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NEPA History
NEPA and Philippine History
Heroic Heritage as Source of Tangkilikan Economics
FROM the glorious spirit
of our heroic ancestors of thousands of years past we have drawn our renewed
sense of hopeful determination to pursue Tangkilikan economics and save
ourselves as a people from sinking deeper in the quicksand of mass destitution
resulting from “free trade.” We know that the Filipino people can attain our
collective liberation and upliftment by rallying to the urgent tambuli
(reveillé) call to synergize our own capabilities and restore our prosperous
bayanihan praxis. We have learned to heed the voices of our ancestors, all the way from
the folk storytellers behind our genesis mythology around ‘Malakas and
Maganda’ which, as we have now realized, pertains to such divine
attributes as ‘magandang loob’ and
‘lakas-loob,’ through the creators
of the Banaue rice terraces and such spiritual artifacts as the Manunggul Jar,
through the exceptionally honest trading partners here of the Chinese empire,
through the versatile warriors of intellectual, cultural and armed resistance
to Spanish, American and Japanese invaders, through the enlightened eloquence
of our Rectos, Tanadas and Dioknos of decades ago, up to our anti-dictatorship
martyrs and heroes before, during and well beyond the EDSA People Power
Revolution.
For
thousands upon thousands of years we have been a heroic people, a dakilang
lahi, so undeserving of such degradation and suffering as we have come to allow
ourselves and the coming generations to endure under worsening foreign
domination over our lives. Bayanihan Alive in
Tangkilikán! We can all be proud of the Bayanihan heritage of our fore-parents where
they synergized their efforts in effective team-work and produced goods and
services that were more than enough for the needs of their families, clans, and
tribes and even traded these with foreign trading partners like the Chinese.
Our islands have been blessed with fertile land and a favorable environment
that were, for thousands of years, worked industriously by our ancestors for
such abundance.
The
world-renowned Banaue Rice Terraces is just one of many living monuments of our
capability as a race, long before the Spanish conquistador ever set foot upon
our soil less than half a thousand years
ago. Before settling in our islands, our ancestors were living their lives
literally “in the same boat” together in the high seas, learning well the
lessons from the crucial need to exercise well the assertion of collective
stakeholdership. In those large boats called “baranggays”or “balanghais” our
ancient people learned well the principle of synergism and developed the
“bayanihan” philosophy. Not quite completely erased from our collective psyche after almost five
centuries of western domination, this bayanihan culture translates not only
into the spirit of working teams for specific production tasks at hand, but
also for dynamic economics where our people would patronize one another’s
produce in goods and services, conspicuously preferring these over similar goods
and services produced by outsiders. Tangkilikán restores completely
our bayanihan spirit. As producers we would in turn, seek to continually
produce goods and services of higher and higher quality and seek to lower the
costs as much as we can, conscious of the fact that the buyers and the
ultimate consumers of these goods and services would be our own families,
clans and community members. Bayanihan goodwill in mutual support is very much alive in the practice
of tangkilikán that NEPA has always been promoting. Faithful practice of the Tangkilikán ethics,
as expressed in NEPA’s own Decalogo (see back cover of this
Handbook) by more and more people would lead the Philippines back to mainstream
economics, away from failed experiments in “free trade” that have been imposed
upon our people by the institutions of international usury and dependence, as
well as by foreign creditors and foreign trading partners. Tangkilikán Shall
Return Us to the Mainstream!
The
mercantilist paradigm of centuries ago--where countries sought to produce more
and buy less--was mainstream economics. With the collective spirit of the bayanihan philosophy and the mutual
patronage of Tangkilikan, the Philippines can free itself from the bonds of
slavery under the control of Globalized Greed, concede and abandon as a failed
experiment our engaging in grossly disadvantageous “free trade” arrangements
with powerful foreign businesses and economies, and finally return to mercantilist mainstream
economics for the sake of our people and the next generations.
But Tangkilikán is
not only limited to economics. It has
also dimensions in culture and politics. Tangkilikán culture means being proud
of the positive side of Philippine culture, like language, history, arts, music,
cinema, literature, traditions, beliefs, norms, habits, etc. Tangkilikán politics does not mean patronage
politics where the political lords (dynastic elites) take care of their
underlings (usually relatives, close friends and cronies). The latter reciprocates through blind loyalty
to their political patron.
Tangkilikán politics
means good governance and a civil service effectively governed by proper rules
and regulations. It also means a
government that gives priority and protection to its citizens -- workers,
businessmen and professionals -- over non-Filipinos. Tangkilikán
Economics and its Theoretical Foundation
Tangkilikán
means mutual patronage. As an old
definition, Tangkilikán means reciprocating what benefits you have
received. On the national scale
Tangkilikán also means
Tangkilikán is rooted in the philosophy of mercantilism, which advocates “producing more in order to buy less”. In doing this, the economy accumulates surpluses which are needed to finance development and industrialization. Tangkilikán economics is therefore the philosophy behind economic nationalism. Economic nationalism, in turn, is the ideology of national industrialization and economic development. Jorge Sibal The Modern Tangkilikan
The mutual commitment
of Tangkilikán in this period of Globalization is not limited to patronage of
one another’s produce. Such a limited
type of tangkilikán may lead to monopoly, inefficiency, uncompetitiveness and
patronage politics. Instead of promoting national development and
industrialization, it may lead to backwardness and underdevelopment.
Genuine Tangkilikán
promotes locally produced products and services that are clearly of high
quality standards through technological adaptation, innovation, and continuous
improvement.
This is essence
of the slogan Tangkilikin at
paunlarin and sariling atin (patronize and improve our own products
and services).
Tangkilikán in the
Nationalist Development Plan (NDP) being proposed by the nationalist Fair Trade
Alliance (FTA) is best expressed in the strategies “forward and backward
linkaging” and “modernization of agricultural and industrial sectors”. Forward and
backward linkaging
Forward and backward
linkaging has at least three dimensions
1. A direct link between the Phil. consumers and
the Phil. producers.
a. Philippine
consumers are the workers (both low unskilled and and highly skilled knowledge
workers- managers, entrepreneurs, professionals, OFWs, etc.) and the
government.
b. The Philippine
producers are enterprises, groups and individuals operating in the
c. Both the
Philippine consumers and producers should patronize each other to the fullest.
d. In the
e. Verite practices
Tangkilikan to help preserve American jobs and consumers’ purchasing power.
a. At present, big &
some medium enterprises are linked with TNCs through outsourcing &
international quality standards like ISO,
Malcolm Baldridge, social standards, etc.
b. Big firms with
international linkages do not transfer their technologies and capabilities to
the micro & small enterprises (MSEs).
c. Hence, MSEs may lose in
competition with low end smuggled imported goods or stay in the unregulated
informal sector.
d. Under the Nationalist
development plan, big and medium enterprises should maximize their outsourcing
requirements to the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) under the big
brother-small brother partnership relationship.
3. A
direct link among industry, agriculture and services.
a. Agriculture should produce raw materials for
industry and food for the consumers.
b. This will empower agricultural producers
and the consumers.
c. The consumers in return will be able to buy
more finished products from the industrial sector.
d. Developing a modern agro-industrial
economic base is the key strategy of the Nationalist Development Plan. All these have to be done in the face of great external and internal challenges. But we are confident it can all be done. We hear the voices of our heroic ancestors telling us to have faith in the collective kagandahang-loob and lakas-loob still in the innermost psyche of our noble race. And this faith has become our bold commitment. __________ This combines articles by Prof. Jorge V. Sibal, NEPA Secretary-General, and Prof. Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, NEPA education committee chairperson, and forms a chapter with the same title in the NEPA Members' Handbook of 2005.
Explanatory Text
reply . History of NEPA
Recalling NEPA's History
FOUNDED IN 1934, the National Economic
Protectionism Association (NEPA) is the oldest non-government organization in
the Founding
NEPA was born out of the
historic necessity to hasten the industrial development of the American colony
called the “Philippine Islands” in preparation for its scheduled “acquisition
of independence” under the Tydings-McDuffie Act. Centuries of Spanish rule and three decades
of “free trade” under the Americans made the
In 1926, the Chamber of
Commerce of the Philippine Islands issued a manifesto “Ours First, Yours
Later,” a title presumably addressed to foreign businesses. The manifesto urged
the Filipino people to patronize locally-made products.
By 1930, Ang Bagong
Katipunan (ABK) was organized to promote “economic nationalism” and “economic
self-sufficiency.” About four years later, the Chamber created a committee
tasked with promoting Filipino products on a more sustained basis.
On
Right after its
founding, NEPA launched a nationwide campaign to promote economic
protectionism. Provincial, municipal and
student chapters were created all over the country. Popular meetings and
assemblies, attended by thousands of Filipinos, were held in different parts of
the archipelago. “NEPA” became a
trademark and symbol of the people’s pride in Philippine-made products. War and
Post-War Years
The Second World War
disrupted the work of NEPA. However, the pre-war consciousness-raising efforts
of NEPA regarding self-reliance made it easier for individual entrepreneurs and
families to produce essential commodities out of locally available materials.
NEPA was revived in late
1948 under the leadership of Sen. Gil J. Puyat. In the 1950s, the entrepreneurs
and firms associated with NEPA spearheaded the great industrial drive that
developed around the program of import and foreign exchange controls. The rapid
industrial transformation of the
During that period, NEPA
founded the Home Industries Association of the
The decade ended with
NEPA becoming the main pillar of the “Filipino First” program of President
Carlos P. Garcia. Difficulties
in the ‘60s and ‘70s
The decade of the 1960s
saw the Macapagal administration putting an end to the “Filipino First”
policy. Decontrol, peso devaluation and
an open door to foreign investors became the order of the day. This policy reversal, formulated by the
International Monetary Fund and implemented by a rising group of “technocrats,”
was continued by Macapagal’s successor, President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
In the 1970s, years
mostly under martial rule, the Philippine economy became fully open to foreign
capital, foreign loans and foreign economic advisers. Filipino capitalists were relegated to being
junior partners under the policy of labor-intensive, export-oriented,
transnational-dependent industrialization. NEPA in
the 1980s
Against the backdrop of
IMF-World Bank domination of the economy, NEPA started redefining its role in
the changed economic situation.
On
The same theme was
reiterated in the Second Conference on Economic Independence held in December
1983, in the midst of what was then the worst economic crisis ever suffered by
our country. The Conference for a renewal
of NEPA and its transformation, once again, into a nationwide movement for the
promotion of genuine economic independence.
Late in 1984, NEPA
gained a 50-year extension of its corporate life. Its new leadership declared its firm resolve
to push NEPA once more into a prominent role in the struggle. This has been the renewed struggle to promote
economic nationalism so that the Filipinos shall at last be the sole
determinant and principal beneficiary of this nation’s economic development.
In mid-1986, NEPA
launched its mass organization known as the Kilusang Pilipino Muna, which
renewed the call for patronage of Filipino-made products and services.
The late 1980s saw NEPA
initiating the organization of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and the
Movement for Nationalist Industrialization (MNI). NEPA
Towards the Turn of the Century
NEPA once again vowed to
be at the forefront of the struggle to promote and protect the interests of the
Filipino people. In preparation for this
renewed organizational vigor, NEPA conducted a series of workshop meetings in
1991 which culminated on December 10, 1992, with the adoption and issuance of
the “NEPA Manifesto,” better known by its official title, “The NEPA Vision of
Development – Capitalism and Nationalism: The Missing Partnership.”
This was capped by an
operational planning workshop on
NEPA also resolved at
that time: (1) to promote an alternative all-out industrialization based on
economic Filipinism to achieve self-sufficiency and self-sustaining growth; (2)
to oppose the imposition of the External Forces that seek to dominate our
economy and exploit our human and natural resources; and (3) promote a sense of
nationalism among our people, a sense of belonging to one another, a sense of
collectivity in purpose and destiny, a national sense of pride that can make
the “improbable” a reality: a “corporate Philippines,” or “Philippines, Inc.”
Into the New Millennium
Continuing to think of
more realistic targets and approaches to be adopted in the continuing pursuit
of economic nationalism and protected industrialization, the current leadership
adopted a heritage-inspired mass-based paradigm for its work. The paradigm
shift is reflected in the adoption of a new logo design by the NEPA Board in
January 2002 (see page x).
In 2003, NEPA forged a
partnership with the Kaisahan sa Kamalayan sa Kasaysayan (Kamalaysayan) and the
Galing Pilipino Movement (GPM) by leading in the formal organization of the
Katipunang DakiLahi para sa Pambansang Pagsasanib-Lakas, which has been growing
fast as a nationwide network of various community-based efforts in heritage
consciousness cultivation, positive values development, environmental
conservation, local community empowerment, and healthy cooperativism. NEPA
adopted the scheme for a Barangay-Based Associative Industrialization and
worked out programs and projects, like the Barangay Economic Support System
(BEDSS) and the Tangkilikan Socio-Economic Card mega-project, to pursue these
steadily in the years leading to NEPA’s Diamond Anniversary in 2009.
The holding of monthly
meeting of the NEPA Board and of annual NEPA anniversary reunions of the
current active membership, as well as the publication of this Handbook, are all
signs of a NEPA activating and boldly expanding itself to face the gargantuan
tasks it has committed itself to accomplish for the self upliftment and
emancipation of the Filipino people. __________
Largely based on a manuscript written by a
group of leaders in 1997, as led by then NEPA President Nelson Aboganda)
reply .
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