Achieving Prosperity through Economic and Political Integration

As the world’s economy and politics are becoming more integrated, connected, and

dependent with each other, issues about the so-called global economic and political

integration have risen significantly. Most of which questions the fairness of such and

who benefits the most from the latest trends in the economy and politics. For the

Philippines, as one of the developing countries that participate in the said global trend,

economic and political integration can both bring advantages and disadvantages to the

Filipino citizens and to the current situation of the country. Political and Economic

Integration always have winners and losers but it is also crucial to weigh whether the

amount of losses we’ve had is worth the gains we’ve earned as we continue to

participate in such processes. Thus, a lot of adjustments have to be done just to make

sure that the country would be able to adapt to such shift in economic and political

conditions. But it should also be emphasized that such adjustments are inevitable and

that we are living in a world where change is constant. Whether it be bad or good

change that the political and economic integration lead us to, such changes are

necessary in helping us go along the fluid nature of politics and economy. Having said

this, global economic and political integration is in no way harmful for the

Philippines and the Filipino citizens but should rather be seen as crucial and

necessary for us to achieve prosperity.

One of the reasons why economic and political integration are beneficial

for us is the fact that it helped us in achieving higher employment rates and

economic growth. Due to the connections we’ve made to other countries, we’re able
to implement overseas employment programs to solve the problems in job availability in

our country. Being one of the countries that are still in the process of development, we

don’t have the ability to provide enough jobs for all Filipinos that are seeking for

occupations that would help sustain their family. Fortunately, a lot of countries in the

world are also searching for more manpower to fill in vacant jobs. Through economic

integration, we were able to utilize the strengths and weaknesses of our country and of

our partner countries to solve arising issues in the world. In fact, in 2018, 11% of the

total GDP of the country we’re from the remittances sent by OFWs. OFWs did not just

become the proof of success in providing jobs for the Filipinos but they are now also

considered as “the pillars of our economy”. Additionally, the continuous growth in

employment and salaries also paved way to more stable and improved standards of

living of many Filipinos. Another very important factor that helped in improving our

economy is tourism. According to the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA), in 2018,

tourism industries contributed an estimated amount of 12.7% to the Philippines

economy. Tourism would not have been possible if we were not given the chance to

connect with the world and promote our richness in natural resources and tourism

destinations.

Economic and political integration also paved way to broader scope of

products distribution and business franchise. Products from the San Miguel

Corporation, which is from the Philippines, are sold in Indonesia and in return, Filipinos

were also given access to Kopiko products from Indonesia. Many other products

produced by another country became accessible to the Filipinos which makes it easier
for us to buy our needs. And at the same time, Filipino businesses and products were

also able to expand their sales not just in the national level but also internationally. In

2015, Japan was considered as the Philippines’ top trading partner which consisted

14.4% of our total trade volumes, equivalent to 18.7 billion USD. And by strengthened

ties to China, in 2016, the Philippines were able to secure 24 billion USD worth of new

investments and financial agreements. According to the Secretary of Industry and

Trade, Ramon Lopez, these investments were expected to produce 2 million new jobs

to the Filipinos for the next five years.

Being part of the ASEAN is another benefit that political and economic

integration have brought to us. In 1992, the Philippines with other ASEAN member

states signed the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement which allowed products

from ASEAN countries to be accessible to the Philippines markets. With this agreement,

Filipinos are able to go the malls and supermarkets to buy products made in other

countries and at the same time, we were able to export products to ASEAN member

countries. And being an ASEAN member did not just benefit us in trade but also in other

aspects like tourism. We were able to promote our country to ASEAN members by

implementing the visa-free travel to the member states of ASEAN. This means they can

come to our country with reduced travel cost and easier processing because there will

be no visa requirement anymore, this strategy helped in boosting our tourism industry.

And most importantly, we were also able to receive assistance from the ASEAN

Humanitarian Center (AHA) in times of disaster. During the typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan),

the assistance from ASEAN reached about 6 million USD and during the battle in Marawi
City, though it was not a natural disaster, we were still able to receive assistance from

AHA. Those are just some of the examples of how being a member of the ASEAN has

benefitted us and the country.

Political and economic integration also gave way for our country to be

involved in financial openness. Financial openness is the result of liberalized

government regulations which allows financial systems to open up to foreign financial

systems and investments. Financial openness can pave way to advances in technology

and new innovations that are developed in other countries to reach the Philippines.

Also, it can encourage domestic markets to be more competitive as foreign companies

enter the local scene. Higher rates of foreign investments to our country could be very

beneficial in bringing more jobs to the Filipinos and in introducing new technologies that

would modernize our local markets. Our major source of Foreign Direct Investments

(FDI) are from Japan, US, Australia and Hong Kong based in our data from 2014.

Improving our FDI rates is crucial in improving our economy and in developing the

country as a whole.

However, economic and political integration also have some of its

consequences and the first one is that eventhough OFWs are considered to

be helpful for our economy, a lot of issues regarding OFW abuse and violence

surfaced. This is also the reason why OFWs are considered to be modern heroes as

they have sacrificed a lot just to give their family a better life. Although such violence

and abuse exist, telling OFWs to go home and leave their jobs in other countries might

not be that effective. Moreover, stopping the implementation of overseas employment

government have taken several actions to reduce incidents like such and in fact, there

are a total of 68 Philippine embassies and 126 consulates around the world. They are

tasked to monitor the situation overseas Filipinos and are considered as Philippines

representatives in other countries that are expected to provide aid to Filipinos around

the world. The very core for such violence is the fact that there are a lot of OFWs that

travel abroad illegally and did not undergo proper procedures. To prevent violence, it is

important that OFWs were able to apply for jobs on qualified agencies to make sure

that they also have qualified employers.

Another consequence of economic and political integration is that as the

scope for product distribution widens, Filipino companies are also having a

hard time to catch up with their foreign counterparts. Although competition

could be a good thing, it could also be very disadvantageous to small scale businesses.

But the removal of foreign companies and products in our country won’t resolve this

problem. Because if we were to remove foreign companies, a lot of Filipinos would also

lose their job and we would also lose access on commodities that are not available on

Filipino manufacturers. This is the reason why stable regulations of the economic

system is very crucial as we widen the scope of our economy. The problem is not the

existence of the competitors but the lack of competitiveness of local industries.

Modernization of different fields especially in agriculture should be prioritized to make

sure that local industries would be able to compete in a global scale.

if we continue to receive assistance from them, corruption would always find

way to interfere in such efforts. Money that should have been used in developing

the country and serving as aid to the victims of calamities don’t always reach those who

needed it the most. According to the latest data from the global index 2019, the

Philippines ranked as 113th least corrupt country among 180 countries. The country got

a score of 34 on 0-100 index scale where 100 is the cleanest and 0 is the most corrupt.

From the previous 99th spot in 2018, the data shows how corruption in the Philippines

worsens. But this is not a problem with ASEAN but rather, it is a problem within our

country. It is important for the country to be more transparent and for regulations to be

strictly implemented to avoid corruption. Then again, corruption is not a direct

consequence of political and economic integration but rather it is a problem within our

country that should be resolved first for us to be able to fully experience the benefits of

political and economic integration.

Lastly, our involvement in Financial openness can also threaten the

financial stability of our country. This is because as we open our doors to foreign

companies, this also means that we increase our exposure to foreign regulations and

policies. This means that if other countries were to implement new rules that are in

relation to their external connections with other countries or with their economy, the

Philippines can also be affected. One example could be related to the ongoing COVID-

19 pandemic, due to the continued drop in the economy, foreign employers might

decide to reduce manpower. And by this, many OFWs may be losing their jobs due to
the fact that foreign employers would surely prioritize employees that are from their

country. Another example is when the war US-Iran conflict arose which affected 3,000

OFWs. It resulted to deployment bans of OFW in the region and decrease in

remittances from OFWs in the region. These incidents could bring harm to a lot of

OFWs but the Philippines already had representatives on other countries that could help

save Filipinos that might be put in danger because of such incidents. These events can’t

be resolved by stopping the participation of the Philippines to the global economic and

political integration. Different approach should be used to resolve these issues that’s

why it’s important that government regulations and preparedness is given priority at all

times.

As the Philippines continue to thrive in this ever-changing world, it is important that

we take part in efforts that aims to help us adjust to such change. One of these efforts

is our participation in the global political and economic integration. It is important to

note that political and economic integration could not bring harm to the Philippines and

the Filipino citizens as long as fair and strict implementation of regulations are done.

Winners and losers during the process of economic and political integration always exist

and the only thing we can do is to minimize the gap between them. Poor management

and incompetency of governance would just lead to greater problems and disruptions.

When it comes to the Filipino citizens, it is important that their rights are always

protected and maintained as they are the primary contributors to the development of

our country. The challenges brought by economic and political integration should not be

seen as boulders that block our way to victory, but rather, they should be seen as
steppingstones that we have to overcome to get to the top. Economic and Political

integration are crucial processes that our country should be able to face for us to be

able to adjust with the present world.