Business and Society - 3

Our local officials may want to emulate what was done by one of the regional pioneers in Indonesia, Gamawan Fauzi, the top man in West Sumatra’s Solok region. After he took power in 2001, he quickly created a one-stop shop for government services, replacing an opaque and complex web of offices and brokers. Fauzi’s concept was to bring all government services under a single roof, post set fees, promote auto payment and guarantee prompt service as a means of rooting out corruption. The experiment has worked: the model has since been emulated across Indonesia, and Transparency International reports that corruption, while still high, has been reduced substantially.

Indonesia also should inspire our Government to adopt the right measures in dealing with the Muslim insurgency problem in Mindanao. It has become a model for its antiterrorism campaign by shutting radical madrassas, establishing an effective counterterrorism force and cracking down hard on suspected cells, while also avoiding human rights abuses. As the world’s most populous Muslim country (more than 90 percent of its population of 240 million acknowledge Islam as their religion), its democratization exemplifies an alternative to zealotry, intolerance and extremism.

As prices of commodities, including of petroleum, decline significantly, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and India – as well as China – will have to depend a great deal more from actively pump priming infrastructure and social services to boost domestic market for goods. Export promotion will have limited results as the traditional markets of the US, Europe and Japan suffer form recessionary forces. Let us watch closely what these emerging markets will do and emulate prudently and selectively their respective practices. Although it is impossible for us to completely decouple from the developed economies, there is much we can do to strengthen our ties with the BRIC and the Next Eleven which have become our fellow travelers to an economy free from mass poverty.

Things You Should Know About the Philippines – 4

5 Million Housing Backlog. According to the National Housing Authority (NHA), some 5 million Filipino families were in need of permanent houses in the whole country.

3.4 Million Squatters. In its 2002 study, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has cited the need to improve the lives of some 3.4 million Filipinos living in the slums of Metro Manila.

143 Escapees. The Bureau of Jail Management reported that 143 prisoners escaped from their cells in 2000. Of these fugitives, 89 were recaptured.

Most Populated Islands. As of 2000, around 56 percent of Filipinos were living in Luzon, while only 23.7 percent were living in Mindanao and 20.3 percent in the Visayas.

Province with Most Cities. As of 2002, Negros Occidental in Western Visayas had 13 cities, 19 municipalities and 661 barangays.