Will you bet on this? Proposal to tap lottery and cooperatives in boosting grassroots economy

The country’s economy is said to be growing, but the stark reality is that poverty remains a big problem in our country. The poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer. Hunger is on the rise.

We cannot eradicate poverty if our economic planning is largely anchored on the entry of foreign investors. Sure their entry will create jobs, but we should be doing more to eradicate poverty.

I am not an economist, I am a chemical engineer but allow me to present my idea on how we can make our country prosperous and at the same time eradicate poverty. In formulating this economic program, I am guided by three considerations:

Economics is the wisest use of scarce resources. If you can find the wisest use, then a scarce resource or resources become valuable.

There is strength in numbers. If we can gather scarce resources into one group and use them wisely, then they can go a long way in improving our economy and eradicating poverty.

When people in communities nationwide work together toward a common goal, economic progress cannot be far behind.

It is given that money is scarce in our country, even the government admits to the lack of budget to create jobs in our country, thus, the importance of foreign investors. The challenge is to create a pool of scarce financial resources.

There is one activity in our country that the poor and ordinary Filipinos seem to love: small town lottery (STL) and “e-sabong.” Betting stations are found in every corner of barangays. As early as 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., you see people placing their bets. Ordinary Filipinos have spent billions of pesos as shown by the revenues of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

My proposal is to turn the STL and e-sabong into a cooperative, to be run, operated, and managed by the people themselves. From being a gambling activity, it becomes an investment scheme: bets become their contribution or investment in the business undertakings of the cooperative. The prizes become the incentives for investing. One no longer loses any money.

Cooperatives in one region could exchange goods with cooperatives in other regions eliminating middlemen which is one of the reasons for the high prices of goods. These cooperatives could put up food processing plants and storage facilities to take care of excess harvest or production. We often read about vegetables and fruits being thrown away because of low demand or over-production. Rice production could improve since money for fertilizers, irrigation facilities, rice granaries, etc. would no longer be a problem. In fishing villages, bigger fishing vessels could be provided by the coops to increase fish production. Modern transport systems could be provided by the coops.

It would not be long before the coops could put up big-time business ventures such as telecommunication, super malls, housing subdivisions, hospitals, etc., and challenge the dominance of the elite businessmen in our country.

The above scenarios would not be possible with foreign investments. They can always call it quits when the going gets rough. In fact, according to the Business Inquirer, committed foreign direct investments in our country posted a sharp decline in the first quarter of the year.

The government could pilot-test this concept in certain regions in our country and see how it works. When all the kinks have been ironed out, the Maharlika Investment Fund could partner with the coops in the fields of infrastructure, shipbuilding, transport production, etc. It can become a partnership between ordinary Filipinos and the government in nation-building and economic development.

Ernesto M. Adaya,

ernie_adaya@yahoo.com