Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Thinking small

We need every ounce of competitive edge yet – given “que sera sera” or “bahala na”? – we don’t bat an eyelash watching a white elephant in our midst? What coach will bench an NBA superstar like LeBron? That’s what we did with Terminal 3 of NAIA? Do we find virtue in self-flagellation?

It is refreshing that a presidential candidate is talking about ambition – encouraging Juan de la Cruz to be ambitious. We better dig it from our arsenal – lest we find ourselves in a race to the bottom? Man – from Eden . . . all the way through . . . the moon, where he made the giant step for mankind – was meant to think big! But what about the vulnerable – they can’t think big?

And so the poor seek refuge in Church – and her efforts to help the poor have to be anchored on sustainability. Given a third of Filipinos are poor, we have a heavy load to carry – and to address squarely, knowing full well manna from heaven doesn’t pour on them 24/7.

Talking to a provincial superior and his team and some nuns, it appears that feeding the poor has become the vocation of the Church in the Philippines. And to ensure sustainability, they are focusing on what they call IGPs or income-generating projects. The writer is impressed: here are two church groups pursuing a merger no different from the way private business does it. The priests demonstrate savvy in strategic thinking and finance – they’re exploring taking over the undertaking of a nun who’s well past retirement. To the provincial superior it’s no brainer: our mission is to heal and work with the sick, and handicapped people are near and dear to our hearts. Yet, they’re assessing which of the projects is sustainable – and ought to be the core undertaking. Clearly, these priests understand discipline and focus!

Our industry is likewise sensitive to the less fortunate and is committed to CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility. Yet, after spending a few days in Davao, the writer can’t help wonder: are we thinking big to help ourselves and solve our problems? The writer and family have been to other major cities and towns – e.g., in Cebu, Bohol and Iloilo – the past couple of years; and were wondering as much.

The Eden nature park at the foot of Mount Apo and the “Pearl Farm” Beach Resort on Samal Island should make the locals proud. But the Davao Insular hotel is no longer conspicuous – how dense the city has grown, no longer rural and green with countless coconut trees! Density is associated with India or China yet every major metro area in the Philippines is bursting at the seams.

It is liberating that while conventional wisdom reinforces our conservative beliefs, priests and nuns can be far more engaging – willing to discuss moral ethics, for example. Have we narrowed our perspective in religion, education, and economic development thus feeding our inward-looking bias? Western Catholic theologians were critical of the last encyclical – for trying to address every contemporary issue and thus missed delivering a profound message. The Church is a community – and the faithful’s role is to engage, not to be subservient! Isn’t that what we told the Spanish Friars? Or have we forgotten?

The bottom line: efforts by the Church and industry to help the poor are encouraging – but they fall short. The billions of dollars of OFW remittances fall short likewise. Net, we can either: (a) think big, “fully engage with the global economy”, like our neighbors do as the World Bank reminds us or (b) simply accept that we’re vulnerable . . . and thus helpless, in a race to the bottom?

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