PREVIOUSLY, we have subjected the Yaman-Gensan, which was concluded last week, to a quite harsh critique for its failure to establish its own economic paradigm, and for working instead under an outmoded development framework which is the cause of our society's continuing destitution.

Particularly, we put the blame on the local office of the DTI and the OCEMCD for its failure to travel along the development spectrum set forth in general terms by our two respected political leaders: City Mayor Pedro B. Acharon, Jr. and Rep. Darlene Magnolia Antonino-Custodio.

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It is necessary to stress here that the duty of political leaders are to set a general direction, and, it is now up for implementing agencies to lay down all the specifics necessary to bring the city towards that direction.

As it appears, however, DTI and OCEMCD are in quandary what to do, usual despicable scenario in government offices which could be attributed to their lack of adequate economic initiations and solid background in development work.

These inadequacies prevent them from taking refuge on creativity in the formulation of new economic theories. As theoretical works are mind-boggling, they embrace the evil of a system that has pestered our nation since the beginning of the post-war era.

It is a pity that -- as this system is suffering from the worst crisis since the advent of the industrial revolution -- our economic planners still embrace the Frankenstein that has been devouring our dreams for a better life, weirdly, with much love and passion.

As they sleep with the enemies, we hereunder advance a suggestion on how we could establish strong connections between SMEs and the basic communities to ensure balanced and equitable growth. We can start by welcoming only investments with the following characteristics:

1. Those that bring in capital investment into the city to ensure inflow of capital and not those that avail capital from local credit sources;

2. Those which are labor-intensive and hire only local workers to ensure availability of jobs for the local residents;

3. Those which are engaged in the processing of local materials supplied by city's goods-producing communities into finished products to create economic dynamism within basic communities;

4. Those which have regular program for technology transfer to ensure economic sustainability and empowerment of the city's productive sectors;

5. Those which are engaged in the production of the basic needs of the people in the communities;

6. Those whose finished products are made available primarily to the local markets, while only the surplus goods are made available to foreign markets; and

7. Those which are not destructive to the environment.

By creating objective conditions for these kinds of investment, we will be able to establish strong connections between the SMEs and the goods-producing communities, and, thus, the people whom we traditionally regard as mere “beneficiaries” are not being made dependent on trickles, but are considered as the primary motive force of the processes of development.

Really, our economic future cannot be entrusted to simpletons.