THE MYTH OF PISTAYM PROSPERITY

Chapter THE MYTH OF PISTAYM PROSPERITY

In the light of double-digit inflation, Filipinos who grew up during the American colonial period in the Philippines often recall nostalgically that during those pistaym days, the country was very prosperous, peaceful, and goods and services could be had very cheaply. "Imagine," the Filipino old-timers would exclaim, the kusing (or half-centavo) could buy many things: a whole saba or mais. They likewise said that during the pistaym days, American goods-apples, chocolates, pears, and others-were aplenty. To them, it was a prosperous period.

This paper contradicts this misleading notion. The presence of plentiful stateside goods or the kusing could not be a valid gauge of the country's prosperity then. Moreover, was prosperity during the pistaym era real? Was it enjoyed by the majority of the population?

The alleged prosperity is examined in terms of the Philippine colonial economy, the distribution of the labor force, the workers' earning capacity, their socioeconomic conditions, who benefited from the free trade system, the existence of widespread worker-peasant discontent, and others.

In short, this paper raises the issue: what prosperity?

The Root of Pistaym Prosperity

The United States Congress' establishment of the free trade system governing the commercial relations between the Philippines and America was the root of this notion by our elders of their pistaym prosperity. Rightly so, for under the free trade system American products entered the Philippines without being subjected to Philippine tariffs because the country was an American colony. This was clearly provided for in the nineteen oh nine Payne-Aldrich Act which allowed American products to enter the Philippines free of duty without any limitation as to quantity or materials used in manufacture. This tariff preference enabled the American exporters to the Philippines to sell their products at a lower price while benefiting from the tying up of the peso to the dollar at the change rate of two pesos to a dollar. As a result, people preferred and enjoyed buying American products, for their peso could buy quality goods at low prices. To the elder Filipinos even today, lower priced goods spell prosperity.

Another contributing factor to this misleading idea about pistaym prosperity by our elders was that during the American era, they saw widespread infrastructure programs pursued by the Americans compared to what they experienced under the Spanish rule. To our elders, more buildings, roads, schoolhouses, and others meant "prosperity."