Rule of Law

What is Rule of Law and Why Should We Protect It?

AS of end-2006, the central bank reported $12.7 billion in dollar remittances of OFWs, up from $10.6 in 2005. This benefited about 12 million OFW families that year. This phenomenon shows a clear picture of the government’s high regard for good economic statistics that only yield a fleeting result and low regard for the value of its own people. As a result, industrialists are now feeling the ill effects of this trend. Some of the country’s top businessmen have complained of the sudden loss of skilled workers, especially the blue-collar workers, and blamed this on OFW craze and the prevailing education crisis.

How can we attain national development with this kind of setup? National prosperity does not only require good governance, it also demands the cooperation of its people, their skills and knowledge, which are the indispensable ingredients in nation-building.

Perhaps the Filipino has to learn from his former conqueror. The United States of America achieved economic success through the help of skilled and innovative immigrants, and William H. Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., acknowledges this fact. This is the reason why he proposed the abolition of America’s H1-B Visa that “doesn’t let too many smart people to come into the country.” Today most of the country’s smart people now work in the land of milk and honey.

Unstable economic and political situation, low salary and poor benefits— these are just some of the many reasons why most educated and highly skilled Filipinos prefer to work abroad. They have only one aim: to get out of poverty that continuously strangles the country today. The plight of every Filipino worker these days reflects the penalty this country has to pay for the continued disregard of the rule of law, which is indisputably the world’s priciest hidden wealth. Read the rest of the essay here.