This paper gives a broad overview, with supporting statistical evidence, of the relationship and interrelationships between trade liberalization and the inflow of foreign direct investment and social development in the Philippines during the late 1980s and 1990s. The APEC Trade and Investment Liberalization and Facilitation (TILF) agenda is seen as the major event that has overshadowed as well as influenced economic and social conditions in the Philippines. However, this program seemed to have overplayed the short-run and in the process underplayed its long-term implications. In particular, in the Philippine case, the focus of the program is primarily on expanding investments and freeing financial markets. This emphasis has led to a disproportionate process of liberalization and facilitation that favored capital- and skill-intensive industries, resulting in an increase in poverty incidence and magnitude in rural areas.
