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NEPA Thrusts/ Projects
Main Thrust
Protection and Progress From Within
By Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr NEPA President
PROTECTION AND PROGRESS from
within, as this book is titled, simply conveys that pursuit of economic
nationalism and national industrialization is now to be undertaken by the
Filipino people, rooted deep in the loob of each one and in our
collective loob.
Protection will no longer be dependent on whatever tariff walls are
enacted to ward off unfair competition from foreign firms. Instead, it has to
be based on a national synergy of robust local community economies and on
active individual and collective stakeholdership among the people.
Protectionism
and progress — these two nationalist advocacies have been steadfastly espoused
for more than seven decades by the National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA). NEPA has always maintained that
only through nationalist industrialization will there be real development that
will free the country from structural dependency (which institutionalizes
continuing foreign domination) and massive poverty (cause of narrow
market).
History has shown that both the Filipino
“industrializing elite” and a succession of Jun Mendoza .
For
the tasks it undertakes to perform in this historic process, the National
Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) has to strengthen itself as an
organization, both by bold expansion and effective consolidation. A decisive
part of this consolidation process is the unification of the entire current and
future membership on our vision, principles, organizational policies, and
current thrusts and projects.
Not from the
outside!
We
should all realize that progress and protection cannot come from without or,
for that matter, from “above.” These can only be realized by ourselves, the
Filipino people, from within, and with all our feet planted firmly on the
ground of flesh and blood realities of Pilipino families and communities. Consider these:
Progress
and protection can only mean nationalist industrialization and economic
nationalism -- twin principles espoused by NEPA for more than 70 years. These
are both needed so the people can recover our sovereignty from the foreign
powers and the local elite and raise our national dignity from the morass of
mass poverty and near-slavery.
Can
these aspirations have any place in the context of Globalization and our
country’s membership in the World Trade Organization? Globalization refers to
borderless economies without any protection. It forcibly creates globalized
markets to replace domestic markets, and forces “supranationals” to replace
nation-states.
With
nation-states being rendered powerless and obsolete, globalization can’t wait
to proclaim nationalism as passé. This scheme of Globalized Greed spells
survival only for the fittest, that is, those with big capital, and demise for
the weak, capital-scarce economies and businesses.
Under
this scheme, the Philippine government has been adopting and enforcing economic
policies that favor foreign and local-elite big businesses and rentier
capitalists.
a) liberalization of trade and investments (with
the near-total elimination of protective tariffs).
b) privatization of state-owned service agencies
and firms, favoring those who possess or have easy access to capital, to the
disadvantage of the citizenry who suffer a drastic reduction in free public
services without any reduction in their tax burden.
c) deregulation, allowing the so-called “free
market forces” to dictate the prices and the allocation of resources.
d)
elimination of development planning for
structural change that would necessitate government spending for subsidies and
protection for Filipino industries and agriculture. Such planning has been replaced by simple
obedience to the dictates of the WTO, IMF-World Bank and foreign
investors.
These
realities have had the following consequences, among other adverse effects:
a) Our businesses suffer a continuing
devaluation of the peso, high interest rates, high costs for infrastructure,
high operating costs, shrinking markets, and continuing increases in the tax
burden.
b) Our society pays the high social cost of
these pro-foreigners policies. There is a fast-increasing number of broken
families caused by prolonged separation of parents from their children and from
each other because one or both have to work overseas. People are no longer able to walk with peace of
mind in the streets especially at night because of rising criminality. Seventy
percent of Filipinos are mired in poverty, and continue to be pushed to a
“kanya-kanya” attitude, further dividing, nay atomizing, the nation, and
diluting whatever has remained of our culture.
c) Our economy is continuously being
decapitalized due to various factors: the mounting debt problem and profit
remittances of foreign investors,
destruction and overextraction of our natural resources, and structures
of dependence.
d) And, of course, we as a nation have almost
totally lost our sovereignty and dignity.
On to
Protected Progress!
For
our nation’s very survival, we really have to persevere in attaining a national
industrialization and effective protectionism. We do have to reactivate the
Filipino industry, create jobs for its productive actualization, reassert our
sovereignty and restore our honor.
We
have come to know well that we cannot expect any real help from outside
ourselves, not from a pro-foreigner national government, less from the greedy
local elite, and absolutely not from external economies and foreign profiteers
invoking Globalization.
We
have come to know very well that we can only count on ourselves. We as a united
people will be the one to create our social well-ness, a national economy and loving
country (“Bayang Magiliw”) that we can truly call our own.
Working
among ourselves as a people, we will pursue industrialization through
tangkilikan economics.
Our
people must unite in our loob (as in both kagandahang loob and lakas
ng loob) to achieve this, or even just to survive amid the devastating but
effectively unimpeded onslaughts of Globalization. NEPA is now launching an
instrument we can use to attain such overarching unity. This is the Tangkilikan Socio-Economic Card
(TSEC).
All
Filipinos of genuine goodwill or kagandahang loob may avail themselves of
advantages from being part of this synergetic community, a dynamic network in
the real sense because all dealings shall be horizontal win-win transactions
among co-equal persons and groups of persons, so unlike the hierarchical
relations that characterize multi-level or pyramidal “networking” enterprises.
The TSEC network will
create a new economic sector made up of patriotic, servant leaders and
consumers that will form the expanded
market for the produce of
industries.
The
synergy of like-minded people advocates will eventually serve as a powerful
leverage in negotiations for favorable
economic policies from governments and in mutually beneficial arrangements with
big business.
This
is a form of revived bayanihan, a socio-economic synergy and locking-of-arms
among our people with a degree of honorable commitment akin to that solemnized
by the sanduguan (blood compact) heritage of our glorious historical
past. With the tangkilikan socio-economic card network, we can create the
better realities that our nation has long deserved to enjoy.
To
build and maintain the profitability and sustainability of micro, small, and
medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), NEPA has also developed the Barangay Economic
Development Support System (BEDSS) aimed to enhance the creativity and skills
of Filipinos, develop our people’s innate but latent culture of industry and
mutual patronage, and build actual competitive
advantages over foreign goods and services.
This
is a unique approach to practical education among leaders and other members of
local communities, highlighting the long-undervalued innate potentials of
Filipinos in our cultural, natural and economic (C-N-E) resources. It will also clarify the essence of real
democratic leadership and governance based on our traditional justice and
values systems. Education and training will be conducted on human resources
development and management, as well as on good governance practices. It shall
utilize seminars, focused group discussions and economic talastasan
forums.
A
major part of this activity is posing the challenge and sharing practical
how-to’s to both the leaders and members of local communities for effectively
optimizing to the people’s advantage the powers vested in them by the Local
Government Code of 1991. This Code gives local constitutencies and their local
government units autonomous command over the use and management of their
resources in planning and actualizing genuine socio-economic development. The activity shall also highlight the
inspiring enshrinement in the 1987 Constitution of the people’s mandate that
the state should pursue industrialization to protect Filipino enterprises. Indeed, the major efforts of NEPA are aimed at taking full advantage of whatever favorable conditions exist for the people to directly create a loving country (Bayang Magiliw), one that builds overall well-being, peace and prosperity upon the concerted effort and for the collective benefit of the individual citizens and their communities.
Other
projects include:
1. The Diwang
Pilipino Internet Portal, an IT database network for barangays for real-time information on supply and demand of all their economic,
social, cultural, technological and natural wealth.
2. The Karunungang Bayan Management System (KBMS), a
repository of the culture, history, experiences and wisdom accumulated thru the
centuries. It will provide capabilities for
innovative solutions to business and economic problems and create
culture-based comparative advantages in our economic endeavors.
3. Quality and
fair trade NEPA Standard Compliance Certification (NSCC) system, in order to
strengthen the tangkilikan system through customer satisfaction over quality
products and services.
A Handbook for
Visionary Hope, Action
(In November 2005, NEPA published) a handbook of vision, hope, and action strategy for its members and
advocates shows how Tangkilikan Economics can be done. It speaks of a different paradigm, of new
languages and culture-based concepts,
and applies principles learned well from nature.
It carries, among others, (a) the full text of the Decalogue of Tangkilikán,
which promotes productive self-sufficiency (producing enough for the domestic
market and exporting more than we need to import) through mutual support and
mutual patronage among Filipinos; (b) a review of NEPA’s seven-decade history;
(c) the NEPA Articles of Incorporation and the By-Laws that we are preparing to
implement fully as we approach the association’s Diamond Anniversary in November
2009; (d) full explanations on the symbolisms embedded in the new NEPA logo
(first unfurled in the association’s Grand Reunion early in 2003); (e)
guidelines on the recruitment and retention of NEPA members; and (f) guidelines
on the formation and operations of NEPA chapters.
For
its message here, we heartily thank the Katipunang DakiLahi para sa Pambansang
Pagsasanib-lakas (DakiLahi) of which NEPA is the founding chair-entity. We also
thank the SanibLakas Editorial and Publication Services that made possible the
publication of this NEPA Handbook in record time before our association’s 71st
anniversary.
But
most of all we confidently thank in advance all the members and supporters of
NEPA who will translate the contents of this Handbook from mere words on paper
to successful actions on the ground of flesh and blood realities, all for our
beloved Inang Bayan’s genuine progress and effective protection from within.
Mabuhay ang NEPA!
Mabuhay ang Pambansang
Tangkilikan!
Mabuhay ang ating
Inang Bayan bilang isang tunay na Bayang Magiliw!
Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr.
President
National Economic
Protectionism Association
(NEPA)
____________________ This is the Introductory Chapter written by Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr. for the NEPA handbook of the same title published by NEPA on the occasion of its 71st anniversary on November 19, 2005. One year, on the 72nd anniversary, NEPA launches its own website, with the assistance of SanibLakas CyberServices as requested by Katipunang DakiLahi para sa Pambansang Pagsasanib-lakas of which NEPA was the founding chair entity. reply . Special Thrust
Barangay-based Associative Industrialization By Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr. NEPA President
NO REAL development can take place without an integrated agro-maritime-industrial plan that makes full and efficient use of the
country’s human and natural resources.
Without industrialization we cannot eradicate mass poverty and
we will be forced to remain dependent on other countries’ producers. The Philippine’s average
GDP growth in the decade 1980-90 of only 1% and in 1990-2000 of only
3.2% can only mean under-development.
The share of industry in the GDP in 1985 was 25% but in 2001 it went
down to 22%. That of Agriculture fell from 25% to 16%. In contrast, the service
sector’s figure rose from 40% to 53%.
The changing structure of the economy shows the continuing
erosion of our industrial and agricultural base. As a consequence of this, 70%
of Filipinos now live below the poverty line and do not have incomes to provide
for their means of living.
Since 1985 the
unemployment and underemployment rate has been in the range of 30%
. Every day 3,000 Filipinos leave for
abroad to find work. Without food and jobs our people continue to
be dislocated from their culture and traditions.
In order to survive, they are forced to severely compete with
one another and fragment the nation. The
solution to our problems of underdevelopment, mass poverty , mass unemployment
and cultural alienation requires a
sound, effective plan to industrialize.
The need
to industrialize derives from the need of Filipinos for self-actualization or for
full development of their human creative
potential.
In an industrial economy, the inherent industry and productive
creativity of each Filipino wil be given full actualization and
expression. Industrialization will
provide people with the organization and necessary technologies by which they
can produce their material needs in
greater quantity and superior quality.
Industrialization will liberate people from their dependence on the
present system of patronage and let them regain their self-respect. The
most ardent supporters of industrialization therefore are the producer
farmers, workers, cooperatives, development NGOs, and the micro, cottage, small
and medium enterprises that cannot utilize their productive potential because
they are disadvantaged by the de-industrialized structure of the economy.
What
happened to the past industrialization efforts? Why did they fail?
Past experiences show us that an overly inward-looking
industrialization (ISI) did not succeed because it engendered inefficiency,
could not survive a limited market, and suffered from lack of foreign exchange
to finance its import dependency. On the other hand, an overly outward-looking
(EOI) industrialization is not succeeding, either, because dependence on
foreign investments, foreign aid and foreign loans have exacerbated our chronic
Balance of Payments crises and enlarged foreign claims to our economy.
What
industrial policy then should we pursue?
Reason tells us that the best recourse is to embark on a balanced agro-maritime
industrialization that is directed on self-reliance; that is, relying on our
domestic capital (economic and social), our domestic market of 85M and our land and sea natural resources. To augment
the domestic market and to finance Capital importation we will also push
for exports. We will rebuild our agro-industrial base by import substitution
but this time administer appropriate
protection that is time and performance bound.
But can
we still pursue industrialization, when the government seems to be on a track
of consumer-led, service economy?
The government made our country a member of the WTO in 1994
and later it made us join the AFTA. It has committed the country to a globalized,
borderless economy. In doing so, it
compromised our national sovereignty.
We have committed to reduce our tariffs to zero and at most 3%. We are asked to remove any protection for our agriculture and our professions. We are asked to give foreigners national
treatment in our economic policies.
We are asked to change our constitution so that foreigners can
own 100% of lands and natural resources and even media and public
utilities. They are asking us to forget
industrialization and do away with protectionism.
In these dire circumstances, can our present leaders who believe
in the free trade, neo-liberal agenda have the overriding interest to
industrialize? Industrialization
requires political will and popular support to materialize.
Industrialization
therefore is a task the we Filipinos ourselves must undertake.
It will not be an industrialization of the
elite. It will be a barangay-centered,
associative industrialization.
Filipinos, composing the majority of barangay communities will provide
the political will and the public support and protection it requires to
succeed.
The strategy is to create
across the nation a network
of barangay communities linking
and associating into one Tangkilikan Economic Ecosystem.
This ecosystem will be
characterized by symbiotic
interaction of all economic
sectors for the common utilization of
natural, social and financial resources.
As an ecosystem there will be socio-economic ‘biodiversity’ by
respecting the variety of legitimate interests
among economic players and stockholders.
Thus will build solidarity and cooperation and do away with
cut-throat competition and divisiveness.
It will also entail
capitalizing on the communities’
unique culture, norms and behavior as a “comparative advantage”. In effect we will be converting these community intangibles into economic
assets.
Filipinos
in all economic sectors will associate
to interact, complement and
patronize each others’ businesses, products and services.
Big businesses will be patronizing small businesses and
vice-versa; there will be interaction
and win-win transactions among
competitors, among economic sectors and among regions.
As a
result, a variety of industries and microeconomies will intensely co-evolve and
multiply. We envision then an industrial economy built by
self-reliant and sustainable local economies, creating businesses and
jobs, developing and supporting patriotic local producers and consumers.
History has shown that western industrialized countries, Asian
economic tigers, and now
Let
us apply ‘people power’ to economics!
Networked barangay communities with their local government units
can enact or adopt the following economic measures for industrialization; and
can effectively petition the national
government for nationalist economic
policies.
I. Barangays will develop a national
industrial culture and propagate tangkilkan
II. Barangays will build the country’s
industrial base
III.
Barangays will build the country’s agricultural base
IV. Barangays will capitalize on their social
capital
V. Barangays will preserve the environment &
capitalize on their natural resources
VI. Barangays will negotiate for foreign
investments and loans for
industrialization
VII.
Barangays will lobby for national economic policies to support
industrialization and create a healthy business environment for domestic
capital
This is a chapter, with the same title written by Faustino G. Mendoza, Jr. for the NEPA handbook published by NEPA on the occasion of its 71st anniversary on November 19, 2005. One year, on the 72nd anniversary, NEPA launches its own website, with the assistance of SanibLakas CyberServices. reply . Mega-Project
How to Enroll in NEPA's Barangay Economic Development Support System (BEDSS)
By Ed Aurelio Reyes NEPA Education Committee Chair
NEPA’S
Barangay Economic Development Support System (BEDSS) is a package of services
to be provided by the National Economic Protectionism Asso-ciation (NEPA), in
partnership with every enrolled barangay community, preferably led by its local
government unit.
Barangay
Communities’ Will as Decisive
We seek to emphasize that the word “barangay” is used here
to refer to the people making up the community of such scope. In
NEPA’s sense, consistent with the historic tradition of this word, “barangay”
is not its chairman, it is not the Barangay Council, and not even the territory
where they all live in.
For this reason, there should be a real unity of will
among the people of the barangay in order for the BEDSS program to have its
desired effect. It is never enough just
to legislate it.
We also emphasize that the partnership that NEPA as a
nationwide organization seeks to forge with each of the thousands upon
thousands of barangay communities of this country is a co-equal partnership.
Local communities together make up the national community and are not under any
higher entity. The relationship is that of part and whole, and definitely not
that of higher and lower.
We seek to relate directly with the barangay communities
because our pursuit of progress and protection from within the majority of our
people considers the smallest localities as center of gravity. In such a
perspective, we view municipalities, provinces and even the entire country as
bigger and bigger cluster of barangay communities.
We salute all barangay communities who actualize and assert this perspective. If there are many barangay
communities within a municipality pursuing the development of barangay-based
associative industrialization, thus partaking of and enjoying the benefits of tangkilikan
within and among their communities, it would be good for them to seek the
cooperation of their municipal government to help facilitate (never to
command) this inter-community dynamism.
The same goes for municipalities that would later be drawing in
the support of their provincial government to help facilitate their
synergy.
Officials and other functionaries may even help NEPA in
pursuing BEDSS by establishing
acquaintance and communication linkages between the association and the various
barangay communities within their scopes of responsibility (not
“under” them).
This perspective should not surprise anyone. In any real
democracy, sovereignty resides in the people, and all government authority emanates
from them. All governmental programs and
promulgations on anything can have an effect beyond pages in documents only if
the people pusue or at least allow them to be translated to concrete reality.
It would be a lot more easy and convenient for NEPA to
pursue BEDSS simply by lobbying for
supportive orders from barangay
chairpersons and other “higher” officials for this program to be implemented.
But we don’t think it can or even should work that way. And we are pursuing real empowerment
and progress for the people, not convenience for ourselves!
Steps
Toward Formal Enrollment
Formal enrollment in BEDSS involves the enactment of a
partnership agreement between NEPA, on the one hand, and a Barangay Community,
on the other, where the latter is represented by its legislative body, the
Barangay Council. All steps previous and
preparatory to such enactment are important in ensuring full or even just
substantial implementation once the enrollment is formalized.
The first NEPA contacts in any barangay community are its
own members residing in that community.
For this reason, NEPA encourages all its members to be active community
members where they live and be in touch with barangay officials, local business
people, and members of the local cooperatives, civic clubs, religious groups
and people’s organizations.
NEPA urges its members to use their linkages with all
these circles to spread the information about the purposes and programs of the
organization, especially through opinion leaders in these spheres of
influence. (The publication and
circulation of this Handbook is aimed at enabling all NEPA members to do well
in this basic duty.)
A barangay chairperson or another officer who is friendly
or even just genuinely receptive to NEPA’s principles and nationalist
advocacies and/or, specifically, to the BEDSS program, would be a very
important ally in the effort to secure the passage of the needed Barangay
Council enactment and to secure its subsequent implementation by the community.
The NEPA member concerned should make, refine and
implement plans for NEPA leaders and/or the sympathetic local community
personalities and the Tangkilikan Card
holders to have a meeting with the barangay chairperson where the BEDSS program would be formally and
clearly presented.
The purpose of this meeting is to get the barangay
chairperson to sign a personal commitment to study further the BEDSS program
and to endorse its enactment by the Barangay Council and implementation by the
barangay community.
Part of the understanding that should be arrived at during
this meeting is the formation of a BEDSS core group composed of NEPA members
within the community, barangay local government officials and/or functionaries,
members of the cooperative and business sectors, and other leaders of civil
society within the community.
Such core group, which would remain distinct from the NEPA
local chapter, if any, should set and follow a regular schedule of meetings,
not less frequent than monthly, to build a teamwork on the following immediate
tasks:
1) Access, update and expand the barangay’s socio-economic
profile;
2) Study well the BEDSS program guidelines (to be made
available separate from this Handbook);
3) Brainstorm on the needed applications of the BEDSS
program on the specific characteristics and circumstances of the local economy,
social interactions and structures, and heritage.
4) Inform the rest of the community about NEPA,
Tangkilikan economics and the BEDSS program. Prioritize the members of the
Barangay Council and the opinion leaders in the various sectors and circles of
influence. (This would help the Barangay Chairperson on his comitment to convince the Council to
enact the formalization of the BEDSS enrollment.)
Formal
Enrollment
Formal enrollment is actualized when the Barangay Council
enacts a resolution or ordinance to the effect that the barangay community
shall study well and fully implement the BEDSS program. Specifically such
implementation pertains to the
following: (a) socio-economic practice of the principle of Tangkilikan; (b)
preference for Filipino products and services over foreign goods and services,
preference for local goods and services over non-local goods and services; (c)
encouragement and material support for the development and dynamic interaction
of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises; (d)environmental conservation ;
(e) enhancement of cultural heritage; and (f) overall human development and
harmony..
The enactment shall create a BEDSS coordinating committee,
answerable to the Barangay Chairperson, composed of government and
non-government functionaries, including a NEPA
representative. (NEPA is currently formulating a sample Ba-rangay
Council Resolution for use in this effort).
After formal enrollment comes the much bigger challenge of
fully implementing the BEDSS program in the locality.
The essential points about NEPA's BEDSS are discussed in Jun Mendoza's comprehensive orientational article titled "Protection and Progress From Within." This article by NEPA Education Committee focuses on the steps of enrollment.
reply . Mega-Project
Tangkilikan Socio-Economic Card Network
please click at this link: http://tangkilikan.com
reply .
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MAIN THRUST: 
administrations have failed to
implement the Filipino people’s aspiration for “an independent, sustainable
industrial economy” as enshrined in Art.2, Sec.
19 and Art. 12 Sec. 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. It is imperative
therefore that industrialization be a task to be undertaken directly by the
Filipino people, acting as a great family of dynamic citizens and dynamic local
communities. The people will provide the political will and popular
participation that such industrialization requires to succeed. We need to
transform our very own households and our very own barangay communities into
active participants of nationalist industrialization and appropriate
protectionism.
