Reaction given via videoconference during the lecture-forum on “The Role of Equity in Development” of François Bourguignon, Chief Economist of the World Bank

Dr. BEN S. MALAYANG III
President
Silliman University

The matter of equity, equality and development are serious concerns of academe and civil society. This is particularly so in the Philippines which has among the worst distribution of income among Southeast Asian countries. Hunger persists and widespread even if growth had been touted to have improved. Health still has among the lowest share of the national budget. Employment is low, if seen beneath the veneer of sending out our own mothers and fathers to faraway lands to fend for themselves and their families.

We recognize that an economy cannot be divorced from a society, and society -- any society -- is a complex aggregation of aspirations and of opportunities to realize their aspirations.

Economy and society might be likened to a house and a home. Having a house in itself does not define how the home is able to function as a social unit. We see big and well-appointed houses, but under which roofs are families hardly talking to each other, beset by disagreements, and broken into many pieces of individual misery among its members. We see, too, many homes otherwise well-functioning and happy, and yet living in physical squalor and shelter. Accumulation without articulation of the deeper human dimensions of well-being is meaningless.

Three points:

1. Growth - like a house that is built for the purpose of providing the physical space and material opportunities for families and homes -- needs to translate into a larger reality of non-material, non-economic, articulation of social functioning. Each person under its shelter must find equal space and opportunity to pursue their different aspirations. The presentation gave us an idea of how difficult this would be to achieve.

2. Growth must aim for a multidimensional articulation of complex human aspirations. Inequalities in the distribution of human rights, of political rights and power, of democratic space, in access to information, on the ability to express one's culture, faith and traditions, or of opportunities to pursue knowledge and education, would seem as bad, if not worse (when viewed from how they impinge on security and peace), as would be inequalities in income, consumption, and access to services. I'm not sure how much this has become a deliberate policy imperative of national development planning in the Philippines.

3. The unique challenge to academe and to civil society in the Philippines, it seems to me, would be to shape clear ideas and courses of possible action, so that such equally important concerns for justice, peace, protection from corruption, faith and culture, among others, could be properly incorporated in the country's calculus of growth.

Bottom Line
Growth must encapsulate the whole gamut of taking care of, and giving opportunities and respect to people, especially the poor.

I hope we carefully take notice of the views of Mr. Bourguignon.

Thank you for elucidating on the empirical relationships and impacts on development of equality, efficiency and equity.

 

Other Speeches/ Messages:

- Inaugural Speech
- Philippine Crocodile Conservation in the Philippines
- Commencement Message, Villaflores College, Tanjay City
- MEA Paper, presented in Sabah, Malaysia