Poor governance, corruption, and misguided policies

No, not the Philippines but Venezuela. “Venezuela, at one-point Latin America’s wealthiest country, has not been shattered by armed conflict. Instead, economists say, the poor governance, corruption and misguided policies of President Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have fueled runaway inflation, shuttered businesses and brought the country to its knees. And in recent months, the Trump administration has imposed stiff sanctions to try to cripple it further.” [Venezuela’s Collapse Is the Worst Outside of War in Decades, Economists Say, Anatoly Kurmanaev, The New York Times 17th May 2019]

On second thought, in our heart of hearts, can we be talking about the Philippines too?

Consider: “What we see during elections is an accumulation of the collective resentment, frustration, and even anger of many Filipinos from past years or even decades. It stems from the failure of society’s political and economic elite to uplift the lives of the wide majority left further behind as they did their own. After decades of seeing little improvement in their lives, it’s natural for the common people to embrace leaders who break out of the familiar mold—as with a number of the new victorious candidates for the Senate and local positions.” [Reversing voter education, Cielito F. Habito, No Free Lunch, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 17th May 2019]

“[T]he last elections were generally peaceful and orderly. However, the exercise was still infected with numerous plagues, the most insidious being vote-buying, automation glitches and overvoting.” [‘Huwag kang gunggong,’ Artemio V. Panganiban, WITH DUE RESPECT, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 19th May 2019]

“It is difficult to love this country, so we leave,” F. Sionil Jose, HINDSIGHT, The Philippine Star, 18th May 2019. “[L]ooking closely at this country and us Filipinos, how can anyone love this country? Look at the result of the senatorial elections last week, how unthinking Filipinos elected nincompoops. Look at how Filipinos themselves are their own worst enemies, look at them despoil their country, and betray and kill one another. Indeed, there are many good reasons why Filipinos today are leaving; it is not just for economic reasons for there are comfortable middle-class Filipinos who have joined this diaspora.”

Before we get too far, let’s restate the title of this posting: Poor governance, corruption, and misguided policies.

Consider: “The problem is that NAIA only has two runways to accommodate the entire load of aircraft movements while other airports have a third and fourth runway to serve as back-up.

“Fact is, the over-stressed NAIA is already operating at 45% above its true capacity having processed 293,981 movements last year carrying 45.3 million passengers. The only solution is an entirely new airport to relieve the stress on NAIA. That is why San Miguel’s airport in Bulacan cannot come soon enough. But this is another story.

“If disgruntled passengers must really lay blame, they should fault the Arroyo and Aquino administrations for not building an alternative airport soon enough to absorb Manila’s ever-increasing air traffic. Both administrations have committed a sin of omission and we must suffer the consequence as a result of it. [The real reasons behind NAIA’s runway congestion, Andrew J. Masigan, Numbers Don’t Lie, BusinessWorld, 19th May 2019]

Is NAIA about poor governance, corruption, and misguided policies? One can only commiserate with Philippine tourism. "The NTDP 2016-2022 aims to realize 12 million tourist arrivals and generate P3.9 trillion tourism revenue, contributing a Gross Value Added of P2.4 trillion to the country’s GDP and employing 6.5 million Filipinos by 2022.

“DOT prioritizes the programs that are concerned with: (1) developing adequate infrastructure, (2) facilitating travel, (3) providing safety and security, and (4) developing tourism areas.

“To ensure that we get these done, the DOT is implementing a convergence approach where the department works in partnership with other national government agencies such as the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Works and Highways.” ['More Fun For Everyone': A Philippine tourism industry grown by Filipinos for Filipinos, The Philippine Star, 18th May 2019]

In other words, the left-hand does not know what the right hand is doing. Which in and of itself does not explain why we are what we are – underdeveloped with the worst poverty among neighbors in the region, that arguably, ours is a country that is difficult to love.

There is no perfect country. Look at America and the West in general. Even Singapore can't claim perfection. As some would know, the writer worked with folks from different nations and inefficiency, for example, is not a rare commodity. As he would always remind his Eastern European friends, whenever you recognize weakness in other people, take it as a free pass – that you can be as good if not better than the best the world has to offer.

Let’s get back to the Philippines.

Here’s an op-ed piece that made the writer ask: has our country indeed gone to the dogs? “Dysfunctional priorities: the new Senate building,” Rex D. Lores, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 19th May 2019. “The construction of a new Senate building in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), a high-end commercial and residential enclave now prone to rapid traffic congestion, reflects the growing dysfunction of our national priorities. It turns a myopic eye to history and to the future, raising concerns about the probity and intellectual reach of this august body.”

The above article is well-thought-out that presents several arguments to define dysfunctional. If as Ninoy Aquino famously intoned – “The Philippines is worth dying for” – shouldn’t our honorable senators at the very least live up to the measure of this august body?

Can we claim, like Venezuela once was, the wealthiest country in the region?

“Zimbabwe’s collapse under Robert Mugabe. The fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba’s disastrous unraveling in the 1990s.

“The crumbling of Venezuela’s economy has now outpaced them all.

“Venezuela’s fall is the single largest economic collapse outside of war in at least 45 years, economists say.

‘It’s really hard to think of a human tragedy of this scale outside civil war,’ said Kenneth Rogoff, an economics professor at Harvard University and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. This will be a touchstone of disastrous policies for decades to come.

“To find similar levels of economic devastation, economists at the I.M.F. pointed to countries that were ripped apart by war, like Libya earlier this decade or Lebanon in the 1970s.” [Kurmanaev, op. cit.]

What are we especially those of us from the elite class willing to do to make our country loveable? Poor governance, corruption, and misguided policies that afflicted Venezuela are no different from why ours is culture of impunity.

For example, it is common knowledge that we succumbed to our own "Dutch disease" by relying on OFW remittances to prop up the Philippine economy – instead of the pursuit of industrialization via an open economy. Beyond NAIA, we likewise failed to demonstrate the wherewithal to pursue rapid infrastructure development.

In other words, we haven't overcome old habits of relying on supposed silver bullets, including legislations re fiscal and monetary interventions while absent the requisite foresight to traverse the journey from poverty to prosperity. Think ecosystem that creates a virtuous circle. In other words, "community and the common good." It is not rocket science as the Asian Tigers, and China demonstrated.

Why can’t we? Because we are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism, rely on political patronage and oligarchy, that at the end of the day, ours is a culture of impunity.

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]

“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]

“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]