Roadmap disappointments

If there’s any big disappointment that we can expect this month, it’s the announcement that the Department of Trade and Industry will be releasing the much awaited industry roadmaps, a task that had been set in motion even as early as 2004.

Why a disappointment? First, it’s the qualifier that this will be a partial release covering just some of the sectors that should have been covered. Thus, it’s not going to be an all-encompassing economic plan that takes into account a macro view of the economy.

According to reports, the first sectors that will present their roadmaps will be the automotive and copper industries, the former keen on capitalizing on the phenomenal rise in automotive sales by promoting local parts manufacture and assembly.

The copper industry’s need for assistance partly stems from the auto industry’s current boom. The country has an abundance of copper, but there are no processing plants that would produce the form of metal that the industry requires.

All copper ores are exported, and although the country has a copper smelting facility, it imports 100 percent of its copper ore requirements and exports 100 percent of its output due to the absence of a copper rod facility.

Wiring harness, a component that many industries including the vehicle parts manufacturing sector needs, utilizes a lot of these imported copper rods.

Ragtag grouping

The rest of the ragtag sectors that are expected to form the whole “plan” are scheduled for presentation next year. Those mentioned in previous discussions are sectors in Business Process Outsourcing, electronics, chemicals, motorcycle parts, and furniture.

There are other sectors mentioned, like air logistics for cargo, copper and copper products, fine jewelry, rubber and rubber products, tool and die, metal casting, coconut and coconut products, hogs, poultry, coffee, medical travel/medical tourism (cancer treatment), retirement industry, flat glass, plastics, paints and coatings, printing ink and garments and textiles, iron and steel, petrochemicals, handicrafts, hotels, mass housing, engineered bamboo and biodiesel.

Yes, they come up to a hodge-podge of sectors that had perhaps raised their hand for assistance during those big powwows organized by the trade industry when making announcements about the plan to come up with an industry roadmap.

First come, first served

Obviously, there’s no master plan here. And it looks more and more like a first-come, first-served policy that does not even appear to be relying on free market forces but rather to the “very-busy” (read: super-lazy) bureaucrat syndrome.

In other words, there is no plan here, thanks to all those government agencies including the National Economic Development Authority. And yet we wish to capitalize on gains so far made largely from the continued influx of salary remittances of our overseas contract workers.

Perhaps, the DTI is waiting for all sectors to submit their roadmaps, and from there, review and debate on which proposal is worth hearing out and deserving of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.

Major disconnect

But the biggest disappointment in the DTI’s announcement is its obvious disconnect to the vaunted objectives of adopting a roadmap, which are to promote inclusive growth and employment generation in the country.

By limiting support to industries and sectors that only show the biggest potential for export opportunities is to close the doors on others that promise the bigger potential for new jobs and wealth creation for the majority of Filipinos who have not skills for industry or manufacturing.

Again, we’re talking here of agriculture, even of tourism in its many variant forms (i.e., medical, retirement, ecology). This is the sector that can immediately bring food to the table, and that can chip away at the massive wall of poverty that prevents the country from making that leap frog to sustainable economic growth.

Perhaps agriculture and tourism may not be the best sectors to bring about inclusive growth and more employment opportunities, but there must be a process, logical and coherent, that must be observed and practiced that will deliver the desired objectives.

Logical steps

At the rate our bureaucrats are handling this planning activity, there is very little chance that something worthwhile will come out, just as what had happened during the first (2004-2005), second (2005-2007, third (2007-2009), fourth (2009-2011) and fifth (2011-2013) planning calls.

Soon the sixth (2013-2015) roadmap will be up for discussion and what will still be up for public debate will still be the motherhood statements about objectives and principles about how government plans to achieve the economic roadmap.

Let’s cut to the chase and, after deciding which sectors will be able to deliver the best results, start working in earnest to grow the industries belonging to these prioritized sectors.

This way, the bargaining position will be stronger for these sectors to get the kind of incentives that they need. Let’s set a time frame and periodically monitor their progress. And when the job is done, only then should other sectors/industries clamoring for assistance be entertained.

By having a well-defined system of work, we’ll feel more fulfilled that our bureaucrats are doing the kind of work that really matters.

“The true nature of bureaucracy may be nowhere more obvious to the observer than in a developing country, for only there will it still be made manifest by the full complement of documents, files, veneered desks and cabinets – which convey the strict and inverse relationship between productivity and paperwork.” Alain de Botton, The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. –Rey Gamboa (The Philippine Star)