"Mariya Gabriel, the EU's digital economy commissioner, worries that Silicon Valley and China now make the big decisions about the internet, and that this affects European domestic policy. She is right. Even BMW, for example, does much of its cutting-edge research in California and Shanghai. Asked whether the continent will ever produce its own Google, one burst out laughing.
"Europe's history explains the lag. In the 18th century, its lack of standardization made it the cradle of the industrial revolution ... All this created competition and variety. Today, however, Europe's patchwork is a disadvantage. New technologies require vast lakes of data, skilled labor and capital. Despite the EU's single market, in Europe these often remain in national ponds ...
"European universities are working more closely together, and in 2015 the EU adopted a new digital strategy that has simplified tax rules, ended roaming charges and removed barriers to cross-border online content sales. But about half of its measures-like smoother flows of data-remain mere proposals. "[" Europe's history explains why it will never produce a Google, "Charlemagne: Waiting for Goodot, The Economist, 11th Oct 2018]
In other words, can PH be synonymous with innovation and global competitiveness? Innovation and global competitiveness are defining the 21st century. Think of how GE was "booted out of the Dow Jones Industrial Index." Thomas Edison must be turning in his grave.
Despite the EU's single market, new technologies - which require vast data, skilled labor and capital - often remain in national ponds. A polite way to say parochial and insular. That in the case of PH, it explains why we scream sovereignty whenever the outside world calls attention to our disregard of the rule of law.
Think of the BBC documentary, "Philippines: Democracy in Danger." Or the assessment of Fitch, the credit rating agency, that PH has (a) lower per capita income and (b) weaker governance and (c) business environment indicators ... compared to our peers.
Then consider: "Congressmen banking that senators are as greedy," Jarius Bondoc , GOTCHA , The Philippine Star, 15th Oct 2018. "Greed, not greater good, drives congressmen to constitutional revising. Proof is their draft charter, unfurled last week. Only incidental is the shift to federal form that the commission of ex-Chief Justice Reynato Puno and ex-Senate President Aquilino Pimentel espouse. It is made optional, in fact, to the dismay of advocates now explaining it to the people.
"What's firm is the expunging of term limits set in the 1987 Constitution. The House supermajority and the four-factioned minority find common cause to promote self-interest. Shamelessly they push for perpetual rule by their political dynasties. 'One to python,' they insatiably salivate. "
Shameless! "Ship muks" or "cad" in the vernacular! If Europe will never produce a Google, PH will never be a first-world country? This writer's generation can in fact kiss the thought goodbye.
"WB index shows 1 in 3 Filipino children under 5 still suffers from malnutrition, stunted growth ... NOT all Filipino children born nowadays will be able to be as productive as they could be when they grow up, according to the latest report released by the World Bank (WB).
"Based on the World Bank's Human Capital Index (HCI), if Filipino children will be able to enjoy complete education and full health support, they will only be 55 percent as productive when they grow up.
"The World Bank explained that the HCI measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect to attain by age 18, given the risks of poor health and education that prevail in the country where he or she lives." ["Enhancing the PHL human capital, " Cai Ordinario , BusinessMirror, 14th Oct 2018]
If it is not obvious yet, we're in the 21st century but have yet to emerge from our dark ages. Shameless!
Think Cambodia, Ethiopia, Laos, Myanmar, among others, that have left us in the dust. They have been on the right economic track for at least 20 years, with the once Asian Tigers much longer going back 50 years. While we're still same old, same old ... that Einstein comes to mind.
But let's get back to what Fitch is telling us. Our poverty comes from our low per capita income which in turn is the outcome of weak governance and a restrictive economy. Note that a restrictive economy and weak governance are two sides of the same coin - ie, political patronage and oligarchy feed on each other. And the vicious circle explains why we're still in our dark ages.
And Duterte or Marcos or Macapagal-Arroyo - or Sara Duterte even - can not put us on the road to enlightenment. Is that why the Binays, Estradas and Villars are tipping their hats too? But neither can they. They are all "trapos"!
What happened to compassion? That's precisely the point. Poverty is the effect of underdevelopment not the cause. In other words, development is the way forward to address poverty in a third-world country as demonstrated by the above-referenced countries, like clockwork. But we chose to be the oddball, that land reform would raise the standard of living of our farmers. Instead we got the opposite outcome and made Philippine agriculture - like PH - the regional laggard. A classic double whammy.
Which can be said of OFW remittances too. For the longest time we celebrated the OFW phenomenon because it addressed poverty through employment. And ... we must add the pork barrel legislators earmarked for themselves to directly address poverty in their respective hometowns, yet we ended up creating a Napoles and with senators lining their pockets.
Not surprisingly, "The Philippines failed to reach that 10 percent, one of the very few countries in Asia to fail to solve its poverty. Poverty stalks the land, bedeviling 21 percent of the Filipino population. Why did the Philippines fail to solve its poverty? " [ Rice, poverty, insurgency: It's a vicious cycle, Tony Lopez, Virtual Reality, manilastandard.net , 5th Oct 2018]
Why do we keep sinking down the abyss? From a development standpoint, we have not outgrown adolescence. That is to say, our lack of experience in development has rendered our perceptive judgment suspect. Specifically, we can not distinguish between cause and effect.
Consider, among others, evidence (a) see above re poverty and development and (b) the blessing given by elements of the elite class on Duterte's war on drugs, good governance be damned. One more time with feeling: we can not distinguish between cause and effect - a characteristic of poor perceptive judgment. Unsurprisingly, whether counting 20 or 50 years of development efforts, while other nations once poor have progressed, we have not.
And it will get worse before it gets better given the weaknesses Fitch pointed out. Yet we have not demonstrated the desire to step up to the plate because we grant that "Pinoy kasi" reigns supreme. "Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world ... If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm. "[Dr. Stephen R. Covey, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People"]
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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