Eternal Sunshine of an Ahistorical Mind: Rejoinder to Monsod, Magno, Punongbayan, et al.

Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) Nos. 6 and 7 seek to amend portions of our constitution that deal with foreign ownership in public utilities, basic education, and advertising. The current limits on foreign ownership in these sectors would remain, but Congress would be authorized to modify them through ordinary legislation. 

The University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) issued a Discussion Paper (DP) recently in response to deliberations in the House of Representatives. The paper entitled, “How to change a constitution by hand-waving (Or, the unbearable lightness of evidence2 in support of lifting foreign ownership restrictions)” questions the validity of evidence used to support both resolutions. 

This reaction paper below seeks to unpack what the UP professors allege is the weak evidence presented at the House and evaluate their counter evidence.

In addition, I recorded a series on The Cusp Youtube Channel that covers the main arguments of the rejoinder. Here they are in order (see below).

Are restrictions to FDI in the 1987 charter passé?

I was invited by Senator Sonny Angara, Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes to provide our position on Senate Resolution of Both Houses, RBH No. 6. This is a resolution that seeks to amend Article XII, Section 11 (Public Utilities).

The following slides were used in my statement to the Senate Subcommittee on Monday, 12 February 2024. 

A video montage of my statement and responses at the Q&A can be viewed below:

My closing statement can be viewed below and here.

A post-pandemic primer on the Philippines

 I recently "sat down" with Cecile from Toronto, the host of a Youtube channel known as CeCe Tee Vee and "The Closet Economist" a former official of the Bangko Sentral who is completing her doctoral studies in Barcelona. 

We discussed the state of the world following Covid-19 and the complex challenges facing the nation as it seeks to rebound from its ill effects. We assessed the capacity of the incoming government of Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos, Jr to address it, and the missed opportunity of electing Isko Moreno whose human-centered economic plans were aimed squarely at our complex challenges.

We concluded with reflections on how to promote transformational thinking and keep the flame of the Iskommunity alive.

This episode streamed live on Philippine Independence Day June 12, 2022. The language spoken is mainly Taglish (a combination of English and Tagalog).

Why land reform succeeded in Taiwan and Korea but failed in the Philippines?

The US made three attempts between 1903 and 1918 to institute land reform and distribution in the Philippines (a hundred years ago). Each of these attempts failed. Iyer and Maurer, two scholars from Harvard Business School examine the economic history of the Philippines under Spanish and American colonial rule, and point out why these attempts failed.

The article below is worth a read for anyone interested in knowing why property rights in the Philippines had been weak, and made it costly under those circumstances to pursue an asset reform program. The lessons learned in the Philippines, and different circumstances during the Cold War allowed US-sponsored land reform in Taiwan and Korea to succeed in a relatively short period of time. This laid the foundation for their rapid industrialization.

Covered by Iyer and Maurer is the effect of the Treaty of Paris at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War on the disposition of friar lands, whose acquisition by the US government from the Catholic Church at many times their potential annual income served as a disincentive to the proper implementation of land reform and distribution in the country.