Notes

Southeast Asia's economic trajectory has been one of rapid expansion. However, there is enormous inequality beneath the successful times of prosperity. Inequality in Thailand and the Philippines remains persistently high or increasing. These two countries are known as developing countries.

Economic and global inequality is a critical issue in the Philippines, where more than a quarter of the population of 92.3 million lives in poverty. The Philippines has one of the world's highest rates of income inequality, and unless anything is performed to narrow the gap, it will continue to grow. The Philippines has the greatest rate of economic and social inequality in Southeast Asia, according to the ASEAN Trade Union Council. This issue isn't only about personal wealth. The widening imbalance between the Philippines' richest and poorest people has an effect on land distribution, educational and vocational opportunities, and welfare services. The geographic disparity has emerged in the Philippines as economic inequality has grown more evident over the last decade. As a Filipino citizen who is a tourist here in Thailand, I couldn't fail to see the similarities between the situation in both countries. Both the state and the political system have lacked cohesive organizational structures capable of pursuing systematic and long-term socioeconomic reforms. Political parties in Thailand have been weak. They are mainly shells for business elites to run for parliament and lack organizational depth, procedural guidelines, a programmatic agenda, a philosophical vision, and societal foundations. The Thai party system lacks the organizational capability that the other party system possesses. While not incompetent, Thailand's state bureaucracy has not been very interventionist in terms of social reform; rather, it has primarily backed neoliberal policies. Like the Philippines being entitled as a third-world party due to high stricken poverty, Thailand also suffered from poverty. In Thailand, the population of the poor has increased, the number of tourists also declined, economic growth has also weakened, and farmers are considered the poorest. Remember that the Philippines was once the biggest exporter of rice, but now we are only importing from other countries? Thailand’s GDP has decreased, affecting the exports of their country. Do you see how the Philippines mirrors Thailand?