Gobbledygook

These two articles inspired the above title: (a) “The country’s stable economy,” Editorial, BusinessMirror, 16th Aug 2019; (b) ‘Crazy’ ideas to unravel traffic gridlocks, Marichu A. Villanueva, COMMONSENSE, The Philippine Star, 16th Aug 2019.

"One way to measure stable growth is called the Coefficient of Variation, which plots deviations from the average annual economic growth rate. During the period 2010 to 2018, the worst of all Emerging Market countries was Argentina, with a high factor of 3.1. The Philippines—along with Indonesia—has a better CV than all other EMs at 0.2.

“While it is important to closely monitor changes in our economic growth rate, we need to realize the Philippine economy’s stability. For years there have been concerns about the slower growth of overseas remittances and the health and future of the outsourcing business. However, through it all, economic growth has been consistent within a narrow range. That is good.”

Here’s the next one: “Traffic gridlocks in Metro Manila will turn for the worse before it gets any better. In fact, Edison ‘Bong’ Nebrija, chief traffic ‘enforcer’ of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), candidly admitted there is no sugarcoating that can ease the daily traffic jams that both motorists and passengers would have to bear.

“Pointing to a recent study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency that the Philippines incurs economic losses amounting to an estimated P3.5 billion a day due to traffic congestion, [Sen. Grace] Poe called out top officials from various government agencies concerned with the worsening traffic congestion, especially along the entire stretch of the Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, or EDSA for short.

“With a total length of 23.8 kilometers, EDSA is the longest and the most congested highway in the metropolis.”

EDSA is a microcosm of our “Que sera, sera” instincts. 

Consider: Mahathir embarked on Build-Build-Build 40 years ago while we want a quick fix on EDSA. Sweden has transformed its forests into a self-sustaining enterprise while we have denuded ours. Our neighbors have attained the first-world status while we’re stuck as a third-world, poverty-stricken nation.

Quick fixes are meant to be exceptions not when there is an inherent or design flaw that they become a disaster waiting to happen. Recall the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max after two fatal crashes, which is now in its sixth month.

If EDSA is the unique challenge we face, then we can say our economy is good. It’s a tragedy we continue to rationalize our bias for the status quo. Indeed, a disaster! To imagine the imperative of designing an ecosystem is way beyond us.

Imagine telling the over 20 million Filipinos living below the poverty line and the over 10 million OFWs that the Philippines has a better Coefficient of Variation than Argentina.  

It is gobbledygook. It adds insult to injury. 

An underdeveloped economy and nation like PH must traverse the road from poverty to prosperity, not celebrate the 1-% phenomenon. 

Sadly, that’s neither here nor there given our instincts: 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. They rob us of dynamism and foresight.

Let’s pause for a moment and ask ourselves? Can we imagine the Philippines that is wealthy and developed? Have we accepted that we are destined to be weak and underdeveloped?

An economy, whether local, regional, or global, goes through a cycle. Nothing stands still. So, our perceptive judgment is suspect given our inexperience in industrialization, innovation, and global competition.

Instead of Argentina, we must talk about our neighbors, the Asian Tigers, and more recently, Vietnam. At the rate the country is going, it is poised to be even wealthier than Singapore after investments opted to leave China.

To be sure, global economic slowdowns affect economies, but wealthy economies can deal with them. Take Japan. They went through their lost decade and even lost the electronic leadership to South Korea and China, yet Japan remains a wealthy nation.

In other words, there is no sugarcoating that can ease our dilemma as the regional laggard. We must do something. We must act.

We cannot recycle that old lame excuse that because global trade has slowed down that global competition is outmoded. Aren’t we protecting our rice farmers to this day by imposing tariffs on Vietnamese and Thailand rice? Is that a classic quick fix that turned into a disaster for the farmers no different from land reform?

Because Vietnam and Thailand’s rice enterprises are competitive and ours is not, we must look not for quick fixes but outward, i.e., benchmark, to figure out why this is so. As necessary, we must develop dynamism and foresight and overcome parochialism and insularity.

Knee jerks are shortsighted and not the answer to our woes. Recall we celebrated the OFW phenomenon and abandoned industrialization, the ground zero in the 21st century.

In other words, beyond industrialization, there are still the hurdles of innovation and global competitiveness. If our perceptive judgment is off, it is from our lack of experience, but we can do something. Benchmark. Benchmark. Benchmark.

Consider: Why do we struggle to get started in industrialization? We don’t even talk much about Arangkada anymore. We’re again hopeful that with the new Agriculture secretary, we can restart this on-again, off-again cycle.

“Industrialization of agriculture is key.” That’s the second of the eight paradigms that make up the new thinking in agriculture. Question: How differently will we approach this paradigm compared to Arangkada? Industrialization is not a can to kick down the road.

Here’s a quote from a recent posting:

“If we are to reinvent agriculture, we must get a good handle and establish the core portfolio of PH agri-based products.

“Let’s start with revenues. Must we more than double Philippine export receipts to appreciably raise our income per capita? Let’s then identify the benchmark country that generates this desired national income. What is the composition of their exports, including agri-based products?

“How can we mirror their agribusiness revenues? If coconut is our biggest gun, then we must set our sights to make the Philippines the number one coconut producer. It must include major income generators, both consumer (e.g., coconut water) and industrial products. The key is to move coconut up the value chain. [Political patronage and oligarchy stunted the development of this industry, yet no one paid the price except Juan de la Cruz.]

“Which countries and enterprises must we establish as benchmarks for us to mirror our portfolio of coconut-based products; and as important so that we don't reinvent the wheel but build on their knowledge-base and best practices? Innovation comes from being outward- not inward-looking. [See below re “Pinoy abilidad”.]

“Since the source for the initiative are the coconut trees, which country must be our benchmark so that we can replicate their success stories in tree farming? 

“Sweden is a great example; they have replanted 80% of their trees with the rest left untouched; they can supply the needs of tissue-based products like napkins and toilet paper on a sustained basis well into the future.

“What about the farmers, how do we pull them together so that we generate economies of scale? Again, we need a benchmark, and Denmark’s cooperative ethos is what we must acquire.

“We have so far three different layers of benchmark points: product portfolio, tree farming, farm consolidation as in cooperative. 

“We must invite friends like the Swedes and the Danes, to name two, and pick their brains so that we can leapfrog our efforts in agriculture, industrialization, innovation, and global competitiveness.

“What about benchmarking, is it second nature to us or does ‘Pinoy abilidad’ get in the way? Sadly, we have yet to accept and recognize that it has not served us well.

“Those involved in statistics or big data and analytics know that in a universe, there will always be groups better than us and worse than us. If we are to learn dynamism and foresight, we will not accept ‘Pinoy abilidad’ as the equivalent of excellence.

“No different from our culture of impunity, ‘Pinoy abilidad’ is a product of our instincts. It explains why we’re the regional laggard. We can’t succumb to insanity by doing the same thing repeatedly.”

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]