THE second impeachment case against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may have been defeated by her allies in the House of Representatives last month, giving her breathing room for another year, but past experience indicates that she will probably fail to grab the opportunity and do anything good with it. Many an article has been written about how politically adept the president is at dodging the threats and accusations thrown at her by the opposition and disgruntled groups in the military. Indeed, she successfully weathered an attempted military coup in February by declaring an emergency for one week, arresting opponents and intimidating the opposition press. She has also been able to survive a congressional probe into her alleged rigging of the 2004 presidential elections, but where has that left the Philippines economically? Not very well. Malacanang Palace likes to boast of glowing economic indicators such as GDP growth and the rising value of the peso vis-à-vis the US dollar, but these factors have not necessarily translated into better lives for the millions of poor Filipinos who continue to leave the country in droves for greener pastures abroad. But even abroad, many Filipinos are vulnerable to abuse from their foreign employers, especially those who work as domestic helpers and nannies. The recent war in Lebanon showed just how vulnerable these Filipinos are. Philippine television showed horrific pictures of several maids beaten black and blue by their Lebanese employers when they tried to leave to return home. Two Filipinos even returned home in coffins.
These facts point to twin dilemmas that Arroyo faces: How to reconcile with a wary opposition in order to get important projects done at home, and how to improve the caliber of Filipinos being sent abroad to work so that they will be less vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The Philippines should aspire to be more of an exporter of scientists and other professionals rather than of maids and drivers. It would of course be better if the Philippines could do without having to export its best and brightest to the Middle East and America. There is already a formidable braindrain of Filipino doctors downgrading themselves to become nurses so that they can get higher paying jobs abroad.
Filipino talent is also legion in Hollywood. The animator on the Pixar hit “Finding Nemo” is a Filipino. Why don’t Filipino investors spend the money to set up a world-class animation industry in the Philippines that would get foreign contracts while keeping the talent at home? That would help keep talented Filipinos at home, and start an inward flow of dollars without the drawbacks of family separation, alienation, depression and abuse that many Filipinos experience abroad.
Meanwhile, Arroyo, her allies and the opposition need to break the cycle of just going from one crisis to another. Natural disasters and scandals such as the one involving the recent nursing board examination, serve as energy-sapping and attention-diverting events that keep the government’s eye off the ball of economic development and job creation. If this keeps happening, the oft-quoted fact that the Philippine economy was once second only to Japan in Asia (in the early 1960s!) will seem like an even more distant and irrelevant memory than it already is.
The opposition and Arroyo should stop bickering and pull together for the sake of the nation, or else find that very soon the Philippines will be surpassed economically by countries such as Vietnam, a shocking day that most Filipinos never thought they would ever see, let alone ever imagined, in their lifetimes.
