2015 Asean Economic Community: Boom or Doom

The 2015 AEC is fast approaching! DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA WHAT IT IS? WILL YOU JUST LET IT UNFOLD BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES WITHOUT KNOWING HOW WILL IT AFFECT YOU, OR HOW YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU?

Its time to wake up people and be involved. Please read through and share your thoughts.

The 2015 Asean Economic Community brings mixed reactions and confusing thoughts among us.  Some talk about it with optimism.  While others, who know  about the taxation system and red tapes in the Philippine politics doubt its success.

I was reading the AEC blueprint.  It says about one market for the Asean where there is free flow of goods, capital, services, investments, and skilled workers.  All tarrifs for intra-Asean goods will be eliminated.  There will be custom integration which requires modernisation, harmonised system, and especially transparency, which is so difficult to achieve.

For me, all of these are exciting and something worth looking forward to.  But as I gave it a more serious thought, a lot of questions come to mind.  How would the peso fair in the Asean market?  Will there be loopholes that can be used by the Oligarchs to monopolize the economy? Does it mean lower prices since there will only be single tax for all goods? Are we ready for honesty and transparency? How free are the skilled workers? Does this mean no more visas, and people can just come and go? What will happen to expatriates?  Will there be changes in the laws regarding immigration, expatriates, and residency?

This is a big leap for all of us.  It is something that we should get ourselves involved with.  This is no time to sit back, to be aloof, and wait for everything to unfold before us.  We have to know every single details about 2015 AEC.  It is only in this way we will be able to make it work for us.