REACTION PAPER (THREE ECONOMIC ISSUES OF THE PHILIPPINES ) SUBMITTED TO:
MRS. RONALYN BISQUERA SUBMITTED BY:
SHY B. MANZANO XII-ABM-1
UNEMPLOYMENT Philippines is facing a lot of economic problems making it harder for the country to progress and rise from being a third world country. One of these economic problems which is also one of the major problems of Philippines is the rising rate of unemployment. Unemployment is always considered as one of the major economic problem of the Philippines ever since. It is a phenomenon that occurs when a person who is actively searching for employment is unable to find work. It is often used to measure the health of the economy of a certain country through finding its rate. Unemployment rate is the number of unemployed people divided by the number of people in the labor force. According to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), between the years 2006 – 2015 the recorded average percent of Filipinos who are unemployed is 7.4 percent. For the latest Labor Force Survey done by Philippine Statistics Authority, they have recorded that the percent of unemployment rate have increase by 0.2 percent. It is showed that in the year 2016, they recorded a 5.4 percent and in the year 2017, it increased to 5.6 percent. NEDA said that the reason for this increase was because of the typhoons that greatly affected the agriculture sector of the Philippines. It is said that if a society has no work available for its community then its economy is in danger. In connection, a progressive society and economy is a society who have many jobs for the many people. Poverty is like disease and employment is the best remedy for it. So a country who lacks jobs for its people, it will be impossible for the country to extinguish poverty. It is said that there are three main causes of unemployment and the first one is that job market is greater than job created. In relation, it is said that the number of jobs and work vacancies cannot accommodate the vast number of Filipinos who is seeking for job. Although the government is doing their best to attract foreign investors many Filipinos are not getting the job because they were said to be under qualified and their age is not qualified for the job. It is hard for many Filipinos to get the job because of the unattainable qualifications for the job. ` Secondly, is the rural to urban migrations. It is in the mentality of a lot of Filipinos that progress are in the urban areas because jobs openings are in there. If only the government will improve the economic environment it may open a lot of job opportunities and it will not be needed for the people who are in rural areas to migrate to urban areas. Last cause of unemployment is that many of the unemployed individuals are college graduates. It is hard for the college graduates to obtain the job because they lacked the experience that an organization qualifies. In my own understanding, unemployment will only be eradicated if we will learn to become business-minded. Instead of seeking of job opportunities why not create job opportunities. Be the one who will open job openings to many Filipino job seekers by starting a business that you will personally run and develop it into an organization that will help a fellow Filipino or people who are in need of job. If this will happen it may help our economy grow.
POOR QUALITY OF INFRASTRUCTURES The quality of infrastructures of different has become one of the representation of what is the condition of their economy. Like for example countries like Japan, Korea and United States of America. These three both countries have the best infrastructures, their train stations, roads and buildings. It is also said that the quality of infrastructures brings an effect to the economy of a country. It is not unknown to us that Philippines has a poor quality of infrastructures hindering the growth of its economy. Poor quality of infrastructures may appear to be not a major economic problem but it is not because the quality of infrastructures plays a major part on the slow growth of Philippines; economy. Insufficient infrastructure has been a major constraint to economic growth and poverty reduction in the Philippines.. According to Emillio Neri Jr., lead economist at the Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI), infrastructure can be our weakest links in the progress of our economy. But what made the Philippines to appear to have poor quality of infrastructures First, is the major traffic jams in the urban areas most especially in Manila. A day will not past without experiencing being stuck in a traffic jam when you are in the city of Manila. Sometimes it will take many hours before you can arrive to your destinations. A lot of our foreign tourist that traffic jams in the Philippine are there worst experiences every time they visit our country. Sometimes, Filipinos will resort to MRTs and LRTs to avoid traffic jams but then again obstacles are can be faced when riding in this train services which will lead us to our second representation of Philippines having poor quality of infrastructures, the train stations. Last year MRT trains experiences sudden stops while transporting the people to the next train stations. Because of this unpredicted stop and malfunctions of the MRTs had no choice but walk their efforts to arrive in the next train stations. Sometimes, Filipinos will complain because of the long queue when getting their tickets. There is also videos, that the doors of the MRTs and LRTs are not closed when the train is moving. Sometimes, the door will close abruptly. Last examples are the roads that sometimes the reasons of traffic jams and power crisis that our country is facing. Poor quality of infrastructures scares foreign investors to invest in the Philippines. Without the investors it will be impossible to us to have a fast economy growth. Without them it will be hard to open new job opportunities. This economic issue hinders the government to have access to the natural assets of our country. It will be hard many people highly rural areas of our country to apply to the services provided by the government which is sometimes can only acquire in the urban areas. I believe that infrastructures is one of the key element in curing poverty and elevating the economy of our country. If our infrastructure will be upgraded and improved it will result to many job creation and massive investments from the outside countries thus increasing the fund of the government budget for improving the education, health and other social programs will greatly benefit many Filipinos. Consequently, elevating the economy of the Philippines.
TRAIN LAW Philippines is considered as one of the third world countries or simply one of the rising countries in the Asia. So when the economic rate of the Philippines is being compared to the countries who has abundant and bountiful economy like United States of America or Asian countries like China, Philippines will be nothing compared to them. This statement may appear harsh and degrading but we Filipinos must need to be reminded and wake up by this harsh truths. A fact that our country is not great and economically stable as we positively perceives our country. Our country cannot change its current state into more abundant state because of this certain economic issues and problems that our country is facing. For example, unemployment, income inequality, and a lot more economic issues that hinders our country to rise. But there is this one new economic issue and one of the things that greatly burden a lot of Filipino and that is the implementation of the TRAIN law. Even though our country does not perceive it as an economic issue, many Filipinos considered as it is because of the bad effects on the expenses and budgeting of many Filipinos. Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion, or as the population call the “TRAIN LAW” is a tax reform law implemented by the government last January 1 st , 2018. According to the government, the goal of the Train Law “ is to create a more just, simple, and more effective system of tax collection, as per the constitution, where the rich will have a bigger contribution and the poor will benefit more from the government’s programs and services”. To be able to attain these goals, they lowered the personal income tax, simplified the estate and donor’s tax, but those taxes that will be removed will be balance by increasing the excise tax of petroleum products, increasing the excise tax of automobiles and lastly increasing the tax of sugar-sweetened beverages.
Even before the implementation of the TRAIN law a lot of parties showed their disagreement for the tax reform. They said that it will not totally help all Filipinos and it will only increase the burden of those Filipinos because it will increase the prices of the commodities. But then again, their petitions were overruled and the TRAIN has been implemented. In my perception, TRAIN law does not really help all the Filipinos and it will not totally eradicate poverty here in the Philippines. With the new tax reform law, al lot of the price of our basic commodities has dramatically changed since the law has been implemented. Most especially the sweeten beverages like soft drinks. For example the Php 25.00 Coca-cola litre become Php 35.00; the Php 17.00 RC cola increases up to Php25.00. These increases of beverage made a negative impression to a lot of Filipino residents. Our family owns a sari-sari store, and I must say that the TRAIN made an immediate effect to the prices of the products and commodities and to our income generation. A lot of our consumers showed their shocked and disbelief when the prices have increase. After some weeks, a lot of our customers lessen the number the amount of soft drinks they buy and consume. Last year, the store can sell 1 case of Coca-Cola litro within 3-5 days but now a one case of that commodity can only now be sold within a minimum of 7 – 12 days.
This tax reform brought a significant effect to the daily income of our business. A lot of them lessen their consumption of the some of commodities because of the undeniable high price of it. Some also says that it will not totally help all the Filipinos because the benefit that the government said will bring is only applicable for those Filipinos who have regular jobs and the ones who receive a minimum wage. It only increases the amount of expenses of many Filipinos. The TRAIN law may bring some benefits to some of Filipinos but when you perceive it as a whole; you can see that the tax reform does not really benefit our country. It only increases the burdens of many Filipinos. Yes, some Filipinos will receive a large amount of salary if some tax will be deducted but those taxes that are deducted will only be put to our some of our commodities like gas and drinks. It is like that the new tax reform is only creating an illusion in your mind that you are rich or plentiful because you are receiving a large amount of cash but when you deduct your daily expenses for commodities the total amount that will be left is still the same or less than the amount you are saving when the TRAIN law was still not implemented.
