Why Filipinos are economically backward?

Title

Creator

Roxas, Manuel--1892-1948.

Language

English

Source

Panorama 4 (5) May 1939

Year

1939

Subject

Presidents--Philippines-- Messages.

Roxas, Manuel-- 1892-1948.

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Sec. Manuel Roxas, from a commencement address at Far Eastern University, March, 1939

Fulltext

1!Filipinos are lazy, says Roxas. WHY FILIPINOS ARE ECONOMICALLY BACKWARD CONDITIONS in the Philippines during the last forty years have been very favorable to economic progress. Much has been accomplished, but not enough, and the Philippines stands today an economically backward country. What has been the cause of this backwardness, I repeat? Why is it that the Philippines has not been able to keep pace with other countries which since the world war have been able to in - crease their incomei by leaps and bounds until their productivity has reached such a point where to safeguard the balance of their national ecqnomy measures have been taken to restrict production? We have natural resources, we have the man power, we have the capital, and we have the will to produce-why don't we produce more? My answer to this question is that the Filipino does not work enough, he does not work continuously, he does not work scientifically, and what is worse, many Filipinos don't work at all. A large portion of our population are exclusively consumers, not producers. And there are altogether too many who live on the work of others, either as absentee landlords, 52 money-lenders, or false entrepreneurs. The educated Filipino runs away from the land, very often considering work on the soil below his dignity. Many of us are chif tless and ignore completely the economic value of thrift. We often live beyond our income and share in the enjoyments of life in a measure utterly unjustified by the labor we have performed. The wellto-do are inclined to a life of luxury and ostentation, spending their time in wasteful leisure. Conspicuous consumption is practiced by a large number of people, and many of them live in penury under the trappings of opulence. A considerable part of our savings is depleted in social frivolities, and it is the practice to go into debt or even to mortgage the home to raise funds for a town fiesta, a christening, or the anniversary of a relation's death. Many Filipinos believe that economic problems, such as the distribution of the profits of industry, the level of prices and wages, can be determined by political action without consideration to economic factors. Few seem to understand that wealth can be produced only by PANORAMA intensive, persistent and intelligent toil and that this country cannot be legislated into prosperity and affluence. Prices are always controlled by the law of supply and demand, and wages, while subject to the regulatory action of the government, must, in the last analysis, depend upon the actual economic value of the work done. In competitive industry, the only fair and economically sound manner of fixing labor wages is to base them on individual output; thereby, a man receiving low wages but whose output is very small may actually be overpaid when compared with the wages of a highsalaried wage-earner but whose output is much larger than that of the low-salaried employe. There are some Filipinos who are content with the bare means of existence. That is the outlook of the unsocial man. That is the attitude of the beast in the jungle. This view of lif~ is not only unworthy of a cultured person, but is a great drawback upon the progress of the nation and should be eradicated. We are a people with noble longings and high aspirations. We are Christians with a Christian outlook of life. We have a culture which demands certain standards of living, and we cannot resign ourselves merely not to starve. We are entitled to, and must aspire for, the life of civilized human beings, MAY, 1939 having all the material necessities for existence, enjoying comfort and leisure, and understanding those spiritual values which are the possession of cultured men. As for our nation, we too have longings and aspirations. We are forming an integrated, progressive, free state capable of maintaining its independence. That is our hope and that is our destiny, if we dare to achieve it. We owe it to ourselves as individuals, and in an even greater measure. we owe it to our common country to do our part in the fulfillment of this ambition. It can only be done if we strengthen our national economy through increased production and the creation of more wealth. We hlVe to engage in a greater determined and intelligent individual and collective productive effort. We must apply ourselves to more strenuous and sustained labor. We must co-ordinate our economic activities for the promotion of the integral welfare of the state. Labor and capital must realize that they have social and patriotic obligations to discharge and should not stop the wheels of production for flimsy or transient causes. We should change our attitude concerning labor in the farm and in the factories, and should be willing to prefer employment 53 in those fields, because they are productive undertakings. There is need of catching the imagination of our people, to focus it in this great enterprise of nation building. We cannot for long be free unless we build a strong economic foundatfon for that freedom. Many will say, "We want to work but we can find no work." My answer is that there is work for everyone who wants to work. An enterprising man may even create work. Our natural resources are waiting for the application of human toil. We have vast unoccupied lands. Let us be pioneers. Let us have the courage, the earnestness, and the will to hew the forests and to carve a home and a farm in their midst. Today, to erect a nation and to maintain it, there is need of men of force and vision and character, and especially, lovers of work-men who are not afraid to toil hard and continuously.-Sec. Manuel Roxas, from a commencement address a·t Far Eastern University, March, 1939 cSure (j}ou 're tJfonesl, c!J3ul ~ CHEATING goes on in almost every college. Dr. Frank Winthrop Parr, professor of secondary education at Oregon State College, hit upon a 11cheme to test the extent of cheating. He held a ;vocabulary test and had the . answers secretly scored. Then he returned the papers and read off the correct meanings while the students computed their own scores. A comparison of the two scores showed that 42 per cent of the 409 students involved had cheated to raise their marks. He had the students fill out a questionnaire, got their intelligence quotients and general scholastic ratings from the college office and started some figuring. Here's what he found: Men cheat more than women. Dishonesty ratio increases with age. Sophomores are mor~ honest than freshmen. Country students cheat more than city students. Fraternity and sorority members cheat more than non-members. Students of poorer classes cheat twice as much as those of the professional class.-Your Life. 54 PANORAMA

pages

52-53

Media