Growing Spirit in the Philippines
SISON, PASTOR B.
'Filipino First' policy acts as spur to Islands' economy Crowing Spirit in the Philippines By Pastor B. Sison FILIPINOS like to compare the Philippines of 1960 with England after the repeal of...
...Veteran political observers were not surprised when President Garcia, in 1957...
...Nearly all Chinese residents in the Philippines are affected by a law which prohibits aliens from engaging in the retail trade...
...Chinese-owned firms have been most affected by the rising nationalist tide...
...campaigned on the issue of "independence" from foreign economic influences—the forerunner of his present "Filipino First" policy...
...today more and more consumer goods are manufactured locally: Rubber tires and tubes, metal products, nails, ready mixed paints and cotton textiles are no longer imported from the United States, the Philippines' biggest supplier of consumer items...
...Some observers feel that President Garcia has accepted the leadership of the nationalist movement because of its vote-getting potentials...
...For the present, American import firms are not affected by the directive, in view of the Philippine Constitution's "parity" provision which guarantees U.S...
...The adverse publicity that often has been given Philippine President Carlos P. Garcia in the foreign press, due to recurring charges of graft in his Administration, has not diminished his grass roots appeal...
...Members of these newly formed organizations wear native clothes, use goods made of local materials, and eat only foods produced in the islands...
...dominantly in the hands of non-Filipinos, steps will be taken to enable the Filipino enterprises to participate in that field at the earliest opportunity...
...The Chinese own about 70 per cent of the country's retail enterprises and, while protecting vested rights, the law provides that alien-owned enterprises may continue to exist only during the lifetime of the proprietor...
...Filipino First' policy acts as spur to Islands' economy Crowing Spirit in the Philippines By Pastor B. Sison FILIPINOS like to compare the Philippines of 1960 with England after the repeal of the Corn Laws and with the United States after the Civil War...
...Perhaps belatedly, they are beginning to feel pride in their national identity and appreciation of their distinct cultural heritage...
...When the Philippine Central Bank drastically reduced the dollar import allocations of foreign-owned firms, nine West European countries joined India and Nationalist China in deploring the manner by which their nationals have been, for all practical purposes, compelled to discontinue their business operations...
...The nationalist wave also has spread to the countryside...
...The President's main support comes from the nationalist groups, which believe that his "Filipino First" policy will alter the traditional pattern of the economy to which the islands are accustomed...
...Power and wealth are starting to gravitate from the landed aristocracy toward a new Filipino industrial class...
...There are stirrings of great upheaval throughout the land...
...According to him, the continued predominance of foreigners in business might "ultimately compel a political decision to expropriate foreign-owned enterprises...
...This is true to a certain extent...
...The islands' top economic planning body, the National Economic Council (NEC), has declared that where Filipino enterprises seek to enter a field prePASTOR B. SISON frequently reports on events in the Philippine Islands jnr the Christian Science Monitor...
...When the United States voluntarily withdrew its sovereignty over the islands in 1946, the ruling Nacionalista party was left without an issue...
...The Filipinos' sense of nationalism has also shown itself in other fields than the economic...
...In the villages, "New Katipunan" societies have been organized, patterned after the secret Filipino groups that fought Spanish rule in the islands in 1898...
...For the first time in the country's history, Filipinos dominate local industry and finance...
...citizens "equal rights" with Filipinos until July 3, 1974...
...The Nacionalistas had maintained their political supremacy for four decades solely because of their popular campaign slogan of "immediate, absolute, and complete" independence...
...Ten years ago, the Philippines had no industry to speak of...
...The victory of the Nacionalista party in the elections of 1957 and 1959 attests to the validity of the thesis that Filipinos, just a decade and a half away from their former colonial status, still will react emotionally to the political battle cry of "economic independence...
...The NEC chairman has explained that a "Filipino First" orientation appears to offer the best safeguard against the excesses of nationalism...
...In the elections of April 1946, when the grant of freedom from the United States was a certainty, the Nacionalistas campaigned for the first time on bread-and-butter issues and suffered a disastrous defeat at the polls...
...In the NEC's view, these policies were intended to forestall the repetition of "unpleasant events in Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt...
Vol. 43 • February 1960 • No. 8
