The model concept of a Social Market Economy

More than 40 million Filipinos are poor. The sorrows! What to eat tomorrow; the fear of getting sick; no money for the doctor; the constant danger of falling into a deadly debt spiral. No money to send the children to good schools. No money for house repair, to buy clothing. Poverty – let us not betray ourselves – means a miserable life. For many million Filipinos it means hunger, no home, no regular income. It means serious violation of human dignity.
Published in Commentaries
Wednesday, 05 October 2016 13:07

The forgotten war on poverty

 

THE WAR on poverty now appears to be a forgotten war. We have been waging war against it, but the problem is that numbers do not lie. In fact, one does not have to look for government statistics. One only needs to do a short walk around the city in order to find the ubiquitous presence of impoverished children. The harrowing tragedy that is human poverty does not only diminish the value of life; it also bespeaks the unequivocal reality of systemic abuse in which human beings are ultimately exploited and reduced to powerless artifacts.

Published in Commentaries
 
While globalization has been around for some time, and many countries have been part of it in one way or another, economic openness has assumed greater significance for the Philippines with the Asean Economic Community officially in full gear since end-2015. This makes the question whether and how the country’s subnational regions can benefit from an open economy relevant and timely.
Published in Commentaries