Does that sound right or does it explain why the government’s PPP initiative – aka PHL infrastructure development that has been mired in rebids and controversies – leaves much to be desired? Justified or not, the preponderance of evidence especially to foreign investors translates to the issue of PHL chronic inefficiency, at best, or shady and fraudulent governance, at worst? But in our culture, compromise is a given? In other words, a compassionate culture must have a wide safety net? And how do we explain our culture of impunity? Did our “paki” system open Pandora’s Box?
Whether the accused or the accuser is errant or not, our top 3 officials – the president, the vice-president, the senate president – are all embroiled in the one common issue of transparency! And to make things truly opaque, beyond the “paki” system we throw in crab mentality to boot? Indeed, self-governance is beyond us?
The evidence: we get the least foreign direct investments. Because the global community is well aware that we are community-sense challenged and where personality trumps policy and why PHL is a “badly engineered” enterprise? That we have yet to emerge from the dark ages? How many contracts with foreign entities have we unilaterally cancelled – because we simply wanted the government to save money? But credibility is not on our side – given the Marcos loot and the two other presidents that made it to the list of world’s most corrupt leaders, and more recently the Napoles case that saw three senators incarcerated?
Did we not wonder when Vietnam and more recently Myanmar attracted more FDI? But then again, we are simply protecting our own? How out of sync are we with the rest of the world? Sadly, we like to invoke the high road because we have always been guided by our faith? That the West, if not the rest of the world, doesn’t get it?
Of course we’re a proud people. I also see that in my Eastern European friends. Over the last 11 years they have felt their egos crushed numerous times because they have a mind of their own. Yet they wanted an outsider to be around to tell them whenever they simply don’t get it. “We’re new to free enterprise, we need a mirror to give us a dose of reality.” Still they’re human, they have egos that are deflated whenever they realized they simply misread something.
In the case of PHL we don't like a mirror – because our elite class and plutocracy rule the nation and from their vantage point we believe we know best? But is that why we've been running away from competition that is fair and square? The evidence: we’ve invoked “Filipino first” to shut competition out? Of course we have created a few billionaires that can now buy brands and businesses overseas. But they grew up in a business environment that was protected? And during the period when our billionaires were gaining ground, our neighbors were zooming pass PHL?
How? In the same manner that Vietnam and Myanmar have shown us, the Asian Tigers seized Western investment and technology. And not surprisingly, both Lee Kuan Yew and Mohamad Mahathir lectured us to follow suit even when none of us liked to embrace Western culture. Early on Deng Xiaoping had sought their advice and not long after Deng himself pursued Western investment and technology.
In the process a Singaporean scholar concluded that the Asian Tigers have in fact traversed the trail blazed by the Europeans that started with the Age of Enlightenment. And which our own Jose Rizal espoused.
What is the point? Juan de la Cruz continues to struggle with these two elements that have played havoc in PHL human development: our “paki” system, which has undermined character-building as evidenced by our culture of impunity; and our inward-looking bias, which has turned us into a virtual turtle that sees retreating into our shell as a positive trait – even as the rest of the world has left us behind?
The evidence: “The Philippines recorded a trade deficit (with) most of the Asean countries. The Philippines’ role in internal Asean production sharing is very much limited. Due to the underdevelopment of basic industries materials and industrial machinery, the Philippines imports commodities, base materials and automobile parts and components from other Asean countries,” [Park Bun Soon, a professor at the Hongik University in South Korea] explained in his paper. The Philippines . . . was one of the lowest recipient countries of foreign direct investments among Asean members. Such investments were considered almost negligible compared to what the Philippines’ neighbors were receiving. Last year, FDI inflow in the country was the lowest in the region at $3.86 billion.” [PH performance ranked ‘poor’ in Asean region, Amy R. Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 6th Nov 2014]
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