Globalization is one of the buzzwords in the 20th century when it comes to nation
development. According to Guillen, it is the growing interdependence and reflexivity among
nations when it comes to aspects such as economy and politics (Guillen, 2011). In globalization,
the connection with the own nation and to other nations is deemed important. It is so that
proliferation of ideas on science and technology, market and industry, politics, and etc. is easier
among links. The goal in this concept is for countries to become ‘globally competitive’ by being
able to be on par with other countries within the said facets.
Another concept or theory that is often intertwined with globalization is neoliberalism. Not
to be mistaken with modern liberalism that advocates for total freedom of an individual from the
government; in neoliberalism ( (Liberal Manifesto, 1997), the state is an administrating body that
should only intervene remotely when it comes to economy. As neoliberalists perceive people in
the government as incompetent and unknowledgeable when it comes to business, they
advocate for a laissez-fraire economy, leaving the state as mere regulators and not field
players. In addition, they promote international free-trade policies so that industries will not only
flourish within countries but across other nations as well.
What seems to be in common with globalization and neoliberalism is that it both aims for
countries to develop together through unbounded interlinkage with one another. With the
amplified bond and integration across national boarders brought by globalization and with the
emancipation of businesses from politics conveyed in neoliberalism, there can be limitless
potentials for innovations of different industries.
However, no matter how idealistic these theories sound, both poses detrimental threat to
some nations. Globalization has created disparities among regions around the globe labelling
countries into first, second and third world which highly discriminates countries according to
their level of development and labelled third world as poor, with high cases of illiteracy and
booming population growth. Globalization likewise has increased foreign debts among
developing countries as their first response to match the level of global competitiveness of the
developed countries. Furthermore, these theories are both grounded to Western values. More
particular in neoliberalism tied with modernization, it aims to replicate the current status of
culture and science and technology of ‘developed’ countries, which are usually Western.
It must be acknowledged that both of these theories were spread through colonization;
and with this, Philippines is indeed a victim as a once colony of Spain and the United States of
America for hundreds of centuries.
Philippines as a globalized and neoliberal state
Philippines as a third world country aims to become highly competitive in the global
market moving forward, encouraging an increase in flow of both capital, good, services and all
forms of labor. It gave jobs and career opportunities to 2.2 million Filipinos abroad and overseas
and even more here in our own borders as industries from other countries, such as BPO
companies, opened (Mapa, 2020). This increased our gross domestic profit and gross national
product, both of which are indicators of economic growth, hence consequently implies that the
economic status of the Philippines is at an upward slope.
However, is inevitable that globalization has affected the country’s policy making to cater
its path towards development in the global market since our economy and policy making has
been highly dependent towards the developed countries. And undeniably, the Philippine
government is lacking when it comes to political stability. One of the recent policies that is highly
grounded in globalization is the change of the country’s educational scene to K-12, which aims
for Filipino students to be ‘globally competitive’. Compared to other nations with at an average
of 13.4 expected years of schooling to be considered that there is high development, Philippines
only have 11.3 year from pre-school to secondary education (UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
2013), so they decided to add two more years in high school (Department of Education
Philippines, n.d.). This places an extreme burden to those who are already struggling to attend
and finish school, which are the marginalized Filipinos, and they are pushed deeper into the
impoverished state.
Neoliberalism also benefitted the Philippines because it opened the market to private
sectors which gave the citizens wider array of goods, products, and services to choose from at a
competitive price. However, there are cases that monopoly happens that puts our Filipino
consumers at a disadvantage because companies can impose a pricing, letting no one to
complain and the government is allowed to intervene only a little. An example of this is the
monopoly held by Manila Electric Co., or Meralco, in our electricity power sector. With one of
neoliberalism’s goal of privatization for heightened active participation from private sectors, even
if there are many companies that perform power generation, monopoly transpired in power
transmission. Meralco is the biggest electricity distributor in the country and they were able to
make policies such as the ‘take-or-pay’ that puts the burden of paying even unused energy to
the Filipinos (Villanueva, 2019).
Philippines as an Asian nation
What then is the best approach to be used for the Philippines to finally achieve
development? As an Asian nation, the Asian Values Argument by Mahathir Bin Mohammad and
Lee Kuan Yew is pretty much applicable to the country. After centuries of colonialism from
Western countries, it is time for the Philippines to respond against these Western criticisms,
which is one of the major purposes of the argument. The values it upholds are also well-suited
to the country, for one, Filipinos have long been practicing the concept of bayanihan, and Asian
Values stresses on the significance of community rather than the individual.
Indeed, for the Philippines to continue to develop, the first step is to steer away from
colonial influences and become much more of its own country. Yes, the wisdom and knowledge
from the West can be very helpful but we will never really grow as a country if we keep on
following their paths but rather we should create one that prioritizes the interest of our own
people.
Bibliography
Department of Education Philippines. (n.d.). K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum. Retrieved from
Republic of the Philippines Department of Education: https://www.deped.gov.ph/k-to12/about/k-to-12-basic-education-curriculum/
Liberal Manifesto. (1997, November 30). The Liberal Agenda for the 21st Century. Retrieved
from Oxford Manifesto 1997:
https://web.archive.org/web/20110207012341/http://www.liberalinternational.org/editorial.asp?ia_id=537
Mapa, C. D. (2020, June 4). Total Number of OFWs Estimated at 2.2 Million. Retrieved from
Philippine Statistics Authority: https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-andemployment/survey-overseas-filipinos
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2013, November). Expected years of schooling (of children)
(years). Retrieved from UNDP Human Development Reports:
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/expected-years-schooling-children-years