Storm In Subic Bay
Imagine you’re the leader of an impoverished country. Jobs are scarce and there are problems everywhere that need to be solved, all at once. You’re in desperate need of funds. What do you do?
The Philippine government (not just this one, but many previous ones as well) chose to open up the country to foreign investment. They’ve encouraged huge multinational companies to set up shop in their country, and to employ Filipinos. According to the people we spoke to, this is the Filipino economic policy in a nutshell.
It wouldn’t be a problem, if only economic benefits didn’t come at the expense of workers. But when we were looking into the story of Hanjin Heavy Industries in the Philippines, we met so many workers and villagers whose lives have taken a turn for the worse since Hanjin entered their lives.
It’s hard to know what to do, and where to go from here, but the activists aren’t backing down. No one wants Hanjin to up and leave; no one wants to give up the investment money. What they do want, though, is to be treated with respect, to feel safe at work and to be given what they’re due.
