Why the Philippines Has Remained Poor: An Important Reason

Reference to the news article here:

Henry Sy still tops Forbes 2012 list of PH’s 40 Richest

Here's one important reason the Philippines has remained poor.... 

Among many other socio-economic dimensions, this new Forbes' list of Philippine billionaires is telling about the relative backwardness of our country's productive and technological structures. Philippine capitalists are mainly merchandisers and marketers and not producers of industrial and technological goods. In effect, no productivity explosions, no technological innovation, no diversity of specializations, no huge division of labour, no high wage regime, no larger tax base for the government, etc. A country of SM or tobacco or condos won't be as rich as a country of Samsung, Toyota, or Silicon Valley!

P.S. These richest peoples in the Philippines are ethnically Chinese and Spanish. In a highly unequal, elitist, and exclusionary society like ours, it would be difficult now to catch up with the wealth of these blokes/families since they enjoy all the first mover advantages in business and the society as a whole. It's very easy for them to diversify interests and even overcome barriers to entry. We thus need a government with a vision and the will to build a mode of production conducive to wealth creation and the necessary institutions for serious asset distribution.