As Filipinos generally see the world through the lens of their renowned national self-absorption (“Oh no! How many OFWs will be impacted by the events in Israel!”), it is probably best that recent events in the Middle East be processed through the lens of what all that means for the Philippines. This is easy. The biggest item in the National “Debate” is none other than “the plight of the poor”. What else, right? How to buy the next week’s kilo of rice is hands down top of mind for most Filipinos.
Why is it an easy analysis? Easy. Because everything Filipinos depend on to sustain their Fiesta lifestyle is imported. And guess what: to ship food across the oceans to Philippine ports requires lots of fuel — which means any perceived risk to the sea lanes over which food and fuel is shipped will result in perceivable upward pressure on the prices of Filipinos’ national staple. Expect that all-too-familiar ululation of the usual “activist” clowns — Sahod Itaas, Presyo Ibaba! (“Higher Wages, Lower Prices!”).
On that inconvenient truth known as the Law of Supply-and-Demand all we are likely to get is a bit of head scratching followed by a shrug. What’s that???
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Compounding all that will be the hordes of OFWs that will need to be repatriated from all the emerging war zones. This means more Filipino warm bodies will be competing for the same stocks of food in the islands. And without the dollahs being remitted by these “national heroes”, the poor’s plight can only get plightier. The only silver lining in all this is that less OFWs remitting to their families could have a damping effect on domestic demand which — maybe — could be a bit anti-inflationary.
Rappler “reports” that;
There are around 27,000 to 30,000 Filipinos in Israel, most of whom are caregivers situated further north from Gaza, which has been a hotspot of recent attacks, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
Then again, OFWs have been known to prefer to take their chances in deadly war zones over being repatriated back to the Motherland. Kinda says something about how great a mother the Philippines is, doesn’t it? Nonetheless, the state needs to be seen to be caring for its citizens which means the imperative for assistance to be extended to Filipino expats in these areas needs to be given lip service with President Bongbong Marcos obliging by reportedly “ordering” the “Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) to establish a hotline for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families who may need assistance in the wake of the intensified conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas.” Our heroes in Zion feel safer already!
Some credit is due us East and Southeast Asians, right? Since the the dawn of the late former President Benigno Simeon ‘BS’ Aquino III’s administration thirteen years ago, the South China Sea had been regarded as the global flashpoint to watch. As is evident today, the region is in the midst of a massive military buildup. And yet, despite all that, an uneasy peace amongst the region’s claimants to the goodies lying underneath the SCS held fast. Over that same period, war has erupted in eastern Europe and, now, in the Middle East.
As the Filipino saying goes, why worry? Malayo yan sa bituka (“that’s a long way from the belly”).
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
It can be laughingly said, in contemporary times, that the national interest of the Failipinos has been always sending away OFWs to risky places. In stock market or gambling, its the ‘high risk, high rewards’ stake whether they bring home the bacon (the money) or the freezer (OFW themselves) – You get the reference.
To compliment the easy analysis, Failipinos are simply hobbits themselves. Fun loving, sociable, conflict averse. The difference is they only care about remittance, the breathing apparatus of a nation whose idea of respecting itself is to offshore its own citizens instead of cementing a foundation in industry. It made itself a nation of modern slaves.
In terms of defense however, there is a late realization to shift towards external defense. No matter how hard the doctrine, if procurement of modern ships and air assets still keep being cut despite wooing of Western offers, will Failippines remain itself a paper tiger not just ASEAN but internationally.
Importing weapons doesn’t cut it at all. A country with a true and credible military capability must necessarily be able to produce a good proportion of its arsenal domestically.
I can attest to this.
I was a researcher for a government agency a couple of years ago, dealing with defense-related topics. A small talk I remember in office arguing whether to procure arms abroad or manufacture locally. Most of my colleagues prefer the former choice because of practicality. I chose the latter due to obvious reasons: employ locals, cut down costs, eventually establish a local industrial base for defense assets.
One cannot simply rely on imports; There also needs to have a mean to maintain them. Otherwise, you’d get hangar queens where assets like tanks and planes stay grounded for longer periods of time. That’s the current bottleneck of our military.
There is nothing wrong with technology transfers; in fact its how Vietnam got to start producing their arms. Its how Malaysia got to start producing their local versions of Japanese vehicles. Philippines did indeed had that effort in the 80s with direct oversight from FEM himself. EDSA happened and all of that went straight downhill. Currently it is known as SRDP and the program is, well, moving slowly.
The Failippines is a global laughing stock. Outsourcing their populace was modern day slaves as aptly stated. The toilet bowl /dumping ground for the bottom of the barrel USA-ers/white -black grandpa sexpats and younger losers back home.
The Failippines attracts certain folks with certain attributes. Good luck and good night.