Seeing the larger picture in garment

The garment affects everybody positively especially at a time when our other primary source of revenue–tourism industry–continues crash all over the place.

It is a phenomenon that was forced upon the local economy largely because most of tourism’s investment here came from Japan. Japan’s economy went bust since two years ago when the bubble burst. The ripple effect is such that we too went crashing without choice.

We look around for solace and found nothing except the vital role of the much maligned garment industry that now feeds our local coffers and allows more than 3,000 employees to bring home the bacon, so to speak.

If anything, this is an industry whose anchor would be awfully difficult to remove given that if we venture treating its realistic role here with adolescency, nothing else would work and we’d be seeing high rate of unemployment and bankruptcies beyond our wildest imaginings.

For instance, garment has given birth to a stronger shipping industry both ways: import and export. The cost of basic commodities are relatively inexpensive because shipping lines were able to import these items and leave port with containers filled with finished garment products. If leaving port means an empty ship, you can guarantee that the charges for import items would double or triple. And guess who is at the end of the receiving line–you and I–or all consumers.

Why would shipping lines charge double or triple when returning ships leave our ports empty? They have to make money just like any other business. If it weren’t for the garment industry’s exports to global markets on finished apparel products, hey, the price for Spam could run as high as $4.50 per can. Imagine the increase in other basic commodities that retailers would pass on to consumers because ships leave our ports empty.

Other residual businesses were established to support the garment industry. It includes insurance companies, trucking, packing, etc. When finished products are likely to be delayed and won’t be able to reach buyers on time, the industry turns to the airlines to ship their goods. The chain of revenue generation from this industry is steady and sturdy. Essentially, it is our second major artery that needs to be treated with healthy business habits.

Frankly, all these incoherent talks about economic substitutes are pure rhetoric that have been regurgitated beyond what my ears can accept in decibel levels. Perhaps, what we need today is substitute all these talks about economic substitutes by substituting them with proactive attitudes about what works, therefore, must be given the latitude for expansion.

Until the NMI can in fact find real substitute, it must learn to improve upon what it has today lest we’d continue imposing our propensity to make doing business here next to impossible. Consistency in policy is definitely lacking and one hell of major hurdle that we must learn to deal with.

For all the local managers in this industry, I say let us stand up and give our most profound Merry Christmas to Mr. Willie Tan, James Lin and others whose names I can’t recall for doing these islands a favor even amidst all internal and external adversity. Merry Christmas and Felis Noche Buena to the NMI’s Garment Industry.
With all humility, please forgive our adolescent behavior for we only know one thing: Everything that is Government! Friends, it’s time to learn the art of seeing the larger picture, now!

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I asked a friend for his views about economic recovery. Said he: “JR, any measure of economic recovery is most welcomed. Too many buisnesses have gone bankrupt. Hope too that intellectual atrophy isn’t an epidemic among our leaders here for it is very troublesome”.