By
Thanon Thamvorapol
Song G. 1-2
(Song) G. 1-2
Introduction
The Philippines is one of the countries under the colonization of the Worlds
Powerhouse countries, USA and Spain, having gain what that is left off by those countries.
Those great technology and the foundation of economic and government ahead of many other
South East Asian countries are the fundamental factors into emerging as the ASEANs
Powerhouse or even the World. But despite having those advantages, the Philippines is not
even ASEAN best statistically and it hasnt shown to be more developed than Thailand as
well. It shows that being colonized by the Western power doesnt help boost the Philippines
The Philippines economy after the colonization of the U.S. is worse than Thailands.
Their economy went downhill and fall behind Thailand, since the U.S. left the country after
they gave up the Philippines, the independence. According to the factbook from the Central
Intelligence Agency or CIA website, the Philippines power to purchase (GDP) is around $
801,900,000,000 in which is 359 billion dollars less than Thailand that ranked 21st of the
world (Country comparison: GDP, 2017). This means that the Philippines isnt even ASEAN
best yet, not to mention the world level as the countrys power to purchase products from
foreign countries (GDP) determine how big and strong your countrys economy is. For the
Philippines, its GDP still hasnt become among worlds best with the country being ranked at
the 30th place and even behind Thailand, although they had gained a lot of advantage such as
infrastructure and etc. ahead of other into raising the economy by the U.S. from the
colonization. In addition, according to the data of the World Bank website on the
Unemployment percentage of countries in the year of 2014, there are 7.1% of the whole
Filipinos population of 98 million people in the Philippines that are unemployed in compared
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Damaging aspect of Colonization on the Philippines Thanon Thamvorapol
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with Thailand of just 0.9% (Unemployment, total, 2017). This means that around 7 million
Filipinos are unemployed and is likely to homeless at last. So you can see that the
colonization doesnt raise the quality of people life and as for companies that failed to hire
these employees. These all resulted from an unstable economy. More importantly, is that
whether the people of your country is employed or not tell your countrys economic stability.
Those 7.1% people who are unemployed might meet a failure to pay for daily life and could
possibly turn into homeless people in the end. Thats a total of around 7 million Filipinos that
are not benefiting the country and at the same time using up the countrys budget; thus,
slowing down the economy not to reach the goal of being ASEANs or the worlds economic
powerhouse country. Even though the Philippines economy after the colonization of the U.S.
is pretty well set by them, ahead of other, the country still hasnt emerged to be a giant
powerhouse of the world or even ASEAN as their GDP and unemployment rate still catching
up with Thailand.
The U.S. and Spanish influence intervene with the Philippines government and
politics. Although those countries left, their influences did not. As a result, the Philippines
government has since been interrupted which also means that the government isnt
transparent and wont be until those influences are perished. According to Jason Strothers
article on Power of The Catholic Church slipping in Philippines, the government of the
Philippines is being intervened by the Catholic Church of the country since the religion was
introduced in the 1500s. The church having the voice of millions from an 80% or more
Catholic within the country. As Jason Strother (2013) stated, Historically, organized
churches have been involved in electoral politics in the Philippines, including in the selection
of candidates and church members who have run in elections themselves. They have the
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power to promote or demote the presidential position. They also limit the news and
information of those who believe and to rely on the clergy. Not only the politics they
intervened but the governments campaign on passing the Reproductive Health Law, a law
that limits birth, guarantees sexual education, maternal care and many other beneficial things
that encourage a life quality in which they opposed with the reasons of unnatural and
immorality and all the religious stuffs. Not to mention that Catholic isnt the only religion of
the country and that means there will be at least a group being left out. With these being said,
the Catholic Church, the remaining of the influence by the past Philippines colonizer, Spain
is being bias and selfish by taking the religious ideas into play with the politics and
government that causes a retrogression of the country. Pursuing the religion might obstruct
the best for the country as there will always the country should do what that is good for the
country not what that is moral. Furthermore, as stated by the article, Current U.S.
Intervention in the Philippines, written by Bobby Tuazon, the director of policy studies
(CenPEG), the country has still remained as a neo-colony of the U.S. through the installation
of puppet governments that would assure to guarantee the U.S. interests. Policies have also
been established to the benefits of the U.S. for instance, the secret Mutual Logistics Support
Agreement (MLSA), the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and the July 2003 executive
agreement that grant American forces immunity from any criminal prosecution within the
Philippines (Bobby, 2003). From these news on policies that were established, you can see
that ever since the colonization of the U.S. on the Philippines, the U.S. has been intervening
and taking advantages with the country till now. With the Philippines politics and
government being intervened by the influence of its once colonizer, it obstructs the
development of the country from its best by a forced assurance to guarantee interests for
those countries before the country itself. So instead of boosting their own country, theyre
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Philippines sports spot
The Philippines sports topped Asia under and after the colonization of the U.S. and
Spain. Under the colonization from countries that are great at sport for over 400 years, its
undeniable that the Filipino athletes will be pretty good if not as great as them; and basketball
is one of them. Track back to the 1900s, basketball was invented by the Americans and it was
at that time that the U.S. still occupied the Philippines, so basketball quickly emerged into
this country by the Americans and soldiers in particular that was in charge of the country.
Therefore, it isnt surprising that the sport is also one of the most played sport in the
Philippines that was once their colony; and as expected, the Philippines men basketball
ranking is the 21st of the world and only third in Asia according to the basketball federation
website or FIBA on World ranking (Nike FIBA World Ranking, 2016). It is ranked greater
than most Asian countries that produce many of a high quality athlete such as Japan and is far
beyond Thailand. Being the very first country to have ever play the game under the influence
of the U.S. from colonization gave them a big advantages head start before other and was
easier for them to top the world. On the other hand, according to a statistic website on the
most popular sport in the world based on viewers, football came in first before basketball as
the most popular sport in the world statistically; thus, it is worth watching and playing the
most (Most Popular Sports Worldwide, 2015). This results in a huge amount of money being
flooded into the country from all those viewers. However, as opposed to Basketball,
Philippines football is placed at 122th worldwide as ranked by the football federation (FIFA)
on men football ranking, which is not impressive at all (FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking,
2017). Therefore, its likely that they will lose an opportunity to gain benefits from football
from all the sponsors. It can be said that even though, the Philippines was under the
colonization of Spain, the one-time world cup champion and the U.S., the worlds top 30,
their football ranking is still pretty low in Asia. Its a ponderable thing how the Philippines
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basketball topped Asia and is recognized in the global level due to an early head start from
being the Westerns colony, their doing on the worlds most famous sport that is worth
playing the most, football isnt very noticeable, not even within the region itself.
Conclusion
To sum up, being colonized by the Western power doesnt help boost the Philippines
economy, sport and politics/government to be among the worlds best. Data and records
collected by CIA and the World Bank website shows that the Philippines economy isnt big
enough to be the worlds powerhouse as they dont even surpass Thailand yet. Articles
composed by professors also stated that the Philippines government and politics has been
intervened by the U.S. and Spanish influence causing an interruption that discontinue the
development of the country. Moreover, the statistics assembled by one of the sports most
certificated international ranking websites shows that even though the Philippines gained tons
of benefit and support ahead of other in basketball, they fail to bring football, the most
famous sport to be the best of the world. Last but not least, being colonized by the great
power from the Western country doesnt always bring the best out of the country and on the
other hand might infect the country by their exploitative influence no matter the corruption of
the country or the unity till something that has an effect on long term as the disruption to the
country in particular. Therefore, being independent is the best solution for any country. The
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References
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html#rp
http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html
Most Popular Sports Worldwide (2015). Retrieved February 17, 2017 from
http://www.statisticbrain.com/most-popular-sports-worldwide/
Nike FIBA World Ranking (2016). Retrieved February 16, 2017 from
http://www.fiba.com/rankingmen
Strother, J. (2013). Power of The Catholic Church slipping in Philippines. Retrieved February
Catholic-Church-slipping-in-Philippines
Tuazon, B. (2003). Current U.S. Intervention in the Philippines. Retrieved February 9, 2017
from http://www.bulatlat.com/news/3-41/3-41-primer.html
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS