Like I said before economics is a zero sum game. It is naive to expect that it's always a win win situation. Japan had the term called "endaka" which means hollowing out which means their economy's productive capacity was shipped offshore or outsourced. Dami rin nawalan ng jobs sa Japan, sa US and even now in Korea. I repeat it again, Globalization implies mobile capital and mobile labor. Trade liberalization is a requirement under the WTO and since were a signatory to it we shouldn't be surprised coz other countries are also required to abide by it. Comparative advantages play a big part in this whole arrangement. I wonder why China has a trade deficit with our country. Would it have been possible if they were more protectionist of their industries? If Intel is not satisfied and TI and Samsung are satisfied enough to invest then by all means, it's just the way it is. If there are numerous Korean company owners held against their will by Chinese factory workers for not paying their salaries due to plant closures brought on by business or other issues, Is there anything unique that is happening sa Pinas that we should magnify the problem to the point that it becomes destabilizing and polarizing for the whole nation? Not even the most competitive nation on earth called China or even America can prevent business decisions no matter how favorable their investment climate is. In a similar vein, if you don't like to stay sa Pinas go abroad no one can prevent you. What is right with the way TI and Samsung are run that they are expanding while Intel is closing even though operating environments are practically identical? Even here in America practically most of the news is negative layoffs here and there, this big bank closing here and there,this airline closing. And the point with comparing factory workers vis-a-vis BPO workers is not to highlight which one is more glamorous/ prestigious but merely from a worker's economic standpoint. A better salary obviously permits a better quality of life never mind the fact it's not even what you were trained for in college. I'm not saying its an ideal situation but I cannot blame an ex-factory worker who would rather work in a call center because of higher pay. There's nothing wrong with it coz its purely a personal decision based on one's personal needs. There are a lot of engineers in advanced countries who are not working in the engineering field so why gripe about it. There's nothing so abhorrent and unique about it. We have to face the reality that we can no longer compete as efficiently as before precisely because the ballgame is far different now when factories can be shut down and shipped in a matter of hours to another country and where automation is becoming the norm. Imagine power costs being second most expensive to Japan in Asia and a higher labor cost compared to Vietnam, China, India etc. but still, companies dare to even consider us and for that alone we should be thankful. We should be thankful we still produce and even export food in Pinas knowing that the Arabs and africans would probabaly marvel at how green our countryside is nevermind the fact that we import the others. I know there's a lot of people who already skip meals in Pinas coz they cannot afford to buy or simply have no money. I was waiting at a bus stop in one of the big cities in America and right in front of me this half naked 20 something white guy started going through the nearby garbage can and literally ate the leftover food in a styrofoam like an animal.There is hunger, food riots, stampede and death in China, food riots in the Middle East even though they are flush with oil dollars, tortilla riots in oil exporting Mexico, food riots in India, an entire streetfull of people sleeping and shitting before your very eyes in sidewalks here in America and in other countries. The point I'm saying is hunger and poverty is now a global phenomenon due to the falling dollar and high oil and commodity prices. Ours is not an isolated case. Before GMA implemented the e-VAT the international community was already predicting that we would become the next Argentina coz our finances was really that bad. It was a bitter pill we had to take and no matter how unpopular it was and how worse our situation is RP has never defaulted on its loans precisely coz our past leaders including Gloria knows the catastrophic effects it will have if we did. We survived that dark phase in our country's history, the Garci crisis and we will survive this rice crisis too. Rice is not the only food in the world. Hongkong's industries was hollowed out by China and is now practically a service economy. Whatever investment it is for as long as it brings food to the table in a decent way to someone in need then who are we to undermine their importance just because it doesn't really have so much value added? If anyone of you thinks Cambodia, Bangladesh, Myanmmar, India or Indonesia has a better millenium development goal statistics why don't you live there. Whatever ails our country I still feel were still comparatively better off than other countries though a lot of work obviously still needs to be done and thank God our gov't. is addressing this issue. The hardest part with surveys and economic data is that we have a large underground economy that is so hard to quantify but contributes a large portion to our lifeblood as compared to other countries that comparisons can become skewed. There are 192 members of the UN is our situation really that worse off compared to the famine and HIV stricken African countries with civil wars or even Myanmmar with their junta govt. Ten percent of our population migrates similar ratio to Australia's population that migrate to other countries. What is wrong with Oz that they are leaving and What is wrong in the UK that they're migrating to Oz? Point is We are not the only country with a diaspora. The current rice crisis is but a symptom of a long neglected agricultural sector which didn't receive as much allocation in our national budgets even before GMA came to power precisely because interest payments alone to service our debt eat up so much of the governments revenues. Borrowing costs for farmers were much higher then compared today. Low tax collections from businesses who would rather cheat on taxes etc. And if you factor in the yearly cost of typhoon and drought damages to our crops, high oil and commodity prices, hoarders and of course corruption then you have a ticking bomb waiting to happen. It was a long drawn out process that started years ago under the previous administrations. It didn't happen overnight and it just so happens global economic forces exacerbated the problem to the point that it manifested its full effects under GMA's term. This hunger and rice issue is much more complex than anyone of you can imagine and for anyone to blame it solely on GMA is the height of ignorance. She's doing her job and If anything what she needs from us right now is support more than anything else. The next 2 or 3 yrs is quite precarious for the US and world economy at large and I really think what were seeing right now is but a prelude to a much worse scenario before it can get better if at all. If there's a wrong time to be fragmented this is surely it.