Abstract
This chapter examines the difficulties of the country to emerge as an industrial power, despite the rich mineralization of the country, which has given birth to a proliferation of mines and conflicts focusing on the environmental and social consequences of mining. More than the lack of abundant energy reserves, the choices of the economic and political leaders have not been conducive to an industrial takeoff similar to neighboring countries. The steel and garment industries have never been very strong, the automobile cluster of Laguna province is much less impressive than what is seen in Thailand, and the high-tech industry works mostly for foreign companies, in the absence of any major industrial firm in the Philippines in this economic segment. The main sources of wealth are in the valorization of land holdings, as shown by the assets of the richest Filipinos. Real estate and shopping malls are some of the main drivers of the domestic economy. The country, however, has a leading position in the world of Business Processes Outsourcing, especially through call centers concentrated mostly in the southern part of the Manila Metropolitan area.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Built to produce 620 MW of electricity and to become the largest electric plant in the country, it was ready in 1986, but after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos , his successor Corazon Aquino , decided not to go forward with the project.
- 3.
Hydraulic Cement: World Production, By Country, 2010 http://www.indexmundi.com/en/commodities/minerals/cement/cement_t22.html
- 4.
- 5.
Philippine Statistics Authority, http://web0.psa.gov.ph/content/2012-census-philippine-business-and-industry-manufacturing-sector-all-establishments-final
- 6.
In her 2007 book, “The New Argonauts”, Annalee Saxenian describes the growth of Asian high-tech companies started in the Silicon Valley , then transferred back to the country their founders came from. Rich in cultural connections in the home country and technical know-how and professional networks in California , these entrepreneurs have helped the economies of India , Taiwan or Israel , even China . But this phenomenon seems absent in the Philippines (Saxenian 2007).
- 7.
APEC (2012)—Report on Employment Trends and Data Availability in the Philippines, http://skillsmap.apec.org/home/economies/MTQ%3D
- 8.
There have been a few voices criticizing the excessive mimetism of call-center employees, making themselves pass as Americans, which may be seen as a continuation of the colonial past, the Philippines being subserviant to its American master.
- 9.
More than 60,000 jobs at Convergys, the largest BPO operator in the country.
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Boquet, Y. (2017). Industry vs. Services. In: The Philippine Archipelago. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51926-5_12
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