Comprehensive Response:

1. In which economic sector does the Philippines is strong and weak? Justify
your answer with a resource based information.
Our country is known to have a strong sector in service and agriculture due to the
composition of the Philippines with 7,641 islands with a population of approximating to
103,509,179 as of 2016.According to an article written by Flores, S. R, the Services
sector produces intangible (invisible) outputs the application of labor, skills, and
technology that change the condition of products or persons, or that facilitate transfer
of knowledge or ownership, among others. The Business Process Outsourcing industry,
for example, typically provides such services as technology-driven customer support,
exchange of technical and administrative knowledge, marketing, and logistics for
products. The Philippines is widely acknowledged as a source of high quality human
resources in services trade. For one, the country is a net exporter of services due to a
strong IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) sector, especially
in legal, accounting, tax consultancy, bookkeeping and auditing, business and
management consultancy, engineering services, and computer and information services.
As the country continues to undergo reforms and move toward a more business-friendly
environment, more investments are expected to come in. (Flores, 2015) One direct effect
of these investments is an increase in demand for services, which in turn translates to
more business and quality employment opportunities for MSMEs and for the Filipino
workforce.
According to Economy watch content, Services sector in the Philippines contributes 54.8
percent of the country's total GDP, and is estimated to grow further as part of its
economic development plan. In 2010, it employs 52 percent of the total workforce.
Theres no doubt that it emerged as one of the best performers in service exports thanks
largely to its rich human capital. The service sector in the Philippines are comprises of
services of the population that engaged to the change of the condition of a good or
product like Professional, scientific and technical activities facilitates exchange like
handling financial and insurance real estate activities and information and
communication and changes the physical or mental condition of people like education,
administrative and support service activities and other more. And from 2010 to 2014,
Services grew at an average of 6.4% with a total of 55.3 percent in the total workforce as
of 2014. According to Mr. Fred Ayala, BPAP Chairman, the BPO sector currently employs
close to 500,000 people and has generated about US$9 billion worth of exports in 2010.
The industry, he said, has agreed on an aggressive goal of US$25 billion in annual
revenue by 2016 and a direct workforce of 1.3 million. And according to Mr. Ayala,
Additional investments in human capital, strengthening of intellectual property rights
through the passage of a comprehensive data protection law, and improvement of
quality control may further promote the growth of high-value-added activities within the
BPO industries not yet fully exploited in the Philippines and successfully tapped by other
countries, such as India,
Next is the Agricultural sector. We all know that our country is rich in land and natural
resources. With the stunning beauty of the Philippines and a development in tourism
which is under the service sector, it is one of the main primary sources of economic
development of the country and also have a strong potential for growth because of its
high level retention rate that can accommodate large level of investment. The major
crops are paddy (rice), corn and other commercial crops like sugar and coconuts.
Together all these crops provides the bulk of Philippine crop agriculture. And Livestock
fishery and forestry contribute the rest of agriculture thanks to its unique archipelago of
the Philippines. (Sicat) And also Philippines is one of the major exporters of rice to other
countries. According to Economic watch Content, Philippines is also one of the world's
largest exporter of rice, which make up 2.8 percent of global rice production. Currently,

--Economics: Philippine Sectors--- . -- Emmanuel C. Baccaray BSIT

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Comprehensive Response:
Philippines is the host of the International Rice Research Institute, whose aim is to
improve the well-being of poor rice farmers, the consumers, as well as the

environment. Over the years, the agriculture in Philippines is facing a decline in

productivity. Although the industry employs about 33 percent of the total workforce, it
contributes less than a fifth of the nation's GDP. Reasons cited for the decline includes
inadequate infrastructure and long seasons of droughts.
And based from the given examples above, it is clear that the industry sector is the weak
part of the sector of the Philippines. Even that it is growing, it needs more improvement.
Major industries include automotive, electronics, textiles, and food processing. Industry
also employs 15 percent of the total workforce. And we all know that the Philippines is
considered as one of the largest mining countries, with an estimated $1 trillion in mineral
wealth. Philippines' rich mineral deposits includes metals like gold, nickel, copper and
chromite and non-metals like asbestos, asphalt, sulfur and marble. However, the mining
industry is facing a decline due to low metal prices, high production costs and change in
mining laws. And also according to Arsenio Balisacan, economy needs re-balancing.
Ateneo de Manila University economist Cielito Habito said this makes the Philippines an
anomaly among other Asian countries. He said leap-frogging the economy without
industrialization created a problem. According to him, Agriculture, tourism,
manufacturing, if these just become the propellers of our economic growth rather than
just banks and insurance companies and real estate companies, which has been the case
for the last couple of decades in fact, then we will have a much more broad-based
growth, much more equitable growth. (Orendain, 2015) The government must focus on
industry sector in order to make the countries growth and development be balanced. And
also if the services sector have large room for development with the number of the total
population, only 2/3 of it is being part of the services sector with the help of the other
sector and job opportunities, the employment can grow more and can used the full
capacity of the rich human resource capital of the country.
2. Why is agriculture the central elements of civilization and development?
Justify your answer with at least 5 national reasons.
Agriculture is one of the primary reason why there is a civilization and development. In
fact, it is one of the key sectors why there are other sectors. Because without this, the
other sector may not existed, an economy may not had been discovered without it. To
have a source of food is one of the physiological needs of a human to survive. It is one of
the requirements that must be present in order for the economy to exist. It can be
characterized as the frame sector of an economy. It is the reason of survival of our
ancestors and the survival of people in the present day. Without it, we may suffer
malnutrition and die because of starvation. Through the discovery of agriculture, this
had allowed the people to have surplus food and stable economy. Agriculture is defined
as a science focusing on the systematic way of producing goods through forestry as well
as farming. Historians agree that agriculture played an essential role in the development
of civilizations because it covers various fields of study that are significant to the survival
of humans. There are numerous reasons why is agriculture important to humanity.
Knowing these reasons is significant to maintain political, economic and social stability in
the different regions of the world. Agriculture is the key element to the discovery of the
various means of collecting and storing foods during the early times. The concept
behind the creation of food surpluses will not be developed without peoples
understanding of agriculture. This led to the implementation of stratifications in
societies. In present times, business people find it very helpful in supplying work
opportunities to some areas in the world. Farm owners hire great number of workers to
do jobs like pastoral herding of animals, plant cultivation and plant breeding. With ample
knowledge on this field of study, it will be easy for humans to develop new technologies
--Economics: Philippine Sectors--- . -- Emmanuel C. Baccaray BSIT
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Comprehensive Response:
and systems that will be helpful in improving food supplies in the world. Agriculture is
significant to the production of organic food, which started

in the 1980s. With the opposition of some agriculturists in the world to the frequent use
of conventional non-organic food methods or procedures, consumers started to demand
for the continuous production of organic food. Because of this economic trend,
entrepreneurs find great financial opportunities in the expanding organic food market. In
the late 1990s, more private corporations ventured in businesses that deal with the
storing and selling of organic food. Agriculture is also helpful to stimulate
environmental and social growth. By learning the various environmental friendly
methods of producing and storing food, hunger was successfully alleviated in many
countries since the 1980s. Aside from these, agriculturists also discovered advance
methods that are helpful to improve the food supply in the 1990s. One of these methods
is known as genetic engineering, which is very popular because it allows humans to
develop new breeds of crops. Agriculture is important to world economy because it has
great contributions to international trade since most of the items that are imported and
exported by countries are agricultural products. To sustain the economy of a particular
nation, political leaders should concentrate on implementing laws and policies that
will strengthen the agricultural sector because it has an impact on the gross domestic
product. (Margaret, 2017)

References:

Bibliography
Flores S. R., Gonzales, K. G., & Orbeta Jr, A. C. Key Issues and Challenges of
Professional Service Mobility [Online]. - Philippine Institute for Development
Studies Discussion PAper Series No. 2015-12., 2015. - APEC-primer-on-
services_comp4.pdf.

Margaret http://www.whyguides.com/why-is-agriculture-important.html [Online]. -

MemeBridge, 2017. - http://www.whyguides.com/why-is-agriculture-important.html.
Orendain Simone Philippines%20Economy%20Strong,%20But%20Foreign
%20Investment%20Lags.html [Online]. - March 4, 2015.

Sicat Gerardo P. Economics [Book Section].

--Economics: Philippine Sectors--- . -- Emmanuel C. Baccaray BSIT

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