THE Philippines' looming political and economic crisis is inevitable. The plight is the upshot of the promoted social divide, indeterminate economic policy, and state dependency. A defy or yield juncture for the Filipino.
The country's deficit on balance of payments (BOP), for January to July this year, is the worst in history. The deficit in the country's aggregate indicator is a long story of incapacity to produce goods and services for economic growth.
Economic managers fail to acknowledge the designed net consumer status of the nation, and it cannot be overturned by simply borrowing or preparing buffer mechanism.
Upshot can only be defined by planning to be a producer, and towards national industrialization.
The political crisis in the Philippines is inescapable, from the bestowed nominal independence cohorting Emilio Aguinaldo to the political butterflies nowadays.
Thus, people's issue is sidelined if not outright collateral.
Do we really expect genuine change from them? Defiance was translated in two Edsa uprising.
When President Rodrigo Duterte ascended to power, a verbal attack against oligarchs, drug lords, corrupt politicians, and government officers was seen as cleansing in the process towards nation building.
Alas, after two years and two months, nothing has materialized.
The Duterte administration just creates dichotomization either "Dilawan" or "Dutertard." Appearances of government officials are now mundane, for many it's gibberish.
A professor said, President Duterte will be lucky to survive the developing resistance before 2020.
Now the upshot is to defy.
Indicator of the growing resistance is the labor movement, watered by a failed promise to end contractualization and soaring prices of basic necessities.
Before the historic Edsa 1 uprising took place, workers of La Tondeña broke the deafening silence under Martial Law. It was followed by 700 more strikes before it culminated to the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos.
During the time of Benigno Aquino III's administration, there were only 15 labor strikes. Labor movement then was coping up to the contractualization scheme, which instinctively prevents labor unions to flourish.
In the recent "tête-à-tête" of President Duterte with Chief Presidential Counsel Salvador Panelo, President Duterte blamed workers for strikes that he says are scaring away foreign investors.
It was then refuted by KMU, a militant labor center, stating that "the upsurge of workers' strikes these past months is a result of Duterte's failure to end contractualization, refusal to address the rising prices of commodities by implementing a significant wage hike and of the government's fascist attacks against trade union and human rights."
According to Department of Labor and Employment, there had been 155 notification of strike from January to July 2018, up by 18.7 percent against 126 notification in a similar period in 2017.
The global model for contractualization scheme is the implementation found in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. Companies abroad are darting to the cheapest labor a region can offer. The race to the bottom scheme undermines labor rights.
The bubble already popped in the Philippine BPO industry, Unified Employees of Alorica/West already filed Notice of Strike. BPO employees realized that call center hopping won't improve their job security.
