Delos Santos, Joana Jirah, J.12 – St. ChamuelMarch 24, 2018Position Paper: Is Globalization good or bad in the Philippines?Globalization is a not a new concept among the Filipinos. It has been with us for over a hundred years ago, when the Hispanic regime promulgated the galleon trade here in Manila. Although, the word itself was formally introduced to us only in 1995, when our country decided to joined the World Trade Organization in the hope of this idea would equip us for a global competitiveness.
Until now, globalization seems to be contagious and inevitable here in the country. It really plays a big role in our lives, given that the Philippines is one of the product of this phenomenon. We are driven by international trades and investment aside from our natural resources,However, as globalization progresses and develops over a period of time, it seems that this concept becomes a controversial topic already. For some, globalization seems to be a friend for them.
They tend to find good things as they benefit on this idea, that’s why they chose to adapt this concept. However, there are still people who find globalization as a foe in their lives. They refuse to accept and believe that this sensation will improve their way of living. As a result, questions pertaining to this are being raised already by our fellow countrymen. Many people started to feel already drastic changes in their lives as they try to cope up with the said phenomenon. Many people already feel alienated and outcast in the society. And today, I chose to be the voice of those people who are badly affected by this sensation. I chose to be on the opposition side that the concept of globalization is bad for our country.
But first of all, let’s take a look at the concept of Globalization. What do we mean when we say Globalization and how does it play a big role in our society nowadays.According to Levin Institute, “Globalization is the process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nation…” Basically, it aims to establish a globalized community wherein each nation and its citizens would develop interdependence among each other as they approached to one common goal, and that is to address global concern. And at the same time, through this process, the country itself would also benefit through domestic advancement and integration.
The effects of globalization are very prevalent nowadays. Malls are one of the manifestations of globalization, as various products, goods and services are being offered here coming from different parts of companies all over the world. Forever 21, Uniqlo and H&M seems to dominate the clothing brand while Mc’Donalds seems to be available also throughout the entire country.
Various cuisines are also being offered in the malls such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean and European restaurants. When it comes to technology on the other hand, we can also purchase Iphone or even Samsung in our market. We can also avail software from other countries like Japan. All of these are just some of the scenarios that we usually encounter everyday as we experience globalization. But when we go beyond this and try to look at the bigger aspect, there are lot things which globalization can offer.
It really contributes a lot on our economic stability as other country open their door for those people who want to work in abroad. Like for example, mostly, countries from Middle East, they are offering a lot of jobs in their place but they don’t have enough man power. But because of globalization those position are being filled by workers coming from different parts of the world. We also get the chance to access software made by other companies on abroad.
That because of their invention; we tend to feel that we are connected through this technology even though in reality, we’re miles apart from each other. That’s why it is not that surprising why most people find globalization as a good thing in their lives. And I have nothing against on that idea, because all of them are true.
The concept and principle of globalization is good but my only concern here is that, do we really apply this concept appropriately? Does our government were able to handle it properly? Because if yes, why do we have this kind of opposition in our country nowadays, regarding if globalization is good or let say bad for the Philippines. Why there are still a lot of people who feels alienated by this? I’m not being pessimist here regarding the concern, what I’m trying to say here is that, does our government makes globalization really helpful and feasible among the citizens? What about to the entire nation? Does is it really brings a good impact to it? And most especially, when we entered globalization, were we really prepared for this sensation? Does our government really prepared for this? Do they really equip their people for this kind of change in their lives? What if one day, all the things that we used to believe as good and true are more likely the things that will corrupt us, the real us, our own identity. For the past years, several efforts have been made just to come up with a concept that will unite various nations to become as one. Yes, in general, globalization was the answer to that problem. But when we put that context in the condition of the Philippines, globalization seems to become a questionable for some of us like me. Because I doubt that our global leaders were able to implement the concept for every country correctly. Like for example, because even though globalization involves different nations all over the world, there is still one nation perhaps who will prevail, benefit and dominate from the rest of the world.
Anthony Giddens says that some would argue that “Globalization, creates a world of winners and losers, a few on the fast track to prosperity, the majority condemned to a life of misery and despair.” And I would agree on this, because this is exactly what’s happening in the Philippines nowadays. We tend to open our market in the world and welcome those goods, products and services to the extent that sometimes or most of time we often forget that we have our own resources.
And after we patronize and support those foreign products, confusion starting to overwhelmed us. At some point in our lives, we cannot be able to distinguish ourselves and more likely our own nationality anymore from other nations because we tend to get used of that kind of lifestyle. We tend to become Xenocentrism to our own culture and identity as we tend to adapt and accept other culture and traditions more than our own. As a result, inequality and environmental issues will increase as Ehlers affirmed. According to Razvan-Victor, “Globalization enlarged the gap between rich and poor nations, as it brings inequality.” Considering that the Philippines is a third class country, there is a tendency that other nations tend to get a lot benefit from us more than we do. And let’s face it, honestly speaking do we really think that this idea would acknowledge every nation’s culture, tradition or even goods to escalate over the world.
Of course no, because in reality, we have this kind of mind set that American or even western culture is good. As a result, we only tend to adapt one mono culture as William K. Tabb claimed and he refers it as the “Americanization” rather than Globalization, instead of having a sort of mixture in globalization from different nations. He argues that whatever globalization seems to offer in one nation, everything should be inclined and evident in their culture. The idea and concept should help one country to develop and progress more not the other way around, wherein it stole away or just weaken its own identity and importance. Because according to Tabb “globalization refers to the process of reducing barriers between countries and encouraging closer economic, political, and social interaction. It should become an unrequited operation wherein only one country tends to receive excellent ideas and innovations while the other one don’t. Because in reality, dominant and influential country tends to easily share their resources, culture and tradition but they don’t have any enthusiasm in getting ideas from less influential country.
Our indigenous people here in the country are really affected, because they can feel that they are being forgotten already.Aside from that, the reason why Philippines is still lagging in economy even though we are one of the products by globalization is because our government fails to create a policy that would equip our country for global competitiveness as Banlaoi affirmed. He said that “the Philippines finds it hard to cope with the globalization process because its weak institutions of governance have failed to create suitable socioeconomic and political conditions that will attract more capital and technology from both domestic and foreign sources necessary for economic growth.” Our state needs to be restored through institutional amendment for the intent that this process would toughen the institution for us to have good governance and this will generate a sustainable country. The Philippines suffered a lot of things already from the past experience due to the predicaments of colonization and globalization seems to alleviate the situation. We tend to forget who we really are. We adapt and welcome the culture of other nation that does not really defines us, the real us. Globalization threaten the whole idea and especially the governance of the state, knowing that we became a state not because of our own national effort but because other country impose to us to do so.
As a result, we have establishes a national identity crisis. According to Banlaoi, “the sense of Filipino regionalism seems to be greater than the sense of Filipino nationalism. Some of the Filipinos would rather identify themselves based on their regions or ethnicity rather than as Filipino nation. And I don’t what will happen to us if we continue to embrace this kind of idea that we used to know. Maybe our own national identity will easily fade away just like that if we just let these things to slide.All in all, the idea of globalization is good.
The principle and concept of it is feasible and acceptable. However, we just started it the wrong way that’s why we tend to experience a lot of atrocities because of this, without knowing it. Our indigenous people here in the country are the ones really affected. They even seem to feel alienated and outcast already in the society. Our government fails to fulfill their duties and responsibilities to prepare them for this kind of change that will continue to become prevalent in our society. As this paper attest, the idea of globalization and its concept is good in general. However, the Philippines still have a lot domestic problem that needs to be addressed. Therefore, globalization is not good in the Philippines for now because it will just continue to corrupt our national identity.
We should have first settled our conflicts inside the territory before we open our nation to other country.
