Philippines urged to be nation of producers & exporters, not just importers & casinos; “sugar problem is just tip of iceberg”
“Let us help the Philippines become a dynamic nation of producers, savers, investors and exporters, not just a nation of importers, a nation with too many casinos and gambling operations. I think the recent problem with prices and supply of sugar, a commodity which we used to export but is now an import product, is just the tip of the iceberg.
From once a famous sugar exporter, the Philippines is now annually a net sugar importer, what happened to our sugar haciendas and sugar mills in terms of global competitiveness? It is sad that we seem to import almost everything, from sugar, rice, coffee, onions, peanuts to fishes, pork and vegetables, also manufactured goods from paper clips to cellphones and motorcycles,” said economics and politics analyst, realty entrepreneur and Pandesal Forum moderator Wilson Lee Flores in his speech at the August 27, 2022 Commencement Ceremony of Navotas Polytechnic College (NPC) in Navotas City. Flores has also won 15 CMMA awards and 3 Palanca literary awards.
Flores added: “Another tragedy is due to lack of domestic industries, vibrant agriculture and our limited foreign investments, we just seem to content ourselves in exporting our best young talents abroad to enrich other countries’ economies.
Our leaders should wake up, have strategic long-term thinking to reform the socio-economic structures and directions of the Philippines. We need self-reliance not only with a genuine independent foreign policy, self-reliance in military defense capabilities not tied up to any foreign country, and the most important self-reliance in economics.”
Flores also congratulated Navotas City for establishing and supporting a polytechnic college to help college students of disadvantaged families, not another law school. He half-jokingly said: “The Philippines already has too many lawyers, possibly the highest number among Asian societies, when what we need is more technicians, engineers, teachers, agriculturists, information technology technicians. Perhaps the Philippines would also be better off economically if in the future we elect more engineers, scientists, teachers, farmers and poets as politicians, instead of too many lawyers in our rowdy politics?”
Navotas Polytechnic College Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mayor John Reynald M. Tiangco in his response speech said he agrees with Flores’ call for the Philippines to increase productivity and global competitiveness.
The NPC batch of 2022 had 505 graduates, mostly graduates of Bachelor in Elementary Education, Bachelor in Secondary Education, Bachelor in Business Administration and Associate in Information Systems. Other officials present included Congressman Tobias Reynald “Toby” M. Tiangco and Navotas Polytechnic College President Dr. Rebecca T. Añonuevo.
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