Our economic status has always been playing a great role in determining the capacity of our country to produce the commodities that we need in our day to day survival as well as in international arena. Countries who are involve in globalization such as our country, we certainly need to know what can we give and have if we’d participate in the international trading society without having the scarcity in our own resources to provide for our own. True that globalization shares a lot of positive outcomes for third world countries such as ours which are in need for support of other stable countries but why did it seem to aggravate our situation? Must the globalization itself be blamed for this scarcity of our resources or is it our government who should take the accountability for all the shortages and inflations of our goods for the more or less past 6 years?
I chose to include in my discussion the importance of the roles of globalization and government because they play major roles in manipulating the economic status of our country. On one hand, globalization, in my own opinion, is the opening of countries to establish interdependence and so to maintain equilibrium of states. There are exchanges of exported goods to provide for everyone. State’s government on the other hand is our primary representative in the international arena as well as in the position to control the laws as well as to establish the rights of households. Provided the roles of each actors, we can now address well the economic crisis of our country. One of the major economic crises that our country has faced for the past administration is the rice shortage in the year 2008 which inflation on rice’ price soared up to estimated 40 pesos per kilo from the normal estimated 25 pesos per kilo. This news has shocked our entire agricultural country because we’ve been always known to be one of the top countries which export rice and now we are the one who are importing these from Vietnam and Thailand. This is a crisis where we Filipinos have no choice but to deal with this since it seemed that the government were the one who dictates and manipulates the market equilibrium since rice is a staple food to us and it is not just an ordinary commodity that we can live without. It is a good that we need and we consume the most. I think of the reason that our government wants to secure and further provide our demands that’s why they signed a contract with Vietnam and Thailand of rice import – of course through the loan in US – is kind of illogical because so long that there are enough lands that we could plant on I don’t think that rice would become scarce. In my own analysis, there is an imbalance in the system in handling our natural resources. Of course, we can’t guarantee that we could supply all the demands of the population of our nation given that it do increase if not everyday at least every year and our lands would still produce the same amount of rice, however, we need to reach a certain equilibrium of our supply and therefore there’s a need of an expansion or an addition of lands where we could plant more of the crops that we need to feed all of us. As of now the prices of rice were normalized but it is indeed true that there’s a need for us to know how to deal and analyze our economy as well as the different pros and cons of globalization because in here we’ll be able to manage our natural resources with great knowledge and protection moreover especially to all the households who are the main actors of economic movement.
References:
Farmers Warn Philippines Faces Rice Shortage. Associated Press. March 28, 2008. From
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=11119.
A rice shortage? Philippine Daily Inquirer. February 25, 2008. From
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/editorial/view/20080325-126227/A-rice-shortage.
