Saturday, September 29, 2018

“I don’t know a Filipino who gets angry”

That's from the Canadian boat driver - from the ferry service in Vancouver - when the wife and a friend hopped on one to get to Grandville Island * and engaged in small talk. Left unsaid is: "We Canadians are known to be polite people, but we do get angry." Which is probably something Trump learned negotiating a new NAFTA. The writer knows it too having covered Canada while in his old MNC-company.

[* Here's Wikipedia re Granville Island:  "The peninsula was once an industrial manufacturing area, but today it is a hotspot for Vancouver tourism and entertainment. The area has received much acclaim in recent years for its buildings and shopping experience. [It] is home to 275 businesses and facilities that employ more than 2,500 people and generates more than $ 215-million in economic activity each year. "]

The boat driver came to mind as the writer was reading the "Report - McKinsey Global Institute - September 2018."  

"Some emerging economies have managed to achieve strong and consistent growth over a long period. These are the outperformers ... Eighteen of 71 countries outperformed their peers and global benchmarks.

The [next] 11 are Azerbaijan, Belarus, Cambodia, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Laos, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. "

Is Juan de la Cruz angry yet? Why not? Que sera, sera? Or is it subservience? He who submits to tyranny loves it, says Rizal. Gising bayan!

As some would know, this is the genesis of the blog: "I started writing to engage columnists and newspaper editors at the end of a trip to the Philippines over Holy Week in 2008 - to echo the frustrations expressed by friends and relations that were much louder and more intense than prior trips.

"My first thought was: with so much talents and skills how could the country be the basket case of Asia? Are we simply too nice as a people? "

Consider: "Fitch downplays corporate tax cut's lure," Melissa Luz T. Lopez, BusinessWorld, 21st Sep 2018. "LOWER CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATES are unlikely to provide a big boost to inbound investments, Fitch Solutions said, noting that a weak business environment hounded by red tape still deters investors from making big bets in the Philippines.

"Fitch Solutions, the research unit of Fitch Ratings, said the second tax reform package now awaiting legislative approval will not be a source of additional state revenues and is unlikely to lead to a deluge of foreign direct investments (FDIs)."

Yet this is not new. The agency highlighted our "lower income per capita and weaker governance and business environment indicators compared to ... rating category peers," even when "Philippines retains investment grade rating from Fitch" [ Lawrence Agcaoili , The Philippine Star, 19th Jul 2018.]

Those are three negatives that we have to continue to take for granted: (a) Lower per capita income and (b) weaker governance and (c) business environment indicators ... compared to our peers. They go to the heart of who we are ... as an enterprise, economy or nation.

But what does our media talk and write about? Consider: "As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media - their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors - have an obligation to this country. . . "[Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

In other words, our media must demonstrate greater relevance. Take weak governance. The Marcos unexplained wealth should make Juan de la Cruz very angry - especially given the "values" the regime etched are today manifested by our "trapos." Consider: The crux of the matter remains, even from a legal standpoint - ie, the Marcos unexplained wealth is unexplained.

What about the weak business environment indicators? We are ruled by oligarchy. Yet we keep hyping them because they mean well and can raise the wellbeing of Juan de la Cruz? But why can not we eliminate the restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution? Hint: Oligarchy and political patronage are bedfellows.

And the low per capita income? Because ours is a consumption economy driven by OFW remittances and the BPO industry. As the blog reminds us: "Our being the regional laggard is beyond poverty. It is about development. It is beyond jobs and a consumption economy. It is about an industrial economy that has attained a virtuous circle as in an ecosystem which wealthy nations like Denmark and Sweden have demonstrated. And PH underperformance is now magnified by countries like Cambodia, Ethiopia, Laos, Myanmar, and others. These once poor nations - like the Asian Tigers - are poised to leave us in the dust too. "

Did we not use to joke about these poor nations, that we're the superior race? What we are is an elite class - and the writer counts himself and family in - where rank has its privileges yet we're not owning up.

We do not need another people power. What we need is for the elite class to step up to the plate. If that is a tall order, what if we learn from AA?

Consider: "The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: (1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable; (2.) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity; (3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him; (4) Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves; (5) Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs; (6) Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character; (7) Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings; (8) Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all; (9) Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others; (10) Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it; (11) Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out; (12) Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

"The relative success of the AA program seems to be due to the fact that an alcoholic who no longer drinks has an exceptional faculty for 'reaching' and helping an uncontrolled drinker ... In the simplest form, the AA program operates when a recovered alcoholic passes along the story of his or her own drinking problem, describes the sobriety he or she has found in AA, and invites the newcomer to join the informal Fellowship.

"The heart of the suggested program of personal recovery is contained in Twelve Steps describing the experience of the earliest members of the Society. Newcomers are not asked to accept or follow these Twelve Steps in their entirety if they feel unwilling or unable to do so.

"They will usually be asked to keep an open mind, to attend meetings at which recovered alcoholics describe their personal experiences in achieving sobriety, and to read AA literature describing and interpreting the AA program.

"AA members will usually emphasize to newcomers that only problem drinkers themselves, individually, can determine whether or not they are in fact alcoholics ... At the same time, it will be pointed out that all available medical testimony indicates that alcoholism is a progressive illness, that it can not be cured in the ordinary sense of the term, but that it can be arrested through total abstinence from alcohol in any form. "[ https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/about-aa/the- 12-steps-of-aa ]

In other words, tyranny like alcoholism is a progressive illness; it can not be cured in the ordinary sense of the term. 

We are deep down the abyss. We are at least 50 years behind in infrastructure development. Our income per capita shouts third-world. Good governance is alien to us. Our business and industry is oligarchic. Bongbong Marcos has no clue what this all means. Nor does Macapagal-Arroyo or Sara Duterte. Because they are "trapos."
We need: (a) visionary leadership and (b) Juan de la Cruz to recognize that shortsightedness explains why we nurture political patronage and a culture of impunity - aka tyranny. In other words, good governance is a two-way street.

We need more than a JICA report, we need a commitment to pursue an infrastructure development plan that will bridge the 50-odd years of our deficiencies. And we need to make Arangkada concrete so that investors especially FDIs will find PH attractive.

Still, execution remains daunting given our poor track record. It reflects our lack of foresight, manifested in our inability to establish a north star and prioritize. Why? Think "crab mentality." And does it come from our instincts of parochialism and insularity? Recall that in Denmark cooperatives are a way of life and have a special place in their culture.

Gising bayan!

"Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it. "[We are ruled by Rizal's 'tyrants of tomorrow,' Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

" Now I know why Paul dared to speak of 'the curse of the law' (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant. "[Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

"As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media - their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors - have an obligation to this country. . . "[Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

"National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country's natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency's value, as classical economics insists. . . A nation's competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. "[The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter , Harvard Business Review, March-April 1990] 

"Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow. "[William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

"Development [is informed by a people's] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership. . . "[Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]

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