Philippines: A cheap place to live (and die!)

I would like to share this article by Ma. Elisa Osorio of "The Philippine Star" dated May 21, 2008. The moment I have laid my eyes on the teaser, I knew I had to buy that Sunday newspaper which I normally don't just give away my precious P20.00.
Every Filipino should read this kind of stuff and be aware what we are going through as a nation and where are we heading if we do not change our ways.
Kape muna habang binabasa mo ito:

Despite soaring prices,the Philippines is the SECOND cheapest place to live among the 55 economies surveyed by a Swiss-based think tank.
However, despite the low cost of living and the relatively high gross dometic product (GDP) rate posted by the country, Filipinos' purchasing power remains low, according to the Institute of Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY).
"It's still cheapest to live in the Philippines," Dr. Frederico Macaranas, executive director of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center, said in a press conference yesterday."(But) the purchasing power of the people did not increase. This reflects the MALDISTRIBUTION OF INCOME."
The survey showed that the Philippines ranked 54 out of 55 in terms of GDPper capita.
The Philippines likewise lagged behind all other countries in terms of public spending in education.
The country ranked last in terms of pupil-teacher ratio.
"The Constitution states that then highest share of government expenditure must go to education, but more is alloted toward the servicing of debt," Macaranas said.
As such, the major challenge of the country is to pursue education policies that will in turn help develop a global competitive workforce, he added.
The Philippines has increased its level of competitiveness against other nations as it climbed five notches in the world competitiveness scoreboard.
The country ranked 40m out of 55 countries in the 2008 edition of the WCY, better than 45th rank a year ago.

For more serving of this, please check:

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/crossroads/king/DevelQualityLife.htm

Save a tree. Don't print this unless it's really necessary.