BELGICA, JHEE ANN L.

SOCIOLOGY
1POL2 Mr. Antonino Tobias IV
AN ANALYSIS OF BALUNGO AND VILLASINS
T.N.C. FOR BEGINNERS
T.N.C. for Beginners is a book that opened the topic about the transnational corporations
that dominated the Philippine economy. According to this book, transnational corporations are
those corporations who invest in their country and to other countries. Although most of the
people thought that these TNCs are helping the Philippine economy to grow, the truth is they
make it worse. It also contains illustrations which can help the reader, especially the beginner
ones, in visualizing what the author wants to say.
This book also emphasized that not all products made in the Philippines are Filipino
made. In fact, these TNC products dominate the country, and the Filipinos love to buy these
products. Some of these corporations are also unfair with their policies, such as giving cheap
labor or union busting. They can do those actions because they have the power. According to
Max Weber, one who possess power has the ability to control social resources like land
capital, social respect, physical strength, etc. This had resulted into an unequal distribution of
scarce resources, giving the richer ones a greater opportunity to gain more of those resources and
to protect their own interestto earn more.
As an effect, the small Filipino companies were closed. The reason behind this
phenomenon is that they failed to survive the market competition. And as Karl Marx said in his
Conflict Theory, competitions and social conflicts are sources of social change. Balintawak Beer,
Jacintos shoes, and Rooster coffee are these small companies who were unfortunately closed
because they did not have the capacity to fight with the richer and more famous brands of
products. Some of them, such as the Fil-Oil Refinery, had decided to sell their company to just
have some compensation.
There are several reasons why these scenarios happen. One of them is because we were
influenced by other culture, especially during the colonialism era. For example, when the
Americans colonized the Philippines, they brought with them their culture and influenced he
Filipinos. This can be explained using Max Webers Symbolic Interactionism. According to this
perspective, people learn ideas from others through communication process. Filipinos learned
different things from the Americans, such as fashion, technology, etc.
Their influence entered even in the Filipinos preference in material products. This was
added to the Filipino attitude of spending money just to have famous branded or authenticated
products. But, most of the famous brands were from other country. Therefore, we import these
things from their country. Some of them established a branch here in the Philippines, and they
were now part of the TNCs in this country.
The Filipino attitude of spending money for branded products is a product of colonial
aesthetics. A theory about the social construction of reality can explain why the Filipinos have
this attitude. According to this theory, how we were raised and what we were raised to believe
affect how we present ourselves, how we perceive others, and how others perceive us. In short,
our perceptions of reality are colored by our beliefs and backgrounds. Filipinos were raised with
this mind-set that famous branded products are more effective or more beautiful than the
infamous ones. Therefore, their choice of goods was influenced by what they believed to be
more efficient. They also have this belief that if the products are from other countries,
especially from America, then these products is known to be reliable. This is also a reason why
Filipinos are devoted to TNC products.
The Philippines should start being less dependent to other countries in terms of goods or
products. First, it has its own manpower that is needed to work for their goods. Next, it has its
own scientists, discoverers, and innovators to create products. It also has its own capital goods to
be improved, and it deserves some investment in order to increase its positive effects in our
economy.
This change is possible as long as the Filipinos will help each other. To start, the people
should know that they are exploited by those TNCs. These exploitations can be seen in different
ways. They use different strategies to make their products name more appealing to the audience.
Some of them are using our law to ensure their power and to get their interests. Another offense
is that some of the TNC vitamins or medicines which are also promoted in the media dont have
any approved therapeutic claims. Others abuse the freedom to use the media advertisements by
attributing a lot of benefits to their product when in fact; some of them are not true.
The last offense stated above can be interpreted using the Dramaturgy perspective. The
people from the TNC corporations make sure that they always put their best foot forward by
keeping their products name as a reliable one. The peoples expectation is that their product is
useful, even though some of these products cannot promise all those useful capabilities which is
attributed to them.
According to Karl Marxs model of social evolution, the weaker ones need to recognize
their exploitation in order to revolt against those in power. But in this case, revolt is not
necessarily needed to end up our problem. It is more important that they will recognize their
exploitation in order to change their strategy in managing themselves. With this idea, they can
find the better ways to manage their resources properly to be independent from others.
We also need some revisions in our laws. To some extent, our laws are too much in favor
with the TNCs, just like the Omnibus Code. This law promises a big concession in tax for the
TNCs and a right to enter in all kinds of businesses here in the Philippines. If this will
continuously be imposed, then the Filipinos will really have a hard time competing with the
TNCs. Another issue is that taxes are where we can get the countrys money for its projects. If
we will continue to give them benefits by continuously decreasing our charges for their tax dues,
then they will really gain more compared to the country. These events really miss the point on
why we allowed them to enter the country: to be able to give jobs for the people and to collect
taxes for the governments projects. In this part, we can also apply the Social Exchange Theory.
We can notice that there are two sides exchanging rewards and costs. The TNCs will benefit by
having profits, and the country will collect the taxes.
The government should also promote Filipino-made businesses by helping them to grow
in their field. For example, the government should help those farmers by giving them additional
knowledge and some financial support. They can also encourage other Filipinos to start their
own businesses in order to help our economy. These actions can help the country to produce its
own products and can encourage its own people to buy Filipino made.
Another way of escaping this dependency to other countries is spreading the sociological
theory named Exchange Theory. This can help the people understand how to balance his
resources and his desires to buy things. Being guided by knowing about the costs and benefits of
an action, it will help a person to be wiser in choosing the right goods and in spending his
money.
The country will surely benefit a lot if its people will learn to buy a Filipino-made
product. It can give its own people a chance to create or invest to a business of their own. It can
also give jobs for its fellow Filipinos. We can also improve our economy by selling our own
products and strengthening our export capabilities. According to Prof. Antonio David Cattani, a
professor of Sociology in Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, the great fortunes of Third-
World countries do not need to be firmly anchored in their places of origin. They can circulate
through tax havens and shift on the slightest hint of political difficulties or tax and fiscal control,
returning when speculative or even productive advantages are conceded.
This book became a mind-opener for the Filipinos. Reading this book can give the person
an idea on how the transnational corporations dominate the country and can continuously survive
because of the peoples devotion to their products. But instead of dedicating themselves to help
the country, they are more concerned on achieving their self-interest. This can give us lessons for
us to change the way things work in our economy. And helping our economy to grow can lift the
Filipino peoples way of life.