Republic of the Philippines

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

MONTES, Tracy Lianne Marie P.                                           Prof. Daisy G. Villarante            

BA History 2-3                                                                       The Contemporary World

Assessment 2

Contemporary situation by applying both World System Theory and Dependency Theory

 Is the Philippines a progressive or regressive country?

         The Philippines is considered a third-world country wherein people are incapable of
sustaining resources and remain under the control of different well-developed countries in the
world. Before becoming a democratic country, the Philippines suffered from colonization by
three countries: Spain, the United States of America, and Japan. They manipulated the country
and exploited our natural resources due to the extreme acquisition of lands for the purpose of
accumulating proprietors’ wealth and power. Even after slavery became prevalent, Filipinos
were forced to work despite hazardous or unhealthy conditions. 

As the Duterte administration entered office in 2016, they highlighted some of his
notable accomplishments in infrastructure development as the country continues to face global
challenges. Duterte has pushed the different government agencies to continue programs started
by the Aquino Administration, from Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to the Build, Build, Build
(BBB) program, which resulted in the construction of several infrastructures and services
nationwide and is intended to ease the congestion of heavy traffic in Metro Manila and improve
rural development.

Despite his key accomplishments, his controversial anti-drug campaigns led to a worse
situation. The country’s efforts to eradicate prohibited drugs have resulted in countless human
rights violations that have become bloody and violent as unknown individuals lost their lives.
Another thing was that President Duterte laid his hands on China to improve the economy. In
his most recent issue, he strangely deviated from his prepared remarks and addressed the
nation about the ongoing disputes with China in the South China Sea. And when the pandemic
began to alter people’s lifestyles, the Philippines suffered a slew of socio-economic and political
problems due to the inadequate preparedness for the COVID-19 response. The question would
be, is the Philippines becoming a progressive country or remaining a regressive country?
 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

For various reasons, the Philippines has been one of the countries in the world that have
struggled with hunger and widespread poverty under this present administration. This is
validated by the deterioration and decline in most socioeconomic and political development that
has been evidenced in the last four years. It has dropped in several aspects, such as
competitiveness with other countries; economic freedom; failure in eradicating corruption
practices in the government; and even the failure to uphold the rules of the law, wherein wealthy
and powerful people are always favored and more protected than poor ones who are suffering
behind bars. 

Following the rule of his predecessor, former President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, his
presidency began in 2016 with a 7.1% economic increase. Economic expansion dropped by a
percentage point in 2019, from 7.1% in 2016 to 6.1% in 2019. The growth in the subsequent
years slowed to 6.9% in 2017 and 6.3% in 2018. The economic pediment began with a serious
trade deficit and a reduction in foreign investment. During the present administration, trade
deficits increased as imports rose by an average of 14% from 2016 to 2019, while exports only
expanded by 5% on average. It surged to a record 50.02 billion dollars in 2018, before declining
slightly to 41.98 billion dollars in 2019, which represented 11.61% of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), and 21.84 billion dollars in 2020. Although a significant share of imports was credited to
resources or materials for infrastructural development, this situation was aggravated by huge
shipments of consumer goods. In 2020, economic development dropped by -9.6% as expected.
It was caused by an overall slowdown in the trade as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, as
well as initiatives to gradually ease tight quarantine restrictions. In 2021, the Philippines
remained in a recession as the economy shrank again by 4.2% because of inflation and the
increase in unemployment and underemployment brought by the widespread health crisis. 

Furthermore, the government debt as President Duterte took office in 2016 was P5.9
trillion. However, by the end of 2021, it had accumulated P11.7 trillion in debt. On March 4,
2022, the Bureau of Treasury (BTr) reported that the latest outstanding debt had reached a new
high of P12 trillion for the first quarter of 2022 and a record of P1.67 trillion in the budget deficit,
or 8.6% of the GDP, higher than P1.37 trillion in 2020. Yet, it was lower than just the targeted
9.3%. This enormous budget deficit was inflicted by massive public expenditures to combat
long-term pandemics and insufficient tax collections. Prior to the pandemic, the government’s
 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

public infrastructure spending had already exceeded almost a trillion pesos in charges. This
shows clear evidence that the huge response is very frugal, especially in the public health and
educational systems. Debt-driven programs have become more bloated as the Philippines has
pushed more debt and overspent funds for other economic activities, despite the fact that the
economy is deteriorating, with unemployment and underemployment rates increasing,
unexpected inflation, and the agricultural and industrial sectors still facing persistent challenges
that affect the economic cycle. 

There are other social and economic problems in the Philippines that negatively affect
the economy and need to be addressed. Poverty remains one of the prevalent issues that the
Philippines is facing. As Filipinos are more reliant on agriculture for income and there is
inequality in wealth distribution, about 17.6 million Filipinos struggle to access basic resources.
They cannot afford to have enough food and a poor quality of education leads to young people
being uneducated, unemployed, and may suffer from discrimination due to financial inability.
Moreover, corruption is still prevalent and an obstacle to good governance that limits economic
growth. 

Corruption has been proven in numerous cases and is prevalent across the state
apparatus. Even before the pandemic, some Philippine politicians misused their power by
systematically siphoning off vast amounts of public funds into their accounts for personal
interests. Instead, they must focus on solving current problems rather than stealing public funds,
which would affect marginalized and unprivileged individuals and the country itself more.

Unemployment is another persistent problem encountered by many Filipinos because

of the government’s incompetence and lack of support. That is why many Filipinos opt to work
abroad as a means of survival and to have better opportunities than in our country. According to
Albert (2020), the unemployment rate climbed to 17.7% during the first quarter of 2020 and
declined to 10% during the second quarter and 8.7% during the third quarter of the same year.
The instability of the unemployment rate highlights three premises: First, most Filipinos would
not be able to return to their previous jobs. Second, most Filipinos are unable to re-enter the
labor market. And third, some of them have a lesser chance of finding a stable job due to the
pandemic. These current circumstances have brought me to my viewpoint that the
 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

government’s inability to provide concrete, humane, and efficient measures led to the crucial re-
opening of businesses, which caused unemployment and, subsequently, a massive economic
recession. Business establishments like fast-food restaurants, grocery stores, and pharmacies
continued to thrive because they sell goods that people require to survive, while recreational
areas and amusement parks remained closed. Six months after stringent lockdowns were
imposed in the previous year, the country is already recuperating, and some businesses are
permitted to operate. However, the pandemic is still having a detrimental effect on small and
micro-businesses. As a result of these declines, GDP dropped by 0.7% and is expected to
shrink by 16.9% and 11.5%, respectively, in the second and third quarters of 2020 (Albert,
2020). 

The Philippines' dependency on foreign investment is the last major issue in

economic progress. Filipinos prefer to purchase and support international items over local
products. But our reliance on foreign investments and loans can have a severe impact in the
future with the current state of the country’s government. This is associated with theories of
global inequality known as "The Dependency Theory," which explains how developed and
developing nations are linked in world relations. Well-developing countries like the Philippines
are still dependent on wealthy countries like the United States and China, while well-developed
and powerful countries have the ability to influence and dominate poor countries. It is always in
the Filipino’s mindset that products made by other countries have a higher quality than ours,
even though they have the same resources to create a product, but they sell it at an expensive
price and without knowing the fact that Filipinos are skilled and knowledgeable enough to
produce their own good-quality products. 

Immanuel Wallerstein initiated these two theories of global inequality in order to

understand the subversive. The "Dependency Theory" was developed and can be used as an
approach to rationalizing the existing division between well-developed and undeveloped
countries and understanding economic underdevelopment that emphasizes the conceptual
limits imposed by the international political and economic structure. "World System Theory", on
the contrary, suggests that wealthy countries benefit other countries while citizens in poor
countries are exploited. This theory, as per Wallenstein, was divided into three international
categories of areas or countries: core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral. Cores are classified as
 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

"social elites" or powerful countries that can benefit most from the world economy and exploit
other well-developing countries for labor and raw materials. They are also developed countries
with strong and competent governments and highly intellectual and skilled individuals. Semi-
peripheries are "middle-class countries" that are exploited by core countries, but they can
also exploit peripheral countries. In other words, these semi-peripherals both have the
classification of core and peripheral countries. He suggested that the way a country is integrated
into a capitalist system determines how economic development takes place in the country. and
peripherals that are considered "third world countries". These countries have weak and
incompetent governments and are being manipulated by core countries. 

Wallenstein noticed that countries that have been exploited ever since are typically on
the periphery. The relationship between America and the Philippines is a perfect example of this
theory. Since then, the United States has colonized the Philippines to introduce the American
system of education and industrial development. During their colonization, they saw the Filipinos
as unskilled, lazy, and incapable of becoming industrialized because it was predominantly an
agricultural country. Perhaps it is true that, despite having an abundance of raw materials, this
country lacks sufficient skills, expertise, and advanced technology to make high-quality
products. They were constrained to sell their goods at a low price or export them to other
nations as an outcome of the inability to strengthen modernization. Therefore, the Philippines
remained a backward or weak country that was being manipulated.

With the recent presidential election results, the Marcoses are presumably back in the
country's highest position to gain power and authority. We know the fact that the Marcoses have
a history of tyranny and corruption for their lavish lifestyle. And when they return to power for
their personal gains, they will have made efforts in an attempt to manipulate history and change
the narrative to absolve themselves of the cruelty they inflicted without being held accountable.
But most people still chose to vote for Marcos because of the greatest legacy from his father,
Marcos Sr., and they wanted to live an abundant life as they had experienced during his father’s
administration. We can’t blame the masses for voting for the dictator’s son since they are the
victims of disinformation and black propaganda brought by the Marcos machinery. 
 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

Unless the government takes measures to rectify the current predicament, the
Philippines will remain a regressive country. This brings up the problem that the Philippines is
suffering from difficult challenges as a result of global economic inequalities. As a result, World
System Theory has an impact on the country as well as its economy. If other nations continue to
hegemonize, the peripheral countries will be left with nothing, remaining undeveloped and
struggling under their terrible circumstances. The unfair development of these developed
countries has led to a flawed strategy in the international market. To stimulate economic growth
and become a competitive and highly modernized country, the government must focus on
alleviating the problem by implementing concrete and effective solutions that contribute to
increasing opportunities in different sectors and allocating sufficient resources for investment in
human development.

The Duterte administration has failed to address issues such as poverty, the healthcare
system, and overpopulation, and his drug campaign has resulted in numerous human rights
violations. His economic activity is merely focused on debt-driven infrastructure projects, which
negatively affects the economy. As Duterte will leave the country’s highest office with a large
amount of debt, how will his successors be able to repay it? And when the President-elect,
Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will seize power as the country's head of state, how is he meant to make
a change for the betterment of the country, especially in its economic aspect? Even his
hometown, Ilocos Norte, has seen no progress and remained a fourth-class province throughout
his tenure. The core countries' investments are gradually declining, and China is only an allied
country waiting for an opportunity to overwhelm the Philippines with a cycle of debt that can
benefit only the ruling class and their cronies, not the masses.

References:

Albert, J. R. (2020, December 29). Were the Philippines’ COVID-19 responses

sufficient? East Asia Forum. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from

 Republic of the Philippines
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
College of Social Sciences and Development
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Sta. Mesa, Manila

https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/12/23/were-the-philippines-covid-19-responses-

sufficient/

De Vera, B. O. (2022, March 5). “PH debt breaches P12 trillion, seen exceeding P13

trillion by end of 2022.” INQUIRER.Net. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from

https://business.inquirer.net/342425/ph-debt-breaches-p12-trillion-seen-exceeding-p13-

trillion-by-end-of-2022

 
Manuel, P. (2021, July 25). SONA 2021: The economy under President Rodrigo Duterte.

CNN Philippines. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from

https://www.cnnphilippines.com/business/2021/7/24/SONA-2021-economy-under-

President-Rodrigo-Duterte.html

Marasigan, A. J. (2021, July 18). Why Dutertenomics weakened the economy.

BusinessWorld Online. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from

https://www.bworldonline.com/opinion/2021/07/18/383210/why-dutertenomics-

weakened-the-economy/

 
Peña, K. D. (2022, March 5). Paying record-high PH debt: Duterte team sees higher,

more taxes as way out. INQUIRER.Net. Retrieved May 15, 2022, from

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1563475/paying-record-high-ph-debt-duterte-team-sees-

higher-more-taxes-as-way-out