Stage 03 - The Beginning

Three Years Earlier...

February 12, 2028 – 22:30

Airbus A380 Cabin

Somewhere above Philippine Airspace

The cabin was dimly lit, and most of the passengers were still napping. The humming of the plane's engine can be heard from where I'm sitting. My older brother, who is sitting beside me is still fast asleep, while my parents, who were sitting in front of us, started preparing our immigration documents while my younger sister slept.

I didn't sleep nor take a nap during our flight from Tokyo to Manila. I was too excited about moving to our new home. My mind was racing, thinking about the things I wanted to do when we finally arrive, although I wasn't too optimistic that there are things I can still do after arriving since it's already so late at night.

I stared outside the window, unable to see anything except the light emanating from the tip of the aircraft's wing that was cutting through the thick layer of clouds. The flaps adjusting every now and then as we slowly started our descent.

My name is Shinnosuke Suzuki a 15-year old Japanese middle school student, or at least I was. My family and I, along with six hundred and forty-four other Japanese nationals are emigrating to the Republic of the Philippines, now famously known as the shining Pearl of the Orient Seas.

Why do they call it the shining Pearl of the Orient Seas? Let me summarize the things that I know. Of course I did some research on the Philippines during my days in middle school, so I know a bit of details about my future home country.

The Philippines was known in the past as the Pearl of the Orient Seas, or just the Pearl of the Orient. However, the title was lost after the destruction caused by World War II and the disarray and chaos during the twilight years of the Marcos Regime.

After the fall of the Marcos regime, the country was left plagued with mountainous debts, stagnant economy, communist rebellion, inflation, hunger, extreme poverty, extrajudicial killings, corruption, and political dynasties. Even after the four succeeding administrations, the Philippines only saw minor, if not few major improvements in addressing the nation's problems .

Although there were some progress in the economic side of things, it wasn't effectively and efficiently maintained due to the different priorities, policies, and motives of the administrations that succeeded their predecessors. Since the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos, the Philippines was festered with high crime rates, incontrollable corruption, nepotism, drug problems, police brutality, political dynasties, incompetent electorate, dysfunctional bureaucracy, unqualified politicians and bureaucrats, inequality, disdain for human rights, and an undisciplined populace.

What exacerbated the country's progress was the fact that the Catholic Church has enormous sway and influence on lawmakers and politicians that greatly stymied the country's development, especially in the area of social development. Most progressive policies and laws that went against the teachings of the church are quickly demonized and frowned upon which resulted in the failure of being passed or implemented, even though some of the policies and laws are vital in the progress and development of the country.

The Sick Man of Asia started to look like the Dead Man of Asia when the FLAVID-08, a highly contagious and lethal strain of the Flavivirus, caused a world wide pandemic which caused severe disruptions and economic recessions in mid-2008. The Philippines with its underdeveloped and neglected healthcare system, was one of the countries that took the full brunt of the virus, causing thousands of deaths and millions infected.

The resulting pandemic laid bare the ineffectiveness, incompetence, and inadequacies of the government at that time, which was nearing the end of its term. The mismanagement and disorganization of the government's response caused intermittent lockdowns and enforced quarantine of the entire populace that severely crippled the country's economy.

The country was standing on the edge of the abyss, and any hope or chance of the country recovering became unachievable - until the Presidential Election of 2010.

With the memory of the death and devastation that the country suffered during the FLAVID-08 Pandemic under the leadership of President Raphael Rueda Dominguez. The country elected a relatively known individual, who managed to harness the rage and discontent of the Filipino people during the campaign period.

Alexis Madrigal, then 28-years old, was elected by a landslide by the Filipino Electorate. The second youngest President of the Republic after Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of the Philippines. An unprecedented and unexpected victory that sent shockwaves throughout the world.

His charisma and appeal energized the nation's youth who were tired of the same politicians who were promising quick fixes to the country's problems. Unlike his opponents during the campaign trail, Alexis recognized the need to change the country from its core by ridding it of the toxic traditions, institutions, and cultures that has hampered the progress and development of the Philippines, and has left it in an unending cycle of stagnation. His most unique advantage was his courage to speak the truth honestly and without malice, the direct opposite of the sweet and hollow promises given by his opponents.

His vision for the country earned him the trust of the people, even those who were serving in the military, albeit keeping their opinions privately. The support of the latter would later prove to be the defining factor that would seal the fate of the country that would usher in unprecedented progress and prosperity in the coming years.

On June 30 2010, Alexis Madrigal came to power as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines, and his administration moved quickly to start his radical and unorthodox reformation and rehabilitation of the Sick Man of Asia. His first official act as President was the dissolution of the Legislative branch, and the temporary suspension of the Judicial branch, which was enforced and carried out by the military who has pledge their utmost support to their new Commander-in-Chief.

This first act was immediately condemned by most western countries, the UN, and International Human and Civil Rights groups. The domestic backlash was fierce and instantaneous, with massive protests erupting in all major cities in the country as the memory of the Martial Law Era resurfaced. This however, did not deter the military and President Madrigal's supporters, and he immediately started working to implement his ideas and reforms.

The newly elected President used his first address to the nation the night after his inauguration to explain his decision and rationale to the populace, as well as the entire world. He began his speech by declaring that he will run the country by means of a dictatorship, and that he will rule by decree to usher in desperately needed reforms that would surely have been obstructed in congress and the judiciary by corrupt lawmakers and judges.

He then introduced his budget for the fiscal year, and explained in layman's term, that the money that would've went to Congress and the Judicial branch, which was rife with corruption and notorious for blatantly and openly stealing from the public's coffers would then be used to fund new projects that would improve the development and improvement of the country's critical infrastructures, social programs, healthcare, education, law enforcement, and the military.

Disregarding the ignorant, uneducated criticisms and attacks by the opposition, the Catholic Church, and the few unswayed citizens, he immediately purged the bureaucracy with incompetent civil servants and replaced them with highly qualified and skilled people. He then strictly enforced the separation of church and state by ordering the removal of religious symbols and objects from all government buildings that would appear to favor a certain religion, reshaping the government into a more secular institution.

His next major and consequential act was to rewrite the 1987 constitution by strengthening and expanding the people's rights and liberties, and placing full judicial and legislative powers to the executive branch. The most popular revision in the constitution was constitutionally banning political dynasties, and religious involvement in government.

He also elevated, improved, expanded, and strengthened the Civil Service Commission, renaming and reorganizing it as the National Civil Service Administration; the Commission on Election as the National Elections Commission, and absorbing the Commission on Audit into the newly created Philippine Inquisition, a powerful anti-corruption body that was tasked to investigate, prosecute, and enforce the newly passed Anti-Corruption Act of 2010 - the most stringent anti-corruption law in the Philippines to date.

The Commission on Human Rights was also reorganized, strengthened, and renamed as the Philippines Human Rights Agency. This new agency was given the power and authority to investigate and prosecute any and all public servants, organizations, entities, and individuals that have violated any rights as recognized by domestic and international law, enforce the observance of said rights, and protect it from any threats that may violate them.

All aforementioned institutions are independent from the Philippine Government and has been afforded unlimited autonomy and discretion in carrying out its mission and duties. Although they are independent bodies, they still receive funding from the government to allow them to carryout their functions efficiently and without interruptions. These moves - although politically and diplomatically calculated to placate most democratic countries, human and civil rights advocates, organizations, and institutions - greatly aided in restoring and strengthening the Filipino people's trust and confidence in their government, which has also practiced and maintained utmost transparency (except for matters regarding national security), and accountability.

Additionally, under the guidance of the Madrigal administration, the country saw unprecedented and rapid economic boom that has flabbergasted renowned economists from around the world. Within 15-years, the Philippines, then-known as one of the poorest countries in the Asia-Pacific Region, became one of the richest, influential, technologically advanced and most powerful nation in the Southeast Asia.

The country's technological advancement has surpassed Japan, Germany, and the United States due to their massive investment in technology, research and development, partnership with the private sector, and technological transfers from highly developed countries. Their open yet very aggressive immigration policy which focused on admitting highly skilled experts on different scientific and technological fields helped fuel the boom in the country.

Its military boasts the strongest and the most sophisticated of all in Southeast Asia, due to the massive assistance provided by the United States, in an effort to strengthen their oldest, but weakest ally in the region in a bid to prevent the People's Republic of China from expanding their influence in the pacific.

President Madrigal's ingenious "think outside the box" approach to political and economic problems greatly increased the government's efficiency which resulted in a coordinated and well-planned governmental projects, effective economic, and domestic policy reforms, which in time convinced the Filipino people to support their President regardless of the fact that they have a dictatorship as a form of government.

Due to the unique, radical, and expansive reforms in the government system and its economic approach, as well as factoring in the hard-working trait of the Filipino people, the country's crippled economy sky rocketed into an unprecedented record-breaking proportion. In just 15-years the GDP rose to $12.333 trillion from $124.0 billion (Post FLAVID-08 level) in part because of the government's direct intervention in the economy, which gradually eased every year until the economy returned to a free market economy, albeit a regulated one.

The Madrigal administration's approach towards the economy was a combination of lessons learned from the economic recovery by Japan and Germany after World War II, and South Korea after the Korean War. They also borrowed ideas from the United States' New Deal which became the basis and foundation for the government's infrastructure projects and social programs.

The resulting institutions that were born out of these ideas are the National Conservation Administration, a governmental agency tasked with rehabilitating national parks, deforested areas, building new natural and wildlife reserves, developing government owned lands, and helping rehabilitate, restore, and conserve buildings, monuments, and areas that holds significant cultural importance, e.g., Intramuros, Vigan, and the Banaue Rice Terraces.

The National Infrastructure and Civil Development Administration, another governmental agency is tasked with providing manual-labor jobs to rapidly develop, improve, and expand the national infrastructure necessary to support and sustain the planned economic development of the administration. The NICDA provided free technical education for jobs such as welders, electricians, plumbers, construction, heavy machinery operations, technicians, and auto repair, among others.

Major projects of NICDA were the construction, development, improvement and standardization of the country's national roads and highways, railways, public transportation hubs, airports, ports, public schools, hospitals, power plants, sewage system, broadband, waterworks, public and government buildings, public parks, and the creation of technology and industrial parks to further stimulate the growth of the technology and high-tech manufacturing industries.

Both the NCA and the NICDA targeted unemployed men and women between the ages of 17 – 35 from all over the country, of course there are caps and limitations to the number of workers that they hire, which mostly depend on the number of projects that the government was undertaking.

The administration also employed what they call rotational migration. This was a concept in which workers under these programs are rotated in areas or regions within the country that are considered impoverished and below the poverty line to rapidly develop or upgrade necessary infrastructure to help stimulate economic growth and development, and improve the quality of life.

Although 70% of the employed workers of the NCA and NICDA were rotated, 30% of its total manpower were dedicated to improving and developing Metro Manila, which saw the creation of an interconnected and hyper-efficient public transportation system which consists of buses, LRT, MRT, subways, bullet trains, monorail, ferries, cabs, airports, and other form of public transportation – beating Japan and South Korea's public transportation system.

To expedite the development and construction of these critical infrastructures, work schedule was divided into three eight-hour shifts, which worked 7-days a week. The base salary for those who were employed under NCA and NICDA was $25/Hr. or roughly ₱1194.50/Hr. which also includes benefits such as: Health insurance, Life insurance, Dental insurance, Vision insurance, Retirement benefits, Long and short term disability insurance, Tuition fee assistance, Childcare benefits, Employee recognition programs, Relocation assistance, and Commuting/travel assistance.

To avoid any interruptions, holidays are mandatory working days but workers are paid triple with separate pay for any overtime hours worked and bonuses. Furthermore, the income tax for the people working for the NCA and NICDA are generally lower than the set income tax enforced by the Internal Revenue Agency for everyone else.

To further supplement the manpower needed to expedite these important projects, inmates from every prison in the Philippines were also drafted to assist. In a unique and bold maneuvering by President Madrigal, he offered inmates the chance of freedom if they contributed to the development of the country's public works and critical infrastructures.

All inmates were required to work 12-hour shifts 5-days a week, their treatment consistent with applicable labor laws in the country, since they are not hired employees, they are not paid any wages, but are afforded food, housing, and other basic necessities that they may require.

The inmates that are sentenced for less than a year, are required to work the necessary work-hours equal or exceeding their sentence to be released from prison; for those who have been sentenced between one to five years, they are only required to work on one infrastructure project from start to finish for them to be released; those that have six to ten years are required to participate in two infrastructure projects; and for those with 11 years or more, at least four infrastructure projects.

Of course there's a strict criterion for those inmates who want to apply. Those who were sentenced for rape, murder, graft, corruption, bribery, torture, arson, kidnapping, and other heinous and serious crimes are automatically disqualified from applying.

The employment condition for the workers hired under NCA and NICDA is that 80% of their weekly income would be sent to their families, while they kept the remaining 20%. Food, transportation, lodgings, and other basic necessities that they may require are provided for by the government.

Other reforms that were made by the Madrigal administration were the reduction of banks that operated in the country to a few major banking institutions to stimulate competition and improve services they render. The same also applies for major mobile network providers, internet service providers, electric and water service providers, transportation providers, and real estate providers.

Each industry has a set of allowable number of competitors, ranging from 3 - 15, depending on the type of industry and/or services that they provide. It may be increased or decreased depending on the needs and status of the economy. This mandate is mainly enforced and controlled by the powerful Department of International Trade and Industry, part of the executive branch of the Philippine Government to ensure competitiveness, prevent business monopolies, and ensure that no company becomes too big to fail.

Further reforms were also made to the Philippine Central Bank which has been strengthened and reorganized to better position the institution in stabilizing prices, moderating long-term interest, maintaining the stability of the country's financial system, and supervising and regulating banks. They were also provided with expanded powers and authority to help combat and control inflation.

The government also dramatically relaxed laws pertaining to foreign ownership and foreign direct investments, which paved the way for massive influx of foreign companies looking to do business in the country. The government however, has kept several laws and policies that aim to protect domestic companies, and businesses.

The "Assistive Subsidies and Domestic Business Protection" initiative is one such policies. In short, this policy will provide subsidies and certain degree of protectionism. The goal of this policy is to help assist, nurture, protect, and develop domestic businesses and industries until they are stable and strong enough to withstand foreign competitors on their own.

The recipients of this policy has a certain revenue bracket that if a business surpasses will automatically lose the assistance that the government provides. The two main brackets that the government utilizes is the annual revenue bracket, and the time frame bracket. The former basically stops assistance to businesses or industries that earn enough annual revenue that ensures that they can compete in a competitive market. The latter is a time limit imposed on recipients that deters them from living off of the subsidies and protection the government provides, encouraging them to expand and develop their businesses to become more innovative in order to survive.

Whichever bracket the recipients surpasses first, it would ensure that they are strong enough to remain in business and adequately compete with other business and competitors in the same field or industry, providing a steady stream of robust competition in the market.

Additionally, in an effort to not scare off foreign companies from investing in the country, the government offered them major incentives. The most famous incentives being offered are exempting foreign businesses and companies from any corporate or business tax for five years; tax deduction for investing in government projects, educational institutions, conforming to environmental protection regulations, investment on employees, and/or charity donations; regressive business and corporate taxation with certain requirements and limits for certain contributions such as technology transfers, and application of certain technology for military use.

The government also greatly reformed its tax collection process and introduced the three-tiered taxation system, which is enforced by the Internal Revenue Agency, the successor of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Unlike its predecessor, the IRA has the power and authority to enforce taxation laws, investigate and prosecute tax evaders, and reposes any asset that are equal in value to the tax that hasn't been paid or that are owed to the government.

The Philippine's three-tiered taxation system was implemented to prevent income inequality amongst its citizens. Each tier protects the three different classes within the Philippine society, which are an integral and vital part of it's economic machinery; the lower class, middle class, and upper class.

The first tier exempts individuals from income tax if their annual income falls below the livable wage bracket enacted by the government; the second tier taxes individuals who earns above the livable wage bracket, but falls below the affluent wage bracket a flat income rate of 10% which can be adjusted by the government depending on the country's fiscal needs; the third tier are individuals who earns above the affluent income bracket and are taxed progressively. In other words, the more income that they make, the more taxes will be collected from them.

Tier placements will be determined based on the projected income that individuals will make for the current year. All citizens and legal permanent residents of the Philippines are required by law to file their taxes to show and declare the income they made the previous year. If an individual earns above their initial projected tier, then additional taxes may be paid to cover remaining balances they owe, depending on the actual tier they fall under; if an individual loses income due to certain circumstances, they will be refunded based on the difference on their projected income and the actual income earned; if the individual's lost income places them on the first tier, then they will not be required to pay anything, and taxes deducted from their weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly income will be fully refunded; individuals who pays more than what they owe the government will receive a refund equal to the amount they overpaid.

The National Guard was also introduced by the Madrigal Administration as part of the expansion and reorganization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Each prefecture in the Philippines has their own National Guard, which can be called upon by the different governors in times of natural disasters, or civil unrest which are too much for local law enforcement or emergency services to handle by themselves or a situation has become larger than they are capable of handling.

For example, the Bulacan National Guard is based in Bulacan Prefecture, and their jurisdiction is only within the prefecture that they are based on, unless an official request from a neighboring prefecture asks for their assistance on the gubernatorial level. If there is massive rioting and civil unrest, the local police in that area may request the governor to send the National Guard to assist quelling the violence and unrest, the same applies for natural disasters.

Furthermore, only official residents from Bulacan Prefecture can join the Bulacan National Guard, anyone from neighboring prefectures may not join, as they are not residents of that prefecture. Although not allowed to join a different prefecture's National Guard, the national government rotates National Guard units to ensure that they cannot be used by prefectural governors to instigate any rebellion or insurrection against the national government.

For example, the Cavite National Guard is not composed of recruits entirely from Cavite, their National Guard units will be a mixed unit from different prefectures. In other words, the composition of the Cavite National Guard will be a mix of National Guard soldiers from the Ilocos National Guard, Batanes National Guard, Palawan National Guard, and Rizal National Guards. This system was put in place to ensure that National Guard units does not hold loyalty to the governor or prefecture that they are operating in, to eliminate the risk of prefectures having their own military forces that can challenge the national government.

The government also enacted major progressive and expansive social reforms which liberalized the Filipino society, it includes major LGBTQ+ rights such as decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity, recognition of same-sex unions, same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, LGBTQ+ people able to serve openly in military, anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation, laws concerning gender identity/expression.

Additional reforms were also enacted by the government such as the recognition of annulment and divorce by the state, relaxation of abortion laws, increasing the legal drinking and smoking age to 20, introduction of maternity and paternity leave, strong and robust equality laws and anti-discrimination law, trial by jury, jury duty, legalization of recreational marijuana on select special administrative zones, decriminalization of illegal drugs and rehabilitation of drug users, day care centers, unemployment benefits, and food assistance.

Furthermore, the government enacted major and expansive reforms in education which saw to the standardization and improvement of the education system in the country. Subjects such as financial planning, foreign language, coding and programming, home economics, sex education, ethics, politics and government, etiquette, cultural etiquette, Model United Nations, International Relations, and exchange programs were permanently added to the national curriculum and are considered mandatory subjects.

The reforms in education included additional years in school as follows:

Pre-Kindergarten

(Primary School)

Kindergarten

1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

(Middle School)

7th Grade

8th Grade

9th Grade

10th Grade

(High School)

Freshman/1st Year

Sophomore/2nd Year

Junior/3rd Year

Senior/ 4th Year

(College)

Freshman/1st Year

Sophomore/2nd Year

Junior/3rd Year

Senior/ 4th Year

Finally, youth programs were also established by the government. The National Youth Federation became the very embodiment of the national youth organization of the Philippines. Attached to it is the para-military organization known as the Uniformed Volunteer Forces, a new program established by the Madrigal administration to instill discipline, responsibility, patriotism, and sense of duty to the country's youth, which has become toxically fixated on social media such as Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and online gaming. This was the acceptable alternative found by the administration instead of using military conscription on everyone, akin to Thailand and South Korea.

The UVF's counterpart is the National Youth Politics or NYP. It's the other attached program of the NYF which nurtures and develops the future leaders of the country. Unlike the UVF which is open to everyone, the NYP only accept certain candidates within their program, and the selection process is extremely strict and competitive.

Everyone between the ages 13 – 21 are required by law to join the National Youth Federation, choosing between the Uniformed Volunteer Forces or National Youth Politics. Refusal to join either attached organizations of the NYF is punishable by up to a minimum of 6-years in prison and maximum of 15 years, and an additional fine of 500,000 – 1,000,000 pesos.

Any form of bribery, request for special treatment, or favors by parents are punishable by a minimum of 10-years in prison and maximum of 20-years, and an additional fine of 1,000,000 – 2,500,000 pesos. Exceptions are made for children with disabilities, provided that they show proof of disability by showing a genuine medical note from a medical doctor and the Department of Health that their child is physically or mentally incapable of serving the National Youth Federation.

The summarized explanations I mentioned above are just the major accomplishments and changes that the Madrigal Administration implemented, and only a fraction of why the Republic of the Philippines is called the shining Pearl of the Orient Seas.

Though I still don't know much about my new home country, I'm really looking forward to seeing and experiencing everything I've explained above. I'm really excited to meet new friends and learn much more about the Philippines.