Will you support our country and our next generation? Kaya mo ba?

Will you support our country and our next generation? Kaya mo ba?
by Elmer R. Esplana, January 21, 2008 (www.elmer2007.multiply..com)

If we are going to look at the different lending institutions in the Philippines,  you will seldom see any of them with an interest less than 15 percent.  In most cases, interest rate is more than 15 percent or majority of them from 18 percent to 20 percent or even higher. This is actually bad for the Philippines because a higher interest rate being imposed by any financial institutions both government and private sector are disincentive to Filipino families who have the capability to enter into entrepreneurial or business activities to engage in any business. Some would say that some government agencies are giving interest free loan facilities, in paper that is true, in reality it is not.  You know, what I mean. You asked our business people, they knew the story.

For the government,  the goal should be to encourage more Filipino families to go into business, so that they can also provide employment for those who have no jobs, aside from the jobs being provided by medium to large companies or even multinational companies.  By lowering the lending interest rate, as in the case of developed country (e.i. United States) 5 to 10 percent only,  more Filipino families and potential entrepreneurs will go into business.

Of course being an entrepreneur for every Filipino family is not easy because it requires the integrative skills in business management, economics, financial management, supply chain management, public relations, sales and marketing, to name some.   But all these things can be studied and can be learned (either through formal or informal education) by aspiring or novice entrepreneur, if he/she is really serious with whatever business or economic activities he/she would like to venture into.  More so, if he is a planning to be an entrepreneur within this year (2008) or currently a novice or seasoned entrepreneur.

In economic theory,  when you give a lower interest rate,  it will give signal to the business people to expand in his current business or establish a new business, which in effect will increase  the number of local investment and  the number of economic activities in the country. Any development like these things is positive for the economic growth and development  of any country, like the Philippines.  So, we can say that by having more investment means,  we can generate more jobs, and having more jobs will reduce the number of unemployment or probably, we can attain full employment for the country in the succeeding 20 years.  If there will be less unemployed, except those who make it their personal choice, the standard of living for each family will have an improvement because each one will generate income for the total income of the family. Then, we 
can also say that poverty problem will also be reduced till we finally reduced it to a manageable level.  Government statistics says it is currently at 30 percent, while some economic observers say, it can be 40 percent or higher.  What if we can reduce the poverty incidence in the Philippine to only 5 to 10 percent in the succeeding 20 years from now.  This is a difficult job but this is possible, I believe, if many Filipino families, who have the capability to become a businessman or an entrepreneur will be investing into a worthwhile business opportunity for the Philippines and the next generation of Filipinos,  be it in trading, agribusiness, food service, processing or manufacturing, business process outsourcing, information technology, research and development, education, health sector, to name some. 

So what the government should start doing by this time is, particularly the monetary board is to issue a policy that will reduce the lending interest rate that is currently being imposed by rural banks, commercial banks, universal banks, development banks, etc. to a level that is conducive for the Filipino families to invest and become an entrepreneur by themselves.  Even microfinance institutions, in general, is not conducive to increase the number of Filipino families to go into business, as they are charging even much higher interest rates per month, 2 to 5 percent or even higher. 

Parang lumalabas tuloy na kapit sa patalim ang mga kababayan natin na umuutang sa kanila, kasi kahit malaki ang interest rate kinakagat nila.  Sabi ng isa kung kaibigan, para silang niluluto sa sarili nilang mantika.  I believe, this observation is true and unless the government will step into resolving this issue on imposing a lower interest rate on lending (maybe 10 percent or lower), it will not encourage more Filipino families to participate in any entrepreneurial activities and contribute in fast-tracking the economic growth and development of this country.

Kailan pa tayo magigising sa katutuhanang pinapatay natin ang ating mga kababayan dahil sa mataas na interest na ating pinapataw sa kanila.  Look who are dominating in the national income of our economy, most of them are foreign investors or foreigners, because they have capital, we said. But I don't believe we cannot do what the Chinese people have done in China. They themselves became the investors in their country before foreign investors came in to their country.  They started it first by themselves to be an entrepreneur 

(negosyante, kaya marami sila ngayon sa Pilipinas) and majority of them participated.  So because of this, what is expected for China,  the second super power country in the world.  Of course,  we cannot deny, that Chinese people are nationalistic  and disciplined people, which is gold in the Philippines.   There are only few Filipinos who really love our country, and by imposing a higher interest rate on lending, it is one of the proof that we do not love our country and our people. Kaya nga pinapatay natin sila sa taas ng interest rate.  Plus, the culture of corruption in the government in all levels.  But is it the government only? Even the business sector are doing these things. Marami nga sa kanila konsintidor. We are not following traffic rules, we always wanted convenience that even giving an under the table transaction, we do that. So is there really an end to all of these things?

I hope there is still a way for an improvement of our system, but all of us should participate and serve as an example.   Let's do it individually for our country and the next generation.

Wag na natin isipin ang henerasyon natin, kahit ang susunod na lang na henerasyon na lang, mga kababayan ko, mga kapwa ko manggagawang Pilipino, mga kasama kong negosyanste, mga kasama kung kawani ng pamahalaan.  Wag nating hayaan ang mga banyaga ang mangibabaw sa ating bansa. Ating bansa ito, kaya dapat tayo ang nangunguna sa lahat ng magagandang nangyayari at mangyayari pa lamang sa susunod na mga panahon.  Sabi nga ni former President Fidel Ramos, the best is yet to come. We cannot expect the best to come, if we will not do something about it and give our contribution. And now is the time to do it for our country and for the next generation. - (ERE-economics, 2008)