Rule of law and property rights

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Rule of law is among the most misunderstood and most abused political philosophies in the world today, particularly in this country. When the President for instance was fighting for her political survival -- with more and more street protests and demonstrations and the crowds getting bigger and bigger, during the “Hello Garci” impeachment moves and the ZTE-NBN scandal, the President and her coterie of top bureaucrats were one in calling for a “rule of law” and not to allow “mob rule.” Of course these officials and bureaucrats do not appreciate or fully understand that the term implies “the law (against election cheating, robbery, plunder, etc.) applies to everyone and exempts no one.” What they understand and fully implement is the “rule of the administration,” meaning the Administration is above everyone else, and they are the Administrators.

In my last month's column entitled “Rule of law and rule of the lawless”, I argued that “Societies will be better off if there are less laws. We should have very few laws that apply equally to everyone and exempts no one. This ‘rule of law’ will discipline people, both governors and governed, both rich and poor.”

Property rights is another widely misunderstood concept. Using high poverty and social inequality as alibi, there have been a number of moves and policies to make “private property rights” become “public (or collective) property rights.” In this case, the owner of a particular private property, whether physical or intellectual property, will be disfranchised and robbed of ownership of such property. The State, or other political organs or private enterprises authorized by the State, can confiscate private property.

Lack of security, if not outright absence, of private property rights, therefore, is a formula for social chaos. People will have no peace of mind if their car or TV or song composition can be claimed by other people as their own car or TV or song composition too. And if people cannot have security of private property ownership, they will not work hard; they will not become ambitious and efficient in their work. Rather, they will be driven by envy -- pure, dark, evil envy. When someone improves his life due to hard work and has certain material things, other people around will conspire or compete with each other on how to steal or confiscate such properties for their own selfish and envious interests. In this case, society will stagnate and decay. And that largely explains why socialism can never be attractive to hardworking and responsible people.

Related to the subject of property rights, a number of leaders and intellectuals of Asian free market think tanks and independent, non-government research institutes, will be coming to Manila next week for the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia conference. Its theme, “Private property rights: The economic foundation of a free society,” is sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and four of its local partners. This will be held on September 18 to 19, 2008 at the University of Asia and the Pacific in Ortigas Center.

Among those who are coming are two good friends of our think tank, Minimal Government Thinkers, Inc.. They are Mr. Alec van Gelder, Network Director of International Policy Network of London, UK and Mr. Barun Mitra, founder and Director of Liberty Institute in Delhi, India. I asked them to come one day ahead so they can become speakers of two symposia to be co-sponsored by MG on September 17, and they readily agreed.

The first of the two events on September 17 will be a symposium on “Rule of Law and Entrepreneurship: Where is the limit to state intervention?”. It will be held at the Tomas Aquinas Resource Complex at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) at 9 am. The two other co-sponsoring events are the UST Social Science Department and the UST Social Research Center (SRC). The speakers will be Alec, Barun, and Dr. Emmanuel Lopez, Chairman of the Social Sciences Department. The MC and forum moderator will be Dr. Alvin Ang, Acting Director of SRC and a good friend of MG.

The second symposium is on “Improving access to health: should government intervene more?” to be held at the UP School of Economics at 2 pm. Our co-sponsor there is the Program in Development Economics (PDE). The speakers will be Alec, Barun and Dr. Aleli dela Paz-Kraft, Assistant Professor at UPSE. The MC and forum moderator will be Dr. Rene Azurin, Professor at the UP College of Business Administration and a columnist in BusinessWorld.

Alec van Gelder is the author of "Dirigiste Divide: how Governments obstruct development and access to ICTs," among other publications. His works on trade, health, technology and development issues have been published in many newspapers such as the Globe and Mail, Boston Globe, Business Day, Wall Street Journal and International Herald Tribune. Alec holds a Master’s degree in International Economics and Development from UCL in Belgium and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Lehigh University in the United States. He speaks English, Spanish, French and Dutch with fluency.

Barun Mitra helped formed the Liberty Institute, an independent public policy research and educational organization dedicated to providing market-based solutions to contemporary public policy issues that enhance freedom of choice for all. The institute's website contains lots of critical opinions and insightful ideas on various social and economic issues in India, Asia and the world in general. Barun has been published in a wide range of national and international newspapers and magazines.

Both events at UST and UPSE are free and open to the public. It should be a unique opportunity for the public to hear and interact with our two foreign speakers who are very conversant on the subjects of rule of law, property rights, free trade, innovation and development and other related topics.

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