PRESTATION AND MARKET EXCHANGE
by Antonio C. Antonio
February 28, 2014
Question: “Would
you prefer prestation over market exchange for marginal upland farmers and
indigenous peoples? Why? What would your choice’s effect be on the
environment, social and cultural conditions? (Prof. Janet B. Martires)
Prestation is an obligation in exchange for goods
and services rendered. Payment could come in the form of goods and
services too. Under the Feudal Law, prestation is also described as
payment in return for the lord’s warrant or an authority for taking wood.
In modern Philippines, it could be compared to a permit to harvest timber
products issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR). Under the Civil Code, prestation is a performance of something
due upon an obligation… in Pilipino: “kabayaran sa pagkakautang” or “bayad
utang.”
On the other hand, market exchange is a manner of
exchange (of money, goods and services) which implies both a specific location
for transactions and the sort of social relations where bargaining can occur…
in Pilipino: “tawaran.”
Choosing between prestation and market exchange is
like looking for distinctions between a green and red apple… they are the same
fruit bearing different colors. Prestation and market exchange are
basically the same and belong to a bargaining system or procedure. If we
look at these terms from the process standpoint, prestation is the end result
of a market exchange. Both are part of a process flow and one cannot
function and exist without the other.
The biggest malaise in the upland involving the
indigenous communities and the lowland stakeholders is the unequal distribution
of benefits from the natural resources that is available there. For
example: The upland communities want the entire forest for themselves
since they call it home; The government want to generate revenues out of
timber resources because most areas where there are forest are public lands;
and, Private businesses, who provide the financial resources to effect
harvesting operations, want reasonable returns for their investments. The
clash of interests between these three major actors in the upland often result
to a very uneasy relationship among them… often heated arguments and
confrontations occur. Maintaining peaceful co-existence among the three
actors remains to be a big challenge. It is for this reason that an acceptable
system of market exchange and prestation should be the dominant influence to
keep all three actors talking, bargaining and agreeing on mutually beneficial
terms and conditions. In most instances, all three upland actors find
middle grounds for all of them to agree on. More often too, environmental
protection, aside from mere monetary considerations, becomes a central issue in
the negotiations.
Just my little thoughts…
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