Colonialism is alive and well in the Philippines, despite the current fashion of “diversity

and inclusiveness”—for those who may not have come across this overly complicated
human resources coined term it means integrating into the environment in which you are
operating, or put more simply giving local people equal opportunity in your international
business.

Indeed the Spaniards and the Americans are no longer directing the affairs of the
Philippines, but neo Colonialism is insidious. I will cite two examples.

Foreign embassies and indeed foreign multinationals tend to insist that their staff located
in the Philippines pay high salaries to their household employees. The salary levels to
which they guide their employees are generally way above the local going rate, I have
heard of P12,000-P14,000/month for house helpers with one or two days off a week,
medical expenses covered, free food, etc., etc. Well “really good” you may say when the
local rate is P4,000-5,000/month.

But is it? It may be nice for somebody for a year or two or however long is the posting of
their foreign employer, but what happens when they leave their Philippines assignment
and the helpers are looking for jobs in the local market—very difficult to match the high
Embassy dictated salary levels, very disappointing and a hard adjustment back to local
rates—unhappiness and frustration.

Another example is that of the foreign multinational industrial company who decides to
build some sort of production facility in the Philippines—and this also covers some of the
foreign contractors. How much do they want to know about Philippines capabilities and
capacity—very little I think. “We will use the same suppliers and consultants that we use
all over the world—we will import concrete pipes from New Zealand or Thailand”
(because that is where we usually get them)—“Philippines capacity?—don’t know”
(don’t care!) “probably not available, and would be poor quality anyway.”

There is perfectly competent Philippines capacity for most construction requirements, if

only people would bother to look for it (mind you it is not always easy to find) and it is
available at a fraction of the cost of materials imported from for example, New Zealand.
This colo-nialist attitude puts the investment cost up and therefore becomes an important
factor in the decision making as to whether or not to invest in the Philippines.

Once again, people do not try, they take the easy way, its safe and there is not too much
effort involved; they can still find time to involve themselves in golf, and other
extraneous pursuits in order to ensure that their quality of life doesn’t suffer by a posting
in the Philippines. To recommend to their foreign masters the use of local Filipino
resources instead of tried and tested international contractors and suppliers involves the
risk of blame if things go wrong, use the familiar and even if it does go wrong, you won’t
be blamed—let’s have an easy life. Even more counterproductive to Filipino investment
prospects is to have local offices of international contractors who will not consider the
use of Filipino resources.
I have an example in which a foreign investor was told by a foreign contractor in the
Philippines that the cost of his investment would be 40 percent higher than it actually
would have been using Filipino resources, because the foreign contractor would use only
foreign manufactured goods and management personnel. This damages Filipino
investment prospects as well as Filipino industry.

Unusual you may say for me, a Brit, to be saying this sort of thing. I am no longer
attached to a large multinational. I am now a foreign investor in my own right, but having
been here for 11 years and having seen from the inside the attitudes of major
multinationals and the foreign contractors who purport to serve them, and who follow
them all over the world (good business for them) and contrasting this with my own
investment and development efforts, I am well aware that if you look hard enough there
is plenty of capacity in the Philippines. It is not necessary to go to the expense of
importing concrete pipes from New Zealand etc - and that by making use of local
capacity better returns on investment can be achieved. More is the pity that many foreign
multinationals don’t really care about the cost; their Philippines based senior
management people just want an easy life.

So, yes colonialism is still around, albeit not in the commonly understood sense and in
some cases it is damaging the Philippines. The Philippines can however help itself here,
certainly in the construction area by making it easier for foreign investors to find out
what is actually available in the way of capacity.

MY THESIS IN A NUTSHELL

These sets of seemingly contradictory information are well explained by the idea that the
Philippines is a neocolonial state:

• Globally, the Philippines still functions largely as it did when colonized: the
economy and government are structured to serve the needs of its former colonial
master the USA, and increasingly, global capital.
• Internally, Philippine society reflects its colonial past: a grossly inequitable, class-
divided society largely controlled by an oligarchy descended from the historic
ilustrados; a "capitalist bureaucracy" that functions by serving its foreign and
domestic masters while skimming off huge sums through corruption; and a vast
underclass of desperate poor that is increasingly deprived of the fruits of
economic development.
Neocolonialism describes the control of formerly colonized countries through economic,
cultural and military power.
It is sometimes called economic (or ‘dollar’) imperialism, but can also take a cultural
form (as in the worldwide prevalence of US films and television). Even ‘aid’ from the
West may be seen as neo-colonial from this perspective. Today many developing
countries, heavily dependent on the leading industrial nations, are subject to this type of
imperialism, with large proportions of their national product being used for the payment
of interest on accumulated international debts.
During the late 20th century the USA was considered the dominant neocolonial power,
but with the emergence of the global financial system since 2000, neocolonial states
function within the context of a world financial and political milieu.

CONCLUSION

The Philippines has been unable to follow many of its East Asian neighbors in achieving
significant economic development and a more equitable distribution of wealth. Blindly
following the advice and dictums of the US Government and the IMF-WB-WTO
triumvirate have not helped the country to prosper; somehow Filipinos must find a way to
create a new society, blazing a new path to find their own solutions to deep-seated
problems. The United States Government and the international "development agencies"
(sic) can help by ending their historic and destructive meddling.