The great exodus

Something dreadful and terrible is happening, and it is far worse than the combined impact of the battles raging in Mindanao and the spate of bombings perpetrated by terrorists in Metro Manila. The disturbing happening is the capital flight -- the massive exodus of money -- from the Philippines to foreign lands. And the money going out does not belong to foreign investors and foreign companies; they come from the bank deposits and cash-filled vaults of rich Filipinos.

Fear of the future and political and economic instability are the major factors behind the massive capital flight. During the past few days, the moneyed elite in Philippine society have been changing their pesos into American dollars, and flying them out into foreign lands and foreign banks. Just to get hold of the dollars, the moneyed Filipinos have been frantically buying the foreign currency, not only from financial institutions but also from the money changers, both big and small, based in Quiapo, Ermita, Cubao and other places in Metro Manila.

What is worrisome about the exodus of capital into foreign lands is its terrible impact on the Philippine economy. Business activities will naturally slow down, because no new money will be pumped into existing business. On the contrary, there will less and less money for commerce and trade, for industrial and agricultural productivity, because massive amounts have already been brought out and deposited in banks abroad.

It is very possible that some small and medium-scale businesses will eventually close down because of the slump in economic activities. This will mean the displacement of workers and a meltdown in business ventures. But what is alarming is the possibility that it might take a long, long time before the capital that is going out will be brought back home into their homeland by the moneyed Filipinos.

While the conflict in Mindanao is raging and Metro Manila is reeling from the impact of the bombing incidents, the government should see to it that there is no paralysis in the delivery of basic services. Government agencies that are not directly or indirectly involved in the hostilities should not be distracted in their normal day-to-day operations. President Estrada should arrest any sense of paralysis that may afflict the bureaucracy, so that the unhampered operations of the three branches of government will be ensured.

In the field of legislation, urgent and vital government measures should not take the back seat. For instance, there is one important bill that should get the priority of both chambers of Congress. This is the proposal of Senator Tito Sotto to create a National Transportation Safety Board, a body that will investigate transport accidents. In the explanatory note of his bill, Senator Sotto said that "the government's role in recent major air and sea accidents was mostly reactionary." He said that these catastrophes would have been averted, and damages to property and lives saved, had the government instituted pro-active measures to ensure the safety of passengers.

Sotto envisions the NTSB as an independent, self-regulatory body. This is necessary, he explained, because many investigations in the past were conducted by agencies that had regulatory powers over transportation firms, resulting in conflicts of interest. Sotto cited as an instance the mishaps probed by the Maritime National Administration and the Air Transportation Office. Because of interlocking and conflicting interests, the results of the investigations are always suspected with bias, Sotto said.

Although President Estrada did not certify the Sotto bill as urgent, it is expected to pass easily in the Senate, not only because Sotto himself chairs the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, but also because the bill has the support of other senators like Senator Sergio Osmeña III. More importantly, the bill has public support, because the people yearn for pro-active measures that will give them peace of mind as they travel by land, sea and air.

Mat Din, a colleague from the National Press Club, sent to me his own reaction to the case of the alleged Filipino computer hacker and creator of the ILOVEYOU bug virus. Here is Mat's thought-provoking item:

I fully agree with you that this supposed misdemeanor of one of our talented youths should not be condemned. It must be viewed in the light of what the West exports as technology but contribute to the hurt of our people and the whole planet.

Those who severely chastised our young computer expert are perhaps rash in judgment without considering the fact that computer technology is yet in its early stages and needs improvements to remove the harm that accompanies any new thing. Let us accept the fact that no new technology is infallible. We must be too trusting. Dot Com is not a god. We must constantly challenge this new technology, even if its relevance and presence is pervasive and already a part of our daily lives.

Did these people who condemn the young De Guzman decry the more than 6,000 deaths of Bhopal when Union Carbide made a terrible error at its plant there? And did we protest enough over the entry of radioactive contamination in the milk imported by us from Europe? It seems to me that we are too forgiving on our own improvisation. I know comparison is odious. But I could not help but come to the defense of those who not only question what is supposedly benign but also refuse the seduction of what is heralded as a brave new world.

Here is the other side of the picture, as presented by Jonathan Pansacola of Los Angeles, California. He said:

Using the Filipino Love Bug hacker as an example of Filipino ingenuity is unjust to the many Filipinos worldwide with concrete accomplishments in many fields. Consider the following:

* The computer code written to launch the Love Bug was very basic and could have been done by any hacker in any part of the world. He is no genius.

* The nature of the global economy is such that the estimated $15 billion in damages will eventually affect the Philippine economy.

* The propagation of computer viruses is invasion of privacy in its worst, nastiest form. If you had been a victim of such computer 'worms' and had valuable files deleted, hard disk infected, you will feel like a homeowner whose house had been broken into and vandalized.

On the other hand, we have millions of skilled Filipino professionals all over the world. Even our laborers elicit praise from their employers for their hard work and professionalism.

As an airline marketing consultant who has had to travel constantly, I have met many of them and could only express admiration for their talent and pride in their craft. The Filipino can, for sure, and there are a million proofs of this. But let us not use a two-bit cyberspace hoodlum as an example. Our children deserve better role models.

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: <[email protected]>