We can make a difference!
Dear readers,
In response to my previous post, Mr. Perfecto sent me this email. It contains practical but value adding steps that can bring difference to our country. Enjoy reading.
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I wrote a similar article that was published in July 23, 2000. This time I would like to share with you some suggestions that may improve our economy and generate jobs for millions of Filipinos. Perhaps our Filipino brothers and sisters who are well off can play a major role in this task of economic survival.
Invest your surplus funds on agricultural ventures and enterprises. Encourage our businessmen to concentrate on providing enough food for all Filipinos
- Buy only Filipino-made goods. (Avoid buying smuggled or imported goods). When we buy Filipino-made goods, we assure our children jobs when they graduate.
- Use your spare time studying entrepreneurship or learning a new business. Make yourself productive all the time.
- Cut-down on recreation and entertainment expenses and save the amount in our local banks.
- Each one should save at least 10% of their income, no matter how small. If half of our population (42 million Filipinos) save P10.00 per day, our local banks will have P12.6 Billion every month to lend out to Filipino businessmen at very low interest rates.
- Boost Philippine tourism by inviting friends and relatives abroad to visit home twice a year. It is estimated that there are at least 20 million Filipinos abroad!
- If you are fortunately employed, you are encouraged to go the extra mile for your company and your country. Many Filipinos are just using 70% of their abilities. A 20% to 25% increase in individual productivity is attainable.
- Organize more Cooperatives to help the poor.
- Reduce tariffs on imported production & agricultural equipment
- Respect property rights; observe the rule of law; and BE HONEST.
Rather than dwell on the things we cannot change, let us focus on the above concerted actions that can help to move our economy forward, provide more internal resources (capital), and increase our employment rate. I believe that 84 million Filipinos acting together can make life better for all Filipinos. (No one can do everything, but EVERYONE CAN DO SOMETHING!)
Mabuhay ang Pinoy!
RAFFY PERFECTO
No. 144 P. Roman Street, BF Executive Las Piñas City
published with permission
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Comments
I like this post. We need to be reminded at times to patronize our local products because there are people behind them that can surely appreciate our support.
Incidentally, last week, instead of shopping for some clothes the usual way, I thought I’d patronize the local tailor. I’m preparing a blog about it and will post next week.
Cheers!
Eric aka senor enrique
I\’ve read this post over and over again, and I wholeheartedly agree with each point proposed by Mr Perfecto. But then I suddenly thought,just how far are we willing to go with \”Buy Only Filipino Made Goods\”? Are we really prepared to stop patronizing Giordano
and Naturalizer? Are ALL Filipino women willing throw away their L\’Oreal, Clinique, and Lush products and replace these with Godiva, Splash products, and Likas Papaya Soap?
Practically all of us were raised to believe that imported products are far superior to Philippine-made ones. For the sake of the next generation, we should all really make a conscious effort to \”Buy Filipino.\”
My thoughts on buy ONLY Filipino made goods:
What do we do if we do not like the quality of the goods made here? Or what
if there is no Filipino-made version of the particular goods? Think about it:
we do not have a Philippine brand for cellphones.
The thing of the future is already GLOBALIZATION. Borders are breaking as we
speak and those that cannot cope will not be able to survive.
Now, let\’s talk about quality: what is quality? I have hear the phrase \”Quality Products\” used again and again to describe a lot of the products made here in the Philippines. The problem is, we never did define \”QUALITY\”. Interestingly, our own government had to use an international definition for \”quality\” instead of defining a Filipino \”quality\”.
I think the phrase would be best modified this way: \”when faced with a choice
between products of comparable quality, buy Filipino made.\”
Anything else will spoil our homegrown businessmen with their accustomed mediocrity and it will be worse for the Philippines in the long run.
Cheers!
Is our orientation geared toward buying imported products in favour of locally made products? It should not be, but neither should we buy locally made products based on a blind sense of nationalism.
Times are hard, and I think the Filipino, as a people, should be a very discriminate buyer and choose best quality for money rather than based on brand or whether it\’s imported or not. If Filipino products want to make it in my preference list, they will have to compete to be the better-quality sort and the best price that I can afford — PLUS, of course, it should be something i NEED.
Competition is healthy; it breeds better-quality products. We don\’t buy Filipino products just to patronize our own — we should be proud to buy Filipino products because it is at par with, if not of better quality than, imported products.
just my two-cents\’ worth.
I wonder where Mr. Perfecto got this statistic:
“Many Filipinos are just using 70% of their abilities.”
Perfect. That’s how I will describe Raffy’s posted insights. Cooperativism is key to our social, cultural and economic progress. It stimulates, It rekindles, It cultivates so many positive ingredients into the pinoy psyche and the social system. We should at least have one “true” cooperative for every sector. Symbiotic and complementary to each and all. Care to create one? Anyone?
nakupo! almost all Pinoys are still suffering from colonial mentality! a famous foreign brand will win out over a local brand, even though the quality is the same.
why should i buy Arrow and other foreign signature brands, if the fabric they are made of can be purchased from Divisoria! Onesimus, Kingsmen, Michael Andre, Criterion, Pisanti, Chancellor 900, etc. are just as good.
if you really think about it, a bulk of the tag price goes to the brand (and tariff), not to the quality of the product. the heck with foreign signature clothes! why should i pay more for the brand name?
we buy non-Pinoy if the product has no local counterpart, like, yes, cellphones and cars. There is a local PC brand, but all its components are imported, and are just assembled here. (as for rubber shoes, i think there\’s only one Pinoy brand, fighting it out with several famous foreign brands)
Is anything Pinoy mediocre? that has been our default thinking (admit it, my dear kababayans). actually, that\’s just our excuse for buying imported.
If this is to be a cooperative effort, I’d like to see local manufacturers rationalize their operations, i.e., lower their costs of production, and pay their workers a realistic wage. Those in the business of services, on the other hand, should remember that they’re in business to *serve* their customers. IMHO, automation will help both manufacturers and service providers.
With all due respect, I concur that there are many local goods easily as good if not better than imported items. However, for whatever experiences I\’ve had, there is also the question of the quality of the workmanship.
Taking clothing as the current example, Iet\’s begin at the aesthetics…no 2 clothing manufacturer can produce exactly the same style of articles, and I think we all know why, so I\’ll move on to the next. Workmanship,specifically, on the fit of the clothes for your specific body type, and the quality of stitching. I\’ve had the misfortune of a few articles of clothing go to pieces on me at inopportune moments, and some were even imported items. Whether imported or local, at least we ought to be certain that occurences like this are kept nil, and speaking of fit, just because a shirtcan look good on a model, male in my case, at 5 foot 10 inches and fit build, doesn\’t mean that a proportionate upsize will look decent or even remotely as good on somebody a couple of inches taller, with a different color skin tone, and a 200+ lb. frame. Unfortunately, I\’m one of those
individuals who needs to wear a Levi\’s over a Freego, because it\’s one of the few brands which I can comfortably wear with enough room in the groin area so I don\’t sing falsetto, and without dipping a measurable distance below my butt crack. Bottom line, we really should pay attention to what works properly, instead of barely at all. I\’m sorry, but patriotism, for me, isn\’t a strong enough reason to buy or force myself to wear largely ill-fitting, and uncomfortable articles of clothing.
Mainly, any goods, should be regarded and balanced in their overall value to you, as the consumer. Do you feel it\’s worth the money? Will it be satisfactory for your needs or wants? Will it last at least as long as you need it, or for how much longer beyond that? Basically, do you get a decent amount of bang for your buck?
Just another two of my bits worth.
Great post. And i couldn’t agree more to these principles however, trivial it may seem to many are true. If enough Filipinos will follow this, definitely it will help to better the situation.
Joey
Thanks for this posting. Coming from someone now based in New York city, I just like to add: 1) encourage everyone in your network to pray incessantly for the leaders and managers in the Philippines. We pray they put the interests of those discriminated and disadvantaged Filipinos as their primary motivator, rather than their personal & their kins’ usual group interests. We’ve failed miserably mainly because our leaders & managers have continuously failed us. Nonetheless, God bless the Philippines.
We can make a difference!…
Dear readers, In response to my previous post, Mr. Perfecto sent me this email. Instead of having it on the comments section, I suppose creating a new thread will be better. It contains practical steps to contribute in a little way. Enjoy reading.
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