5. Government should take every oppurtunity to invest heavily in tourism etc...

6. Fix infrastructure, do a top-to-bottom cleanup of government. I believe we will need foreign aid to help "catch" and "sentence" corrupt individuals, whether they are filipino or not. It seems that the corrupt work with the corrupt and to be honest, I'm no diehard or zealot, but inforce STRICT punishments for fraud, embezzlement etc... Such as Life Imprisonment, or death if the crime is that bad.

7. Inject national pride

8. Help the poor by letting the government create low income CLEAN AND AT LEAST DECENT LOOKING housing to replace slums and ghettos. And I don't know about you guys, but a BEAUTIFUL country will no doubt make foreigners more interested in coming. So fixing the inner and outter city aesthetically and better planning of future developments (to make transportation more time and cost efficient) will no doubt aid in revenue and better work production.

9. Let Union and government work together instead of making each other stagnant. (look at Japan. Strong government workforce relationship has aided in the workforce being more efficient and also in making more money for the economy)

10. Change the countries perception of being lower than everyone else. Stop being pushovers and stand up. Be proud of your heritage. No more crab or mixed ethnic mentality. We should retain are world reknowned friendliness, but not to the point were it becomes a stereotype that foreigners see filipinos as "too nice" and "weak."

11. Destroy... ANNIHILATE prostitution. We are far gone from WW2, we don't need brothels for American or foreign soldiers.

12. If we somehow reduce poverty, to greatly aid in population stability, do what China did. If you are in a certain household income bracket, the number of kids you have should correlate directly if you can take care of them or not. (I'm not against catholics, but the church's dismissal of protection during sex (Like that BS saying "if it's Gods will to let me havea child, I shouldn't even consider using a condom...) and its dogma we are entitled to having as many kids as possible (without thinking about it economically) has in my opinion put a strain on the economy.