examination for the possibility of working in the US. The Philippine Nu rses Association disclosed that in June 2002 alone, a t least 100 doctors took the nursing board examinations. A doctor applying for a nurse in the US said that he would earn in a month as a nurse in the US what he is earning in a year as a doctor in the Philippines. Some Filipino nurses earn up to US$5,000 monthly in New York and California. Reports said the US would need additional 600,000 nurses until 2010 while Japan would require 1.2 million nurses during the same period. Filipino nurses are also trooping to Europe, particularly United Kingdom. Ironically, the Philippines has one of the lowest rat ios of doctors and nurses against the populat ion. Salaried Workers Carry Burden of Taxes Citing data from the Nati onal Tax Research Research Center (NTRC), Fi nance Secretary Isidro Camacho said that in the year 2001, there were 2,605,505 individual taxpayers who filed t heir income tax returns and paid a total of P80.42 billion. About 2,079,745 salaried workers, or 80 percent of the income t ax payers, paid a total of P66.3 billion in income taxes, accounting for 82 percent of the total collection. Professionals or self-employed individuals contributed only P10.75 billion or only 13 percent of the income taxes while capital gains tax paid by individuals reached P3.18 billion. In particular, self-employed individuals or single-proprietors paid P10.13 billion w hile professionals paid only P620 million. Based on these figures in 2001, professionals paid only P20,447 in income tax while salaried workers pa id P31,879. According to the DOF, this should not be the case since professionals are actual ly earning much higher tha n salaried workers. Citing a 1997 government survey, the DOF said that sala ried workers earned only P582.7 billion while professionals received P1.159 billion during that year. Measured per capita, salaried workers earned an average of P223,642 while professionals earned P2.204 million in 1997. In the year 2002, for example, only 2.8 million Filipinos of the total 30 million workers, businessmen and professionals paid their income taxes. As of October 2002, there were over 30 million Filipinos in the labor force, about 15 million of whom were salaried workers, 11 million wer e self-employed and 4 million were unpaid family w orkers. One government study showed that over the past 11 years (1991 to 2001), leakage from the individual income tax amounted to P608 billion. This was on top of the P610 billion that were lost to leakage in the value added tax (VAT) scheme. Americans Are 25 Times Richer Equitable distribution of wealth would hardly resolve the poverty problem in the country. In reality, the country's per capita income or the imaginary figure referring to every Filipino's equal share in the country's total wealth, is below US$1,000. In comparison, countries like the United S tates, Germany, Japan and even Singapore have a per capita income of over US$25,000. This means that an ordinary American is 25 times richer than an ordinary Filipino. What would be needed to relieve poverty is to enlarge the economic pie by drawing more capital and resources into the country, so every Filipino would get a larger share. Among Questionable Claims Are: 1. The Philippines is the world's second largest English-speaking nation. In reality, most Filipinos do not speak English on the street while the Department of Education is bothered by Filipino students' low English proficiency level. In comparison, English is the main language in the streets of United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other British territories. 2. The Philippines has the largest Christian population in Asia. China actually has over 80 million Christians and is therefore the country with largest Christian population in Asia. 3. The Philippines was second to Japan in economic prosperity in Asia in t he 1950s. Coming out of World War II, most East Asian countries, including the Philippines, were in still in recovery in the 1950s. Some of them had just won their freedom while economic prosperity was a strange phrase during that period. Even our parents would agree that life was harder in the 1950s. The Philippines never became rich and its golden age has yet to set in. Economic situation, however, was less burdening in 1996 and 1997 under the Ramos administration. 4. The Philippines is an agricultural economy. The Philippines is no longer an agricultural country. It cannot even produce enough rice, sugar or wheat to feed its entire population and has to import food from Thailand, Vietnam and the United States. The country's agricultural exports comprised less than 5 percent of its total outbound shipments in 2001. While the agriculture sector employed 37 percent of the workforce in 2001, it contributed only 21 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP). The industrial and services se ctors contributed the remaining 79 percent to the domestic economy. 5. Filipinos are the happiest people in the world. The World Values Survey conducted by University of Michigan in 1998 ranked Iceland 1st and the Philippines 12th among 54 countri es in happiness index. The Ph ilippines was ranked first among Asian countries though. The truth is happiness cannot be measured. 6. Early Filipinos had a perfect socio-economic and justice system before the Spaniards came. There was never a perfect society in the world and tales about gold abounding in the Philippines five centuries ago remain to be proven. The fact is slavery, slavery, war, war, witchcraft, beheading and hum an sacrifice were already present in the country before the Spaniards came. 7. The Philippines is a favorite destination of for eign tourists. It could have the finest beach resorts in the world, but the Philippines gets only about 2 million foreign tourists annually. In comparison, smaller Asian countries like Singapore and Hong Kong receive over 8 mil lion foreign guests every year. year. 8. The Philippines is one of the safest and most peaceful places on earth. That is what the Department of Tourism claims but according to the International Red Cross, the Philippines registered the world's fourth highest number of casualties and injuries as a result of natural disasters and man-made calam ities from 1992 to 2001 - 5.8 million cases in all. It was behind China, India and Iran. China and India were expected in the accident list because they have the largest populations in the world. 9. Equitable distribution of wealth would resolve the poverty problem in the country. In reality, the country's per capita income or the imaginary figure referring to every Filipino's equal share in the country's total wealth, is below US$1,000. In comparison, countries like the United S tates, Germany, Japan and even Singapore have a per capita income of over US$25,000. This means that an ordinary American is 25 times richer than an ordinary Filipino. What would be needed to relieve poverty is to enlarge the economic pie by drawing more capital and resources into the country, so every Filipino would get a larger share.
