Gonzalvo, Alexander

ABELS 2-2
The Contemporary World

Assessment 1

1. What is Globalization and how does it occur subjectively?

Globalization is the process through which products and services are exchanged beyond
national borders as technology advances to aid civilizations in communicating and cooperating.
Because of our reliance on modern technology, there is now an interconnectedness between
countries and societies. Globalization can also be defined as a collection of procedures that
enable connections and organizations to exist beyond borders. As we grow more conscious of
the world around us, we experience subjective globalization. There is a "social connectedness"
that helps us to build our own world views and thoughts about global concerns and occurrences.
Globalization's effects continue to extend as technology becomes more widely available, and
modernisation advances around the world, allowing communities to develop cooperatively

2. Why should we use the interdisciplinary approach in studying Globalization?

Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach in studying globalization is necessary because a parochial

perspective is rather one-sided, globalization necessitates looking at each member of society as
part of a larger picture. Taking this method to understanding globalization will make studying a
compassionate type of globalization possible. Globalization requires a certain amount of
openness, which a multidisciplinary approach permits.

3. Why do we need to exercise our sociological imagination to make sense of the

contemporary world?

Through matching, blending, and shaping our contemporary world, sociological imagination
allows us to look beyond our immediate community and analyze processes beyond our
immediate community, as well as with the deepening of knowledge and understanding on how
every sector present in society interacts with one another, creating a historical feat. A person
who does not contemplate the larger picture of society has a provincial mindset, which makes it
difficult to comprehend the entire context.
 4. Explain the difference between the State and the Nation.

The State is referred to as a political entity that operates on a worldwide economic and political
stage by the term "state." Its constituents, such as its population, territory, and sovereignty, are
usually objectively quantifiable and measurable. It is also assumed that each state has its own
government, which imposes loyalty on its residents and protects them from outside forces. The
term nation, on the other hand, refers to a country's identity. It mostly refers to the people's
collective identity inside a country, who have their own sentiments as a society and different
cultures. Both the nation and the state collaborate to achieve what we refer to as community
cohesion.

Assessment 2

Write a short paper that addresses the contemporary condition of the Philippines by applying
both the dependency theory and the world system theory. By doing so, students must apply the
theories discussed in this module to shed light on the present circumstances of the country’s
economy. Students are advised to use newspaper articles to try and make sense of the
Philippine’s position in the world economy.

The Philippines and Its Relationship with Neoliberalism

For years and decades that we have been independent as a country, neoliberalism always
has its leash on our necks tied roughly. And for third world countries like the Philippines, it is
definitely difficult for us to rise above these circumstances knowing that systems like these are
already ingrained and have been established already for a century (modern neoliberalism). With
that being said, neoliberalism is the sole reason why the Philippines, even if it is a sovereign
state, is still not free. And for us to know more on how dangerous neoliberalism is for the
Philippines, we must know what neoliberalism firstly is and then their relationship with each
other, then finally, how neoliberalism can be harmful to the Filipino citizens ourselves.

Neoliberalism as per the textbooks, is a system wherein market-oriented policies such as

privatization, eliminating controls on prices, and the deregulation of capital markets, are being
put into the table by the government. And despite these inhumane and very anti-poor and
people policies, why is the government continuing to implement and cooperate with this world
system? Simple; money. With policies like this, big corporations gain money and with the
government’s cooperation, the officials also gain monetary benefits. Now, in the context of the
Philippines, the said policies being forwarded by the system can and is definitely seen in the
current situation of the country. And with that being said, it now makes sense why Filipinos are
still in poverty and hunger is rapid. Colonialism has eaten us to death and now that past system
wore a new wardrobe and decided to become Neoliberalism, which is worse and a cycle that
can be never-ending once the people continuously let the system remain. Going back, how is
the relationship between the Philippines and neoliberalism with each other? Oppression and
exploitation of people is the reason why neoliberalism is considered deadly for its citizens and
it's because Filipinos are cheap in terms of labor and employment. In accordance to Holden,
Nadeau, and Porio in their study of Neoliberalism in the Philippines, it was stated that,
“Neoliberalism’s policy prescription is an almost exclusive reliance upon the market as the
institution to be used for resource allocation and the goal of neoliberalism is to increase foreign
investment (McCarthy 2007). Since the state is presumed to be inefficient, neoliberalism
eschews any role for the state in responding to the needs of the populace (McCarthy 2007). For
example, wages can be kept inordinately low to lure outside corporations and businesses to
invest in the Philippines.” And these are all entirely true, one good example are the BPO or
Business Process Outsourcing Companies that come and go here in the Philippines, also big
local corporations like Jollibee and NutriAsia which all apply the tactics of Neoliberalism when it
comes to the free market. And because of this, exploitation is prevalent. Workers gain less while
giant corporations and their owners own half of these profits. And this clear presentation of the
unequal share of wealth is very unjustifiable yet the people of the Philippines do not mind it for
they believe as long as they survive within the day, they will be fine. What they eat today and for
the next day, is what these people are thinking, which is why neoliberalism is entirely bad
especially for poor countries. Another, privatization is such a big deal especially for the people.
This adds up to the minds of every Filipino family. Public services which present our basic needs
like electricity and water should be free yet because of capitalism and neoliberalism, the
Filipinos in general, are exploited to pay for the needs that they should be getting for free. These
are just some of the gists on how truly bad neoliberalism is for the Philippines; the exploitation,
inequality, and privatization all for the higher class and corrupt officials to gain from the “free
market” world.
 If we care for our country and our countrymen, we should all be uniting and fighting against
this system which continues to pluck and pull our country to the edges of down under. This will
continuously weaken us as citizens of a sovereign state and once we continue to fight and
revolt, the freedom we would want to get for our country will one day be achieved.

Term Paper 1

Students will be tasked to write a critical paper that addresses the contemporary condition of the
Philippines by applying both the economic relations and the status of the country on battling the
COVID-19 Pandemic. How has the world economy and the global pandemic influenced the
state of the Philippines’ economy?

We all know how global disasters wreck lives and economies of countries itself, this was
indeed proven when the year 2020 came, and once again, the world was shaken not by
asteroids that will whip the Earth but due to a virus that erupted from Wuhan, China, which is
now known as the COVID-19. It all started from a facility within the city which then spread to
every country known. And because of this, our normal lives where we get to travel anywhere,
eat with people around us, and the normal everyday interaction, it all vanished when presidents
from various countries announced lockdowns that lasted for days, weeks, and even months.
First world countries that have great healthcare services were prepared, the real victims of this
pandemic are the third world countries like the Philippines. And how can we say so? How did
the world economy and the global pandemic which has happened, influenced the state of the
said country’s economy?

It was on March 2020 that President Duterte announced a lockdown which he told the
students that will last for only 1 week, which then on lasted for a whole year— this is the story of
series of catastrophic events in the Philippines that begun when the irresponsibility of the
government played which led to the downfall of the economy as the pandemic is on going. Of
course, the Philippines is not a rich country and its healthcare response in a whole sense even
before the pandemic has already been a disaster. Privatized medical institutions only give the
quality service a Filipino needs but when it comes to the public hospitals, this is where it gets
worse. When COVID-19 struck, the Philippines became even more impoverished. For the state
to assess and get the necessary health equipment, they have to loan huge amounts of money
which will then become a huge burden for the future generations of Filipinos. And to the
country’s economy this will be dangerous since we will be impoverished even more. Other than
that, the livelihoods of small enterprises together with the majority of workers getting
unemployed in the Philippines, puts it even more on an economic brink of a downward
pedestal— where worse will come to worse. Going back, as we talk about debt, an article by the
Philippine News Agency, states how big our debt is together with other deficits, “The national
government’s (NG) outstanding debt as of end-December 2021 rose to PHP11.729 trillion, up by
19.7 percent year-on-year, but an economist considers this level relative to domestic output still
sustainable. Data released by the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) on Tuesday showed that as of
end-2021, outstanding government debt accounts for around 60.5 percent of gross domestic
product (GDP), slightly above the international debt-to-GDP threshold of 60 percent and higher
than the 54.6 percent in end-2020. In a report, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC)
chief economist Michael Ricafort said repayments of liabilities and continued reopening of the
domestic economy contributed to the drop in the national government’s debt compared to
end-November 2021’s PHP11.93 trillion. Ricafort said the higher-than-expected growth of the
domestic economy in the last quarter of 2021 at 7.7 percent contributed to the improvement of
the debt-to-GDP ratio for the full year. He added that while the level of government debt relative
to the domestic economy’s output increased, especially compared to the low of 39.6 percent in
end-2019, this is understandable given the pandemic-related expenses”. As we are
continuously paying the debt that was being done by the Marcos Administration which will end
in 2025, we will now also have to face the debt that the Duterte Administration have added,
burdening the lives of millions of the Filipino people. Moreover, the rude awakening from the
pandemic was that a services- and remittances-led growth model doesn’t do too well in a global
disease outbreak. The Philippines’ economic growth faltered in 2020 — entering negative
territory for the first time since 1999 — and the country experienced one of the deepest
contractions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that year (2021). Basically,
because of the problematic pandemic handling by the state, we have reached our doom
especially for our economy. Thankfully, because of the emergence of the Business Process
Outsourcing companies, we can still go on. And with the elections this coming May 2022, we
must be intelligent on who to vote for, especially someone who has studied economics like the
current Vice President of The Philippines Leni Robredo.

The pandemic truly has stricken us too much most especially financially and because of that
Filipinos will continue to be burdened. And with all these burden caused by various incompetent
and problematic government officials.
Assessment 3

Search for more UN activities/decisions and discuss its advantages and

disadvantages.

United Nations Activities ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Resolution 2573 (2021),
adopted on 27 April 2021, the
Council strongly condemned
attacks in situations of armed
conflict directed against
civilians or civilian objects,
resulting in the deprivation to
the civilian population of
objects indispensable to their
survival as flagrant violations
of international humanitarian
law.
> Peace is kept amongst the > With a prolonged process
international and within these in the judiciary, supposed
nations. terrorists might create a
> Countries who situate and bigger conflict.
impose individuals as part of
a terrorist group will not be
killed, the Court should be the
one to decide if the individual
or groups of people are guilty;
justice will prevail.
> Extra-judicial killings may
be decreased in numbers
with this resolution or stand.

On 26 February 2021, by
resolution 2565 (2021), the
Council called for the
strengthening of national and
multilateral approaches and
international cooperation,
such as the COVAX facility
for increased COVID-19
vaccine access.
> Feasible and a need > For poverty stricken
knowing that we are in a countries, budget will be a
pandemic. need especially to afford this.
> With more facilities, more
people will be accomodated
especially those who carry
the virus.

Term Paper 2

Situate one (1) of the Philippines contemporary (social/ political/ economic) issues. Assess and
outline the root cause of this problem and create a new regionalism. Propose the ideal countries
to have an alliance with, in line with the chosen problem. Justify how this created alliance will
resolve the chosen problem.

The issue on the Scarborough Shoal has been going on for years now. All of these happened
all because there are conflicts of interest within the island between China and the Philippines;
that China has been claiming the said island which is inside within the territorial area and waters
of the Philippines, to be theirs. This became controversial and known globally which tended for
international organizations to intervene so that the Philippines would gain its territorial rights on
the island once again. Last 2016, the Philippines won against China on the petitions launched at
the International Criminal Court regarding the island, yet even though it had been proven on the
papers and by the court, China is not stopping with the oppression and exploitation it is doing on
the island also with the local fisherfolks along it.

Since this topic is still entirely relevant, let us talk about if all comes at its worst and the
Philippines needs to ask help from different countries already, who are we asking firstly, and
why? China is known for being oppressive and indeed a bully with other countries also and we
can ask help from these countries since we all have the capacity to come together and remove
the strings that make us puppets of this imperialist country. These countries that we can ask for
help are Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, and any other Southeast Asian country, putting highlights
on Vietnam since they have put most effort into helping us battling the Chinese government.
Vietnam backed Philippines as when we are coursing this battle, cited on a news article, “In a
new twist this week to the stand-off between China and the Philippines at Scarborough Shoal,
66 Vietnamese, many of them well-known public figures in Vietnam and within the Vietnamese
Diaspora, signed a letter to the Philippine Ambassador in Vietnam to express support for the
Philippines’ “sovereign rights” in the continuing stand-off. The main points of the letter are; 1)
Support for the “sovereign rights” of the Philippines in the Scarborough Shoal. 2) Opposition to
China’s use of the “nine-dashed line” to make overlapping claims with the Exclusive Economic
Zones and continental shelves of the Philippines, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries, as well
as opposition to “China’s actions and threats of force,” the latter presumably referring to articles
in China’s state controlled press. 3) Support for the Philippines’ proposal to submit the dispute at
Scarborough Shoal to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)”. With this being
said, it is enough to know why we need to be allies with countries like them. Second reason why
we should form alliances with them, is because they are also being exploited by China, and by
standing up against a fascist ruler, we can gain rights on our properties which also counts our
dear island. And lastly, this also stands and signifies hope for other countries like us that are
impoverished by fascist countries like India, to also fight for their sovereignty as people and as a
country against the same powerful countries who treat third world countries as mere insects that
they think they can exploit continually.
 Even if everything seems hopeless, and we feel like we have no other country to go to, we
always have to remember that this idea is possible for there are countries willing to fight their
sovereignty together with ours in order to get to the future we want for our own country. And by
being allies with countries that have true kind and progressive intentions, we are choosing the
hope we want not only for ourselves but also for future generations.

Assessment 4

In this section of the module, your general knowledge and understanding of the subject so far
will be tested. Please answer the following question.

1. In your own understanding in Religion and Globalization, what is the current state of Religion
in the Philippines. You can use your observation in your religion as an example.

Religion in the Philippines is being procured as the utmost priority. It is even overlapping in
politics and governmental discussions which is prohibited yet the society would not mind since
religion is predominant and belief is important for the people. One good example is Christianity;
due to the many years this religion has predominated the country, Christianity has also helped in
participating when it comes to globalization whenever communication and partnerships and in
the most easy way to explain it, globalization affects Christianity through making it even more
wide spread, making it predominant anywhere in this country.

2. Essay : Using the Pew Research Center’s research, explain how the changing religious
landscape expresses the condition of the globalizing world.

One major observation I have gained through analyzing world religion and how it affects
globalization is that when we base on the backgrounds and teachings of a certain religion, their
treatment with their lives can affect numerous things holistically and one of those is the matters
about globalization. One good example is Pew Research Center’s research indeed and one of
their findings is that Muslim is the fastest growing religion and because of their belief and
practices when it comes to families, which affects the overall demography and situation of their
country, which also is affecting the world. Another, is the fact that the “religious nones” are
predominant in most liberated countries like America and some parts of Europe. We will begin to
realize here how belief and perspectives in life affected by religion can give big changes towards
global demography categorized through religion. The changing of global landscapes are
happening due to these possible reasons; while those countries with a rapid growing populace
for “religious none” individuals, it can be seen that their culture is being shaped with the
innovation of knowledge that is happening due to their access for education and the fact that
they have access to it, it is because of their growing economy with globalization as its tool.
While the countries that are hunger and poverty-stricken, religion will always be real and true to
them since the teachings of religion are only prevalent to those who use this belief as their only
hope for the success that they gain everyday. As we are seeing the differences, with the
existence of globalization it became possible for people to know various knowledge about
cultures, of which religion is also one of it.

Assessment 5

Write an essay answering this question: Has McLuhan's ideal of a ‘global village’ become a
reality? (if handwritten, capitalize your writing for better understanding) minimum of 150 words.

McLuhan’s global village definitely came into life or rather reality. Not so long ago right after the
industrialization period happened, modernization and the existence of technology and its
advancements have put modern humans into a setting wherein everything has been made easy.
It is now easier for humans to communicate with other people inside and outside of the country,
it is also easier to do tasks and know different kinds of information, and it is definitely a lot easier
to participate in the global cascade. Aside from making everything easier, humans now gain
more knowledge about other cultures as well and everything became interconnected through
technology. And all of these have been made possible also by globalization itself. Yet what
researchers before fail to realize is that, though everything became far more easier, humans
became farther and further away from each other. Though we have come to an idea of a global
village, individuals now are having a hard time connecting with the true reality behind their
screens and technology itself.

Term Paper 3
What is the connection between the proliferation of homelessness in urban cities and urban
cities itself despite being the nexus of global exchange in the country?
 Poverty and policies that only benefit the huge corporations in the ongoing globalization are
the reasons for proliferation or the increase in numbers for homelessness. The relationship
between globalization and poverty is a hotly disputed topic in academic circles. Several studies
show that globalisation increases poverty, while others say that it decreases poverty. Those in
favor of globalization argue that in the last 20 years, significant progress has been made in the
battle against global poverty, as well as a reduction in inequality, and that this achievement is
due to the liberalization of economic policy or globalisation. Critics, on the other hand, argue
that globalisation has resulted in a rise in poverty and inequality. The wealthy are becoming
wealthier, while the poor are becoming poorer. Both sides have backed up their statements with
'facts,' but there has been no clear debate, no clear study, and no clear conclusions. And when
there’s poverty, there is a present homelessness.

“As low-income countries break into global markets for manufactures and services, poor
people can move from the vulnerability of grinding rural poverty to better jobs, often in towns or
cities. In addition to this structural relocation, integration raises productivity job by job. Workers
with the same skills, be they farmers, factory workers, or pharmacists, are less productive and
earn less in developing economies than in advanced ones. Integration reduces these gaps”
(Dollar and Collier, 1999). They respond to the widespread fear that openness and globalisation
are leading to rising inequality within countries, with the poor benefiting less or not at all from
these advances. Their findings are divided into two categories. For starters, openness is linked
to increased growth. Second, increased trade does not, on average, result in a systematic
increase in inequality. The poor's share of national income is proportionate to their part of
growth. Higher growth combined with no change in income distribution leads to a faster
reduction in poverty. In the Philippines, families end up homeless for many reasons, including
poverty. And poverty is seen more in the urban areas together with homelessness itself. The
reasons why many Filipinos are homeless are that there are 18 million poor people, they flock to
the cities for opportunity and the infrastructure cannot adequately handle them. But even before
the pandemic, there were already an estimated 3 million homeless people in the city of Manila,
largely the result of poverty caused by unemployment. Covid-19 added to the number.

All in all, POVERTY is the quick answer. Despite the country's excellent development rates in
recent years, this growth has tended to concentrate in the wealthiest echelons of society. Like
most developing countries, there is a significant divide between the haves and the have-nots,
with the haves accounting for only a small percentage of the population.

Another reason is that development is concentrated in major cities. As a result, people migrate
to major urban hubs, resulting in overcrowding and homelessness among the poor.
Assessment 6

1. Under what circumstances is rapid population growth beneficial to societies? Or not? Explain
your answer.

Population growth is very beneficial since it provides more people to attend to the workforce
which can help us for a more developed society. But it will equate to the degradation of natural
resources. Which is why with more people, they should all work for more resources to get for
their basic needs. It is beneficial for societies once again, since with more people, globalization
can help further and advance innovation and development.

2. What do you think are the reasons why migrants are mostly beneficial for receiving countries?

Simple, human capital development. Those migrants who have skills can contribute to the
economy and to the workforce and this is what is important for capitalistic countries.