A drop in the bucket here – and there

[Why is ours a damaged culture? Then consider: We are too weak to face a pandemic and the 21st century. Beyond survive, how can we make Juan de la Cruz thrive?]

Do we recognize that we don’t forward-think? It’s not just Juan de la Cruz. Our biggest enterprises are behind our most significant shortcomings. Consider: We can’t provide the basics of water and electricity, for example.

That is why in a prior posting, the blog asked the question, can we think out-of-the-box?

And that we’re behind in infrastructure development counting decades. Should we even be surprised? Yet, there is no way we can justify these shortcomings. 

In other words, that is what a “drop in the bucket here and there” does to us. And it is consistent with a reactive as opposed to a proactive posture. Unsurprisingly, politicians know how to be on our right side and why retail politics undergirds our political system.

Forward-think. Forward-think. Forward-think.

If democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, how shall we attain the promise of the system if we can’t see ourselves as its engine? And we will never get there because of our love for tyranny and value and submission to hierarchy and paternalism?

We simply take things in stride and claim, “we are the happiest people.” Is it “Que sera, sera” or Juan Tamad? Neither is a redeeming value. It explains why despite all the talks that “they’re just stopgaps,” they turned into our economic drivers: OFW remittances and BPO revenues.

To move forward, progress, develop – or “move up to the next level” – is to forward-think. That recalls the writer’s then newfound Eastern European friends – and why he committed to assisting them. “We have not made money in eight years, but our products are selling. We need to move up to the next level.”

Fast-forward to the COVID-19 pandemic – or 17 years later – they had all eight state-of-the-art factories running. As per an earlier post, they showed the local government how to manage the pandemic and led the business community to fund the campaign.

Consider: Their town is small, 80,000 people, while the company sells in 70 countries, i.e., they see more of the world than their townmates, including the government folks.

In other words, their mindset is to create a virtuous circle. Because they will be an utter disaster if they can’t figure out how to juggle so many balls, recall the levels in human development. They came out more robust and more prominent from the 2008 Global Recession, kicking the butts of Western giants. The EU Competitiveness Commission won’t recognize them as a model if they stayed with the status quo – as in “Que sera, sera.”

Experience. Experience. Experience.

It has nothing to do with IQ. But it presupposes the absence of parochialism and insularity and the caste system, to boot.

Benchmark. Benchmark. Benchmark.

When the writer first arrived, they asked, “What are the rules of the free enterprise system, we are new at it and aren’t making money.” There are no rules, only principles. 

On the other hand, we Pinoys instinctively fall into the trap of the isms because we don’t have the same level of development experience as our neighbors. Isms are human-made. We cannot just pull something off the shelf – be it socialism or capitalism or whatever – and force-fit it into Juan de la Cruz. 

There are no rules, only principles – as in relativism. It is not renouncing one’s faith but moving up in human development, from absolutism. It is thinking about thinking – aka metacognition. Or why we “think” how we “think.” See below; the recurring themes of the blog, i.e., to explain why we don’t forward-think.

Dynamism. Dynamism. Dynamism.

Try innovation. But it demands to create a virtuous circle. Think of photosynthesis – it is a 24/7 dynamic phenomenon.

It presupposes respect for human dignity. That humankind has a hierarchy of needs – that equipped them to thrive, not only survive, in this dynamic universe.

On the other hand, in the Philippines, we in the elite class prefer our gated communities. If to be parochial and insular is the game in town, we better do it in style. We can always toss dole-outs across the fence. Disclosure: The writer and family live in a gated community in suburban New York. As the blog has often said, the writer is Juan de la Cruz at heart.

Rank has its privileges, so says the caste system.

Why don’t we forward-think? We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism that we rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity. That is why the blog calls it misplaced compassion; it is pulling rank and authority. I am superior to you – but recognize my status and privileges, and I will toss you manna – from me, not from heaven.

Beyond the debate on the lockdown, pouring money into the economy, and covering the needs, especially of the most vulnerable, all these things will only take us to the surface – assuming they are sufficient. But we are way behind the curve.

We need more – not rules of the tyrannical kind but principles that will create a virtuous circle for Juan de la Cruz.

Why did Marcos fail with his eleven major industrial projects? Why is Arangkada, AmBisyon, the 42 DTI’s road maps, and Tatak Pinoy still up in the air?

The OFW phenomenon came about in the mid-70s or almost 50 years ago. That is more than a generation. We’re now well into the 21st century that we like to talk about AI, robotics, the 4th industrial revolution, and whatever else. Yet, Juan de la Cruz still yells: “tubig.” And “kuryente.”

Those familiar with the blog will recall the writer did JVs in China and Vietnam. And today, these two countries are showing us the way. These people aren’t smarter than Juan de la Cruz! What is our problem then? Are we too smart for our “own” good?

To those of us in the chattering classes, why don’t we revisit what we’ve been pontificating over the last ten years or so? How can the Chinese and the Vietnamese be smarter than us?

Respect human dignity. 

And forget that we in the elite class can talk about hifalutin topics. And isms here and isms there.

That is if we care to learn innovation.

That is why at Yale, they have a course that anointed Steve Job a genius, among the greats like Einstein, Beethoven, Rembrandt, among others. He understood and respected human dignity. It explains why he was a great innovator.

Recall from an earlier posting, the wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, is committed to giving away the fortune she inherited. Because that was not what Jobs stood for. Those familiar with his story will recall he did not even buy pieces for their living room; that when Bill Gates visited, he went through the back door, knowing that there were chairs to sit on in the dining area.

He upended IBM despite the latter being consistently the holder of the most patents in the world because he focused on the dignity of humankind. He wanted a personal computer that will feed on our creativity. He assumed man is creative by nature. He understood music is the way to the soul that from the Mac, he moved to the iPod. Today, the company is into healthcare and wellness, opening the world to more advanced medical research and devices that will benefit humankind.

That is why the blog has raised the challenge to Messrs. Dominguez and Ang of a new way forward – and lead Juan de la Cruz to traverse the road from poverty to prosperity.

A drop in the bucket here and there will not cut it with due respect to our economic managers, not even TRAIN or whatever taxation mumbo jumbo we concoct. 

We need incremental GDP of $200 billion to put poverty in the rear-view mirror as our neighbors did. 

Our two top exports are in the right categories that will yield higher margins, i.e., like Samsung Vietnam and AirPods Vietnam, that we don’t have to mandate the UBI. Or why Vietnam can afford to pay such a level of wages.

Now we believe, despite COVID-19, we shall keep the BPO industry as a critical economic driver? That is the same old, same old, not the same quality of jobs they have in Vietnam. 

Likewise, we must pursue and create the virtuous circle in agriculture and MSMEs beyond technology manufacturing at the regional and global levels. And the blog presented them in earlier postings.

We need more than jobs; we need more than poverty alleviation. 

Not a drop in the bucket here and there.

Gising bayan!

“True social reform has little to do with politics. To unmoor ourselves from the burdens of the past, we must be engaged in the act of continual and conscious self-renewal. All men are partially buried in the grave of custom. Even virtue is no longer such if it is stagnant.

“Change begins when we finally choose to examine critically and then recalibrate the ill-serving codes and conventions handed down to us, often unquestioned, by the past and its power structures. It is essentially an act of imagination first.” [David Henry Thoreau; American essayist, poet, and philosopher; 1817-1862]

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, 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]