The Philippines has been continuously experiencing high GDP growth rates for the past years. This may be a good sign for a country’s economic development, but it is evident that compared to its neighbouring countries in Asia, Philippines is still a less developed country. In an article written by Tullao and Cabuay, the Philippine economic development is examined through evaluating the factors for the country’s growth by looking into a perspective of growth by Walter Rostow. During the 1960s, Rostow proposed the five stages of growth that an economy should go through to achieve full development. These stages are the traditional society, pre-conditions for take-off, takeoff, drive to maturity and the age of mass consumption. The said article answers the question on whether the Philippine economy has reached its full potential through its utilization of capital and mobilization of resources. In addition, it also assessed the country’s economic development through examining each stage of growth and at what stage of development the Philippines is currently in. For a country to be considered to be in the take-off stage of development, its economy must be in the normal conditions of growth. There should be about ten percent rise of its productive investment rate through the national income, a highly productive manufacturing sector should be present and there should be an emergence of political, social and institutional structures that enables the continues expansion of the economy. Unfortunately, the Philippines is said to be stuck in the pre-condition stage for take-off. Despite the attractive economic indicators, such as the high GDP growth rate, stable inflation and the rise in national income, the country still experiences detriments in its development, which does not allow it to undergo take-off. According to the article, Rostow states that the stage of take-off is signified by a significant event that serves as
a sharp stimulus for development. Since the Philippines has been colonized by different countries such as Spain, America and Japan, it has established its own government and constitution. It also underwent Marshall Law under President Marcos, thus from that time on, the country continues to experience presidential regimes that are either controversial or progressive. These events triggered the Philippines to experience the first touches of modernization as well as the lack of progress to achieve take-off. We may then say that the growth of the economy underwent a steadfast growth at first, then slowly lacked the potential to attain the pre-requisites to take-off itself. The article emphasized that to potentially reach take-off, there should be a shift from agriculture to manufacturing. Although our country may be considered as a naturally rich country in terms of agriculture, it is still undeniable that the manufacturing sector will be the one to lead the Philippines in maximizing its growth potential. However, that agricultural sector may be below manufacturing in terms of its contribution to the economy but the services sector still arise over the two sectors. The services sector serves as the leading sector and it greatly contributes to output especially in trade of services across borders. In addition, the establishment of the central bank contributed to the achievement of price stability that is relative to economic growth. The Philippines may be ready for take-off but its inability to sustain its economic growth is a huge hindrance. I may say that I agree to most points raised in the article. It is undeniably evident that the Philippines really has the potential to develop. However, there are many factors that hinders take-off such as the inability of the government to properly distribute its national income. Instead of investing in areas which may help
achieve development such as research and development and better infrastructures, the government exhaust its income to expensive yet insignificant projects due to corruption. I may say that I agree to most points raised by the article especially as it concludes that the potential of the country to reach the take-off stage is almost reached but there are instances that the conditions cannot be sustained over time. Also, whether these conditions are met or not, there is still a huge possibility for the Philippines to be underdeveloped mainly due to poverty which the government cannot completely eradicate. However, the only weakness that I can see on the article was its failure to consider the limitations of Rostow’s theory. It seems that the model assumes that all countries start with the same foundations such as the same natural resources, climates, population size, etc. Merely applying this model to assess the economic development situation of the Philippines seems to be slightly insufficient since there are a lot of other factors that may be evidence for development.
