“Open for business”
“Leave us alone”
What impression do you get when you see these two notices
on the front door? Confused?
The first notice “Open for business” signals the intention
behind the following headlines:
“Marcos signs Maharlika Investment Fund bill into law”
– Philstar
“Marcos backs Maharlika fund: ‘We need added
investment’” – Inquirer
The second notice “Leave us alone” reflects the defiance
of the following headlines:
“ICC chamber junks PH’s petition to suspend resumption
of drug war probe” – Rappler
“Marcos: PH ending all involvement with ICC” – CNN
Philippines
Nikkei Asia article “Marcos’ wealth fund is wrong cure
for Philippine economy” by William Pesek, an award-winning Tokyo-based
journalist, and author (an objective observer looking outside the box), offers
a critical perspective on the meaning of the first notice “Open for business”. Here
are some excerpts:
“[Maharlika Investment Fund, a sovereign wealth fund
of sorts,] typically emerges when a government has an embarrassment of riches.
Usually, this is because the sale of natural resources leaves a government with
more cash than it knows what to do with [the so-called surplus]. Here, think of
Saudi Arabia or Norway.
“The time not to create one is when a country is
struggling with a budget deficit. Or when a nation’s troubles are so much
bigger than a wealth fund could ever address – from chronic poverty to runaway
inflation to endemic corruption.
“The fact that Marcos is the son of the dictator who
destroyed an economy earlier destined to be a Southeast Asian success story
only heightens fears that the fund is a very bad idea.”
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
So, PH is now “open for business”?
With such a fund that its critics have likened to the
notorious 1Malaysia Development Bhd., and which was passed into law in a hasty
and questionable manner -- that open-for-business notice is hardly convincing
to global investors.
Our local pundit-economist Solita “Mareng Winnie”
Monsod joined the fray:
“A sovereign wealth fund is supposed to be created out
of excess, out of surplus, either surplus from commodity export, oil, gas,
mineral export, or from inflows of foreign exchange that are too much. In other
words, excess or fiscal surpluses.”
Having said that, the MIF’s “flight of the fancy”
seems to be embedded in the words of PBBM himself: “We need added investment.”
Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri affirmed such a notion: “The President and
the economic team are quite excited to highlight MIF to the world for INVESTORS
TO COME IN.” (Underscoring mine)
Excerpts of The Manila Times’ Rigoberto Tiglao let the
cat out of the bag with his out-of-the-box hunch in his column “Maharlika fund
to bring back elites wealth stashed abroad”:
“Obviously, Marcos [Jr.] and the bill’s authors could
not publicly reveal the real aim of the MIF: ‘Legitimate’ institutions, especially
from abroad, would shun being in bed with what the press would in abbreviation
call çrony money abroad.’
“If convincing his elite friends (or perhaps even his
family) that the MIF would be an easy way for bringing back their money sitting
in some foreign bank abroad or in the form of real property, to be invested in
our country’s development, I say: By all means pass the law, let bygones be
bygones.”
Well, that’s Tiglao’s hunch -- take it or leave
it. Ironically, such a “hidden” real aim would surely get on the global
investors’ nerves on the makings of a rebranded Marcos 2.0 era.
Speaking of the “flight of the fancy,” I can’t help but
quote Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel: “The MIF is a bad idea, a bad
decision, a bad act. This is madness… developed on the fly. If it were an
airplane, then it was built while flying it.”
This reminds me of a slightly different scenario, when
James Cameron commented on the Titan submersible implosion: “I thought it was a
horrible idea. I wish I’d spoken up, but I assumed somebody was smarter than
me, because I never experimented with that technology, but it just sounded bad
on its face.”
In the Titan’s case, five lives were lost due to such
a “horrible idea”. But the MIF puts at risk the lives of more than 110 million
people with such, in Pimentel’s words, a “madness” that he could only hope was
based on some wisdom that he lacked.
But what about the investors that are supposed to come
in? That’s exactly why PBBM has been travelling around the world, as he explained:
“Magpapakilala muna tayo. Kapag hindi tayo bumiyahe at
nagpakita sa mga conference na yan, hindi nila tayo iniisip. Wala sa isipan
nila ang Pilipinas.”
(We need to introduce ourselves first. If we do not
travel and introduce ourselves in conferences, we would never be on their
minds.)
“Kailangan natin ipakita kung ano ang ating para
mapaganda ang POTENTIAL INVESTMENTS nila na dadalhin nila dito sa Pilipinas.”
(Underscoring mine)
(We need to showcase the country to show them what
POTENTIAL INVESTMENTS they can bring into the Philippines.)
LEAVE US ALONE
However, this contradicts the second notice on PH’s door: “Leave us alone.”
How can we attract potential investments with such a message
on our door? How can we entice potential investments when PBBM has declared to
the world that PH has cut off all ties with ICC?
By the way, do the above questions carry weight or
make any sense? In other words, what are the implications of PBBM’s “full
disengagement” of PH from ICC?
SOCIAL
1. Impunity. It sends a message that there is impunity
for those who commit crimes against humanity – demoralizing victims of such
crimes and emboldening other rogue leaders to commit similar atrocities.
2. Tension and Conflict. It could exacerbate tension and
conflict.
3. Human Rights Violations. It could lead to human rights
violations, such as arbitrary detention, or extrajudicial killings of
witnesses, victims, or those suspected of providing information to the ICC.
POLITICAL
1. International Isolation. It could lose support from
other countries.
2. Diplomatic Repercussions. It could harm PH’s
reputation on the global stage hampering cooperative work with other countries
and international organizations shackling future negotiations and agreements.
Exhibit A. “Gov’t Rushes to Avert EU Ban On PH Seafarers” (Inquirer)
3. Domestic Instability. If the public pulse for the ICC
investigation turns into widespread support [Exhibit B. “Lawyers’ group lauds
ICC on denial of PH gov’t plea against resumption of ‘war on drugs’ probe”
(MindaNews)], it could lead to internal unrest.
ECONOMIC (MIF Achilles Heel)
1. Reduced Foreign Investment. It could lead to a
reduction in foreign investment due to the investors’ uneasiness to invest in
PH with a perceived poor human rights record and economic instability.
2. Economic Sanctions. It could lead to economic
sanctions – harming the PH economy by reducing investment and access to
capital.
3. Damage to International Trade Relations. It could harm
PH’s trade relations with other countries leading to reduced exports and
distress to local industries.
Exhibit C. “EU Parliament To PH: Act On Human Rights Abuses Or Lose GSP+ Perks” (Rappler)
INTERVENTION
Let me end this article with some excerpts from my previous
ATABAY article “Easter Letter To My Atheist Friend”:
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Speaking
of social injustice, here’s a heartbreaking story of Kian, a 17 years old boy
in a poor family of four siblings. His mother worked as a domestic helper in
Saudi Arabia, while his father ran a sari-sari store that Kian helped from 5:30
a.m. to 12:00 noon every day before he went to school. After closing the store
at night, he would usually walk around the block for some small talk with
neighborhood friends.
Maybe
it was during one of those walks when he was shot by the police operatives –
one of the thousands (6,000+ according to the government, 30,000 according to
CHR/ICC) killed in the drug war.
“Tama
na po! May test pa ako bukas!” Kian pleaded for mercy before he was killed.
What did
that test mean to Kian? A simple thing that could have opened up a bright
future for his whole family.
A step
closer to his dream of no longer using cooking oil when giving a massage to his
father.
A step
closer to his dream of reuniting his family with his mother quitting her
overseas work as a domestic helper.
A step
closer to his dream of having a bed for each of his siblings.
A step
closer to his dream of expanding the sari-sari store that has sustained his
whole family.
A step
closer to his dream of becoming a policeman. How ironic.
“Meanwhile,
where is God?” C.S. Lewis wrote those agonizing words amid the deep grief after
his wife’s death from cancer.
In any difficult question, like “Is God hidden?” or “Why doesn’t He intervene?” as in Kian’s case, for instance, haven’t we felt in our hearts that the International Criminal Court is God’s intervention?
Have a blessed weekend!
Content put together in
collaboration with Microsoft Bing AI-powered co-pilot
Head collage photos courtesy
of Graphix Place, Signs & Lines, Sound Cloud, Shutterstock, Business
Mirror, & Vector Stock
Video clips courtesy of YouTube
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