Why is the Philippines still Poor? | The Hard Truth
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the contrasting economic fates of Singapore and the Philippines, both with rich potential but divergent outcomes. It delves into historical context, comparing currency value fluctuations and GDP per capita, highlighting Singapore's high GDP and meritocratic system. The Philippines' challenges are attributed to bad governance, corruption, and political dynasties. The script emphasizes the importance of education in combating these issues and the potential for the Philippines to become a wealthy nation with good governance.
Takeaways
- 🌏 Southeast Asia consists of 11 countries with a wide range of economic statuses, from the very rich like Singapore to the relatively poor like the Philippines.
- 💰 Singapore is considered one of the richest countries in the world, while the Philippines, despite its potential, remains economically behind.
- 📉 Historically, the Philippine peso was almost equal in value to the US dollar, but its value has significantly decreased over time.
- 💼 The GDP per capita is a key indicator of a country's wealth, and Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in Asia, whereas the Philippines has a much lower figure.
- 🌳 Both Singapore and the Philippines have economies that rely on natural resources and have been shaped by their geography and colonial history.
- 👤 Good governance, low corruption rates, and a meritocratic system have been crucial to Singapore's economic success.
- 🚨 Corruption, bad governance, and political dynasties have been significant obstacles to the Philippines' economic progress.
- 🏛️ The Philippines has struggled with rampant corruption, ranking 115th least corrupt out of 180 countries in 2023.
- 🗳️ The Filipino electorate often votes for celebrities or members of political dynasties, rather than candidates with strong educational backgrounds and clean records.
- 🏫 Education is highlighted as a critical factor for the Philippines to overcome poverty, but the country's education system is considered weak, with many children lacking access to schooling.
- 🔑 Prioritizing education and electing capable leaders are seen as the keys for the Philippines to potentially become one of the richest countries in Asia.
Q & A
How many countries are in the Southeast Asia region according to the script?
-The script mentions that the Southeast Asia region consists of 11 countries.
Which country is considered one of the richest in the world within the Southeast Asia region?
-Singapore is considered one of the richest countries in the world and is part of the Southeast Asia region.
What was the historical exchange rate of the Philippine peso to the US dollar around 60 years ago?
-Around 60 years ago, the exchange rate of the Philippine peso to the US dollar was approximately 2 to 1.
How does the script describe the current situation of the Philippine peso against the US dollar?
-The script states that the current exchange rate is around 56 Philippine pesos to 1 US dollar, indicating a devaluation of the peso.
What is the GDP per capita of Singapore, and what does it signify?
-Singapore has the highest GDP per capita in Asia, which is around $91,000. This signifies the average economic output per person in the country.
What is the GDP per capita of the Philippines compared to Singapore and its neighboring countries?
-The GDP per capita of the Philippines is around $4,799, which is significantly lower than Singapore's and also lower than its neighboring countries like Indonesia and Thailand.
What are the two main factors attributed to Singapore's success according to the script?
-The script attributes Singapore's success to its meritocratic system and effective measures against corruption, particularly through the establishment of the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).
How does the script describe the impact of political dynasties on the Philippines' development?
-The script suggests that political dynasties have a negative impact on the Philippines' development by perpetuating corruption and poor governance, leading to the country's continued poverty.
What role does the script suggest education plays in the development of a country?
-The script emphasizes that education is crucial for the development of a country, as it helps to raise the standard of selecting government officials and makes the population less susceptible to corruption.
How does the script compare the education system in the Philippines to global standards?
-The script indicates that the Philippines has a weak education system, ranking 77th out of 81 countries in global assessments and performing worse than the global average in math, reading comprehension, and science.
What is the script's final recommendation for the Philippines to overcome its challenges?
-The script recommends that the Philippines should prioritize education and good governance to overcome its challenges and potentially become one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia.
Outlines
🌏 Southeast Asia's Economic Contrasts
The first paragraph introduces the Southeast Asia region, highlighting the stark economic contrasts within its 11 countries. It points out Singapore as one of the world's richest nations and contrasts it with the Philippines, which is considered poor despite its historical potential for wealth. The script delves into the historical value of the Philippine peso, its decline during the Marcos regime, and the current state of the country's economy compared to Singapore's. The GDP per capita is used as a measure to illustrate the economic disparity, with Singapore boasting the highest in Asia at around $91,000, while the Philippines has a significantly lower figure of approximately $4,799. The paragraph sets the stage for a deeper exploration of the reasons behind these economic differences.
🏛 Colonial Legacies and Governance in Singapore and the Philippines
The second paragraph examines the post-colonial trajectories of Singapore and the Philippines, emphasizing the impact of governance and leadership on their respective developments. It notes that both countries started from similar poverty levels but diverged due to different governance approaches. Singapore's success is attributed to strong leadership under Lee Kuan Yew, who established institutions to combat corruption and implemented a meritocratic system for public service. Conversely, the Philippines has struggled with corruption, political dynasties, and a lack of meritocracy in its political system. The paragraph also touches on the influence of celebrity candidates and the tendency of Filipino voters to elect unworthy public servants, contributing to the country's ongoing economic challenges.
📚 The Role of Education and Corruption in the Philippines' Economic Stagnation
The third paragraph focuses on the role of education and corruption in the Philippines' persistent poverty. It discusses the prevalence of political dynasties and the concentration of wealth among these ruling families, suggesting that this contributes to the nation's economic difficulties. The paragraph argues that with good governance and minimal corruption, the Philippines could become a wealthy country, given its natural resources and other advantages. However, it points out the country's weak education system, ranking poorly in global assessments and having a significant percentage of children without access to education. This lack of education is seen as a factor in the continued election of corrupt politicians, perpetuating a cycle of poverty. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of education in breaking this cycle and the potential for the Philippines to become a prosperous nation in Southeast Asia.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Southeast Asia
💡GDP per capita
💡Colonialism
💡Corruption
💡Meritocracy
💡Political dynasties
💡Currency value
💡Education system
💡Natural resources
💡Tourist destinations
💡English proficiency
Highlights
Southeast Asia is a diverse region with countries ranging from the wealthiest like Singapore to those struggling with poverty like the Philippines.
Historically, the Philippines was richer than Singapore but has since fallen behind due to various factors.
The Philippine peso once held significant value against the US dollar but has since lost its strength.
Singapore boasts the highest GDP per capita in Asia, while the Philippines has a significantly lower GDP per capita.
GDP per capita is a measure of a country's wealth, calculated by dividing the total GDP by the population.
Singapore's success is attributed to its strong economy and small population.
The Philippines, despite its natural resources and geographic advantages, remains impoverished.
Both Singapore and the Philippines suffered from colonialism, but their post-independence paths diverged.
Good governance, low corruption, and a meritocratic system are credited with Singapore's prosperity.
The Philippines has struggled with corruption, bad governance, and political dynasties.
Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau has been effective in curbing corruption.
The Philippines ranks 115th least corrupt nation out of 180, indicating rampant corruption.
Meritocracy in Singapore ensures that only those with excellent backgrounds can become public servants.
In the Philippines, anyone can run for government positions, regardless of their qualifications.
The majority of Filipinos tend to vote for celebrities or members of political dynasties rather than the most capable candidates.
Political dynasties in the Philippines have been a significant factor in the country's persistent poverty.
The Philippines has abundant opportunities for wealth but lacks good governance to capitalize on them.
Improving the education system is key to raising the standards of selecting government officials in the Philippines.
The Philippines ranks poorly in global assessments, indicating a weak education system.
A significant portion of Filipino children lack access to education, making them vulnerable to political manipulation.
Rich countries prioritize education, and the Philippines should follow suit to improve its governance.
Transcripts
this is the southeast Asia region this
Asian region consists of 11 countries
here you can find a country that is
considered one of the richest in the
world and that is
Singapore but in this same region you
can also find countries that are below
the poverty line and still labeled as
poor countries and one of these poor
countries is the Philippines a long time
ago the Philippines was richer than
Singapore though it was still poor way
back then this country had the potential
to to be one of the richest and believe
me when I say that the Philippines
should be as Rich a country as Singapore
today but what happened why does the
Philippines remain poor what are the
real reasons why this nation cannot
overcome poverty why is Singapore Rich
compared to the Philippines if they had
the same potential to begin
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with
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well for us to understand this topic
better let's first have a little
flashback of Philippine
history you know there was a time when
the Philippine pzo was almost equal to
the US dollar as of today1 us do is
equivalent to 55 to 56 Philippine pesos
but did you know that almost 60 years
ago around the presidency of diado
macapagal the exchange rate of peso to
dollar was 2 to one It means that two
Philippine Pesos were equal to $1 us but
how does it matter though well you see
the US dollar is the world currency
meaning this currency is the standard
when you want to get the true value of
every currency in the world so if your
currency is nearly equal to the US
dollar it only means that it is almost
as valuable as the US dollar itself and
that was the Philippine peso way back
then but that was shortlived during the
Marcos regime its value sank from two
pesos to 3.7 pesos against the dollar
and since then the value of the peso has
never recovered to its original value so
today it reached 56 pisos per dollar the
Philippine currency gradually losing its
value against the US dollar is a clear
indication that this country is not
progressing the way to measure a
country's wealth is by its GDP per
capita the higher the GDP per capita the
Richer the country and Singapore is the
richest country not only in Southeast
Asia but in the whole of Asia for having
the highest GDP per capita which is
around
$91,000 but wait what is GDP well it is
the gross domestic product or the total
cost for all the products and services
that a country spent for a whole year
and when we say GDP per capita we are
talking about per person meaning the
total amount of a country's GDP was
divided by the total population of that
specific country so in other words in
Singapore on average every person living
there spends
$91,000 every year of course I'm not
saying that every Singaporean actually
spends that kind of money every year
most of them do not but some of them
actually spend way more than that so on
average the GDP per capita of Singapore
is so high and if we think about it the
reasons that they have that high GDP per
capita are that they have the best
economy and at the same time they have a
small population impressive right but
what about the Philippines well the GDP
per capita of this country is only
around
$4,799
1,000 okay I guess Singapore is too much
to use as a compar compon so let's
compare the Philippines to its
neighboring countries Indonesia has
$551 GDP per capita while Thailand has
$7,750 GDP per capita these three
countries are all almost the same their
economy relies on their natural
resources their geographies are almost
the same since they all have the same
access to the ocean but why is the
Philippines left behind why is it that
even with the abundance of natural
natural resources the Philippines still
po after so many years now to help us
understand more about the situation in
the Philippines let's again compare it
to Singapore the Philippines and
Singapore are both victims of
colonialism both countries suffered a
lot from Colonial rule Singapore has
been colonized by the British Empire for
many years on the other hand the
Philippines has also been colonized by
different nations or Empires there is no
denying that even after these countries
became independent they could hardly
recover from the damage and losses of
colonization meaning both Singapore and
the Philippines started from the lowest
poverty line both countries strive to
progress and of course both countries
want to progress but the problem is that
they got different results why though
well the quick answer is the bad
governance corruption and political
dynasties that have dominated the
Philippines for many years you see right
after they gained independence Singapore
got its own leader which was from their
own people and that was Lee Quan Yu the
Philippines also got their own president
after Independence and that was Manuel
roas by the way Emilio aginaldo was the
first president of the Philippines but
Manuel roas was the first president
after the Philippines became independent
anyway from the very beginning Singapore
was fortunate to have its first genuine
leader to serve its people and Nation
well of course I'm not saying that
Manuel roas was not not a good leader
but he and other presidents of the
Philippines failed to accomplish as much
as Lewan Yu had accomplished and I'm
talking about destroying the corruption
the first thing that Lewan Yu did was to
make sure that there would be no
corruption in his administration he
definitely made sure that every public
servant of the country from the lowest
to the highest position was not corrupt
but then again the corruption rate was
not zero in Singapore during his term
but it was very low not only in the Asia
but in all countries in the world what
he did was he founded the cpib or the
Corrupt Practices investigation Bureau
and the sole purpose of this agency is
to fight corruption and it was really
effective they combed corruption not
only in the public sector but in the
private sector as well on the contrary
the corruption rate in the Philippines
keeps surging as a matter of fact in
2023 the Philippines ranked as the 115th
least corrupt Nation out of 180
countries meaning this country is one of
those countries where corruption is
rampant the second key to Singapore's
success is its meritocratic system this
system was also established during the
lequan Yu Administration the idea of
this system is simple yet very effective
they will only select leaders or
government officials based on their
merits you cannot run for the candidacy
as a government official if your
background is not excellent only those
people with a good educational
background and a clean life record can
become the public servants of Singapore
but again in the Philippines anyone can
run from the lowest to the highest
position in their government well it was
just quite normal though for a
democratic country right anyone can have
the right to become the leader of the
country but that is the main issue here
because the Philippines has no
meritocratic system anyone can run for a
spot in the government even those people
who do not finish their education can
run even if you don't have credibility
you can run even if you already have a
record of corruption you can still run
well it is not actually a problem if you
think about it as long as the Filipinos
do not vote for them and only vote for
those candidates who are actually
capable then it is not a problem if they
run but that is another main route of
the Philippines poverty because the
majority of Filipinos keep voting for
unworth worthy public servants all right
so what are you saying that we're wrong
or everybody's wrong I'm not saying that
the Philippines never had good leaders
and public servants because they
actually did and I am not saying that
all Filipinos don't know how to identify
worthy candidates but sadly the majority
are not you see based on the historical
election data in the Philippines the
candidate who is a well-known celebrity
has the highest success rate in winning
the election because the majority of
people in this country keep voting for
candidates who are famous instead of
those who are actually deserving because
of their excellent educational
background in other words the majority
of people are obsessed with putting
celebrities in office but that's not the
worst the worst thing is that they keep
voting for the same person or the same
family to become their public officials
yes I am talking about the political
dynasties that have been happening in
the Philippines for
centuries if you're going to review the
history of the Philippines you will
notice that many powerful families have
already been elected to office
Generation by generation from the
president down to barangay officials
political Dynasty is noticeable in this
country you will be surprised if I tell
you that in some parts or provinces of
the Philippines only one clan has been
governing the land for
decades but what if I told you that that
was not the longest political Dynasty
ever recorded in this country well in
lonan
Philippines there is a political clan
that is believed to have had the longest
political Dynasty for over a
century oh that was too many years of
service right this clan should already
have made their own kingdom speaking of
Kingdoms these Clans in every political
Dynasty are already insanely rich people
in the Philippines so it is not
surprising that if you rank the richest
people in this nation most of them are
from the political Dynasty I think you
already have a clear understand
understanding of why the Philippines has
been poor until now believe me if this
nation has good governance with a zero
to low rate of corruption it will become
one of the richest countries not only in
Asia but in the world every opportunity
for wealth exists in the Philippines
from the abundance of Natural Resources
to access to the ocean to a lot of
tourist destinations there are many
skilled Filipinos not only in this
country but all over the world and this
country also has many citizens who can
speak English this country almost has
the key to becoming a first world
country except for good governance but
having good governance will remain a
dream if the people in this country keep
electing corrupt and unworthy
politicians and in order to achieve that
every Filipino should become aware of
who is really deserving to serve the
country and the key well it is education
you see this country is still considered
to have a weak education system because
Filipino students are still among the
world's weakest in math reading
comprehension and science according to
the global assessment with the country
ranking 77th out of 81 countries and
Performing worse than the global average
in all categories but not only that in
the Philippines nearly 20% of Filipino
children are not attending school or do
not have access to school and that is
one of the big reasons why the majority
of Filipinos can be easily fooled by the
propaganda of corrupt corupt politicians
and political
dynasties and if all Filipinos have
access to a good education they will
soon realize that their Nation actually
needs good leaders and they will raise
their standard in selecting government
officials well this matter is not only
happening in the Philippines corruption
and bad governance are also happening in
all poor countries around the world but
one thing you can notice in every rich
country is that they prioritize the
education of the Next Generation
over anything else and if the
Philippines do that as well perhaps
someday this country will become one of
the rich countries in Southeast Asia
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