Hossain, Shailani B.

GED105- B15

The Philippine’s Condition in Economic and Political Integration

Our country, the Philippines, have been exposed to globalization since the 15th

for it was colonized by countries such as Spain, America, and Japan. These countries

brought major changes in the Philippines especially in economics and politics. Trading

and bartering system became prominent upon the discovery of country’s rich resources.

When American colonizers took place, the new government was born then laws and

policies have been established. Nowadays, as economic and political integration plays a

big role in the Philippines and in Filipinos, we have the rights and capability to know and

give our opinions whether it contributes positively or negatively. As I read some

researches and articles, there are this positive and negative effect in the economic and

political integration. These topics are about the tourism in the Philippines, the OFWs,

the relationship of China and Philippines, and the implementation of K-12 program.

One example of economic integration is the international flights which involves

tourism. The Philippines is known as one of the tourist destination all around the globe.

It is popular for its white sand beaches, heritage towns, monuments, beautiful islands

and diving spots. Looking back on 2012, the 8.2-kilometer navigable subterranean River

- Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR), was voted as one of the New 7 wonders

of the world by Bernard Weber, the founder-president of New7Wonders. With the

numerous highlight of the country, it helped the economy grow. According to

BusinessMirror.com, when underground river was chosen as one of the New Seven

Wonders of Nature in 2012, there was 21-percent growth rate in the tourism. More

tourist resulted to booming of businesses like hotels and local shops around the said

attraction.

Tourism helps bring money to the Philippines by increase of employment,

currency exchange, imports and taxes. On the other side, I believe that tourism have a

negative effect especially on the locals. One example is the increase of prices of goods

which negatively impacts the local residents whose income does not increase

comparably. As stated by Architect Felino A. Palafox, Jr. of The Manila Times, in terms

of land use, uncontrolled tourism brings in overcrowding, overdevelopment, and

pollution. For islands that rely heavily on tourism, their economy can be referred to as

TouRAB. Also, relating to the current event, the spread of the novel coronavirus, CoVid-

19 pandemic. The country remained open even though there was an announcement

from the World Health Organization (WHO) that there was a new virus that is a danger

to the health of the people. As we recall, the first fatality outside China occurred and

died on the 1st day of February year 2020 in the Philippines. Also, it was a 44-year-old

Chinese man and the WHO believed that it has been infected by the virus before

arriving to the Philippines. Due to government’s incompetency, lockdown is still running

for about 6 months now and from the data gathered from Department of Health (DOH),

there is an average number of 3000-5000 active cases per day which resulted for

almost 300,000 total cases as of September 12, 2020. This pandemic brought crisis to

the Philippines which is according to Social Weather Stations (SWS), there are total of
about 27.3 million unemployed Filipinos due to shut down and downsizing of some

industries as of August 2020.

Our very own Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is another example of an effect of

globalization that brought an impact on our economy. The term OFW applies to Filipinos

who are abroad for a limited time for their employment. According to a statistical data

survey report of 2019 by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there was an estimate

of 2.2 million OFWs living and working abroad.

OFWs are famously known as the modern heroes of the country because of their

important contribution on the growth of the economy. Also, the Philippines is one of the

top 5 countries in the world that profits the most from remittances. From the Rappler

news report last 2019, their remittances to their family was accounted for 9.3% of the

total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 7.8% of the gross national income (GNI) of the

state.

On the contrary, according to 2018 Asian Development Bank (ADB) report on

youth unemployment, limited job opportunities in the country, along with high paying job

abroad leads to the country’s brain drain. The government doesn’t feel too much

pressure on building infrastructures that may produce jobs because they always see

that going and working abroad is a practical option. They are using this as an excuse

not to generate jobs for the people of the country and this also leads to brain drain.

There is also a lot of talented and professional Filipinos that prefer working abroad

because they feel that they are not being compensated enough in their own country. We

all know that the average salary in the Philippines is still low relative to competency.
 Discussing about political integration, a well-known example for this is the

country’s relationship to China. Last October 24, 2019, Philippines and China signed

some bilateral agreements covering infrastructures, trade, customs and

communications. According to Philippine Statistics Authority, the top trading partner of

the Philippines in the first semester of 2019 is China with a total trade worth 16.43 billion

U.S. dollars or 18.8 percent of the total trade. We can say that their relationship

contributes change to the Philippines’ tourism, sports and cultural exchange, and media

and public opinion. And realistically speaking, we can see that the government is

tolerating the illegal occupation, unlawful establishment of infrastructures, and incidents

of invasions and infringement within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

Another effect of political integration on globalization is the implementation of K-

12 system. It was identified that the Philippines was the last country in Asia to

implement this program. This new curriculum aims to improve the Filipino’s

mathematical, scientific, and linguistic competence. The government believes that the

new curriculum will put Filipino students at balance with the rest of the world. As stated

at TeacherPH.com by Mark Anthony Llego (2019), “The government’s actual education

budget in recent decades never reached 4% of the GDP, while the global standard is

pegged at 6% of the GDP, hence, the K to 12 program will be underfunded with

predictably disastrous consequences.” Lack of facilities, classrooms, and teachers

made the established program more difficult to adapt. Saying my personal opinion and

considering practicality, this K-12 program is just a waste of time and money. Some

lessons that were taught on senior high was discussed again in college. And we all
know that not all Filipino families can’t afford education, therefore adding another 2

years in school adds burden and tiresome.

The positive and negative effect of the economic and political integration is what

makes our country now, continuously improving. I can say that a country that does not

experience problems cannot move forward in order to improve and become

progressive. The good and bad side of the integration contributes a big impact whether

we improve or ameliorate. The tourism, OFWs, country to country relationship, and the

K-12 program can be good or bad depends on the context it is implied. It is important to

set some limitations to preserve one country’s culture and being.

References:

INQUIRER.net. (2012, February 2). Now it’s official: Puerto Princesa river is one

of New7Wonders | Global News. https://globalnation.inquirer.net/24327/it

%E2%80%99s-now-official-puerto-princesa-river-is-one-of-new7wonders-of-nature#:

%7E:text=Bernard%20Weber%2C%20founder%2Dpresident%20of,new%20seven

%20wonders%20of%20nature.

First death from coronavirus outside China. (2020, February 2). BBC News.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51345855#:%7E:text=A%20man%20has%20died

%20of,Health%20Organization%20(WHO)%20said.
 Philippine Statistics Authority | Republic of the Philippines. (2020, June 4). Philippine

Statistics Authority. https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-and-employment/survey-

overseas-filipinos#:%7E:text=Total%20Number%20of%20OFWs%20Estimated%20at

%202.2%20Million&text=Based%20on%20the%20results%20of,was%20estimated

%20at%202.2%20million.&text=Moreover%2C%20female%20OFWs%20were

%20younger%20compared%20to%20male%20OFWs.

Rivas, R. (2020, February 17). OFW remittances hit record high of $33.5 billion in

2019. Rappler. https://rappler.com/business/overseas-filipino-workers-remittances-2019

Baguisi, K. (2019, December 9). Philippines and China Sign Six Agreements.

ASEAN Business News. https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/philippines-and-china-

sign-six-agreements/

GOVPH. (2020, September 5). Philippines-China Relations: Beyond the Territoral

Disputes | Foreign Service Institute. Republic of the Philippines - Foreign Service

Institute. http://www.fsi.gov.ph/philippines-china-relations-beyond-the-territoral-disputes/

Philippines, E. T. K. (2015, October 28). K to 12 Curriculum in the Philippines and Its

Benefits. K12philippines. http://k12philippines.com/three-practical-benefits-of-the-

philippines-k-to-12-curriculum/#:%7E:text=Skill%20competency%20in%20the

%20global,field%20and%20enhance%20their%20skills.

Palafox, A. F. A. (2018, April 11). The Philippines towards sustainable tourism. The

Manila Times. https://www.manilatimes.net/2018/04/12/opinion/analysis/the-philippines-

towards-sustainable-tourism/392052/#:%7E:text=But%20tourism%20also%20brings

%20negative%20impacts%20on%20the%20environment%20and%20cultural
%20preservation.&text=In%20terms%20of%20land%20use,be%20referred%20to

%20as%20TouRAB.

Pe, R. (2017, December 28). Puerto Princesa not about to relax amid tourist influx |

Roger Pe. BusinessMirror. https://businessmirror.com.ph/2017/12/28/puerto-princesa-

not-about-to-relax-amid-tourist-influx/

Marquez, C. (2020, August 21). DOLE says only 3.3M jobs lost to coronavirus

pandemic | Inquirer News. INQUIRER.Net. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1325210/dole-

says-only-3-3m-jobs-lost-to-coronavirus-pandemic

Hasnan, L. (2016, December 29). Youth in Philippines prefer working overseas. The

ASEAN Post. https://theaseanpost.com/article/youth-philippines-prefer-working-

overseas

Xia, L. (2019, October). China is Philippines’ top trading partner in first semester

2019: statistics authority - Xinhua | English.news.cn. Xinhuanet.

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%2C%20Oct.,(PSA)%20said%20on%20Monday.

Llego, M.A. (2019, November). 10 Reasons Why the K to 12 Program Should Be

Suspended | Teacherph.com. TeacherPH. https://www.teacherph.com/10-reasons-why-

the-k-to-12-program-should-be-suspended/