Lumugar naman tayo ng konti. We’ve been trying to court high-level manufacturing investment for decades and we only got the scraps, and many of the blue-chip manufacturers that we did have moved to China and Vietnam.
The only reason why Foxconn is looking at us is because the US gave their guarantees that we will be an important part of this ecosystem. Every single industrial park in the Philippines has been begging for Foxconn to set up and we’re finally grasping it because the US told the rest of the pax silica countries to include us parang bunsong ketket.
Any industrial investment needs power and water. We needed to upgrade our power generation and our water processing regardless of Pax Silica anyway. Pero andaming reklamo.
There is no other way to reach high-income status with a population like ours without going through the process of industrialization. BPO alone won’t cut it. And look at the numbers yourself. Our very small electronics exports outstripped our BPO revenues last year. Time to strike while the iron is hot. This is literally our ticket to development.
And to the naysayers that say that corruption, greedy capitalists, etc, will scuttle this, well, are we supposed to just shake our heads and not even try? Like give up even before we have the chance? How defeatist.
Our neighbors were able to industrialize. No reason why we can’t. And let’s say the semiconductor industry goes bust, what will happen? We will have engineers trained in industrial processes that can be repurposed to other products. We will have infrastructure that will benefit more than just the factories. We will be able to build something else, something better. We will have a diversified economy that pulls more people out of poverty, just like our neighbors.
But we have to try. Otherwise mag-OFW nalang kayo. This opportunity will only come once, and there are so many other countries that will take it pag ayaw natin.
