Where do we want to be? (II)

“By 2040, Filipinos enjoy a strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure life.” That’s from NEDA.

And it continues: “In 2040, we will all enjoy a stable and comfortable lifestyle, secure in the knowledge that we have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses. We can plan and prepare for our own and our children’s future. Our family lives together in a place of our own, and we have the freedom to go where we desire, protected, and enabled by a clean, efficient, and fair government.

“AmBisyon Natin 2040 represents the collective long-term vision and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and the country in the next 25 years.

“AmBisyon Natin 2040 is the result of a long-term visioning process that began in 2015. More than 300 citizens participated in focus group discussions, and close to 10,000 answered the national survey. That was followed by technical studies to identify strategic options for realizing the vision articulated by citizens. The exercise benefitted from the guidance of an Advisory Committee comprising government, private sector, academe, and civil society.”

Benchmark. Benchmark. Benchmark.

That will not be new to those familiar with the blog.

In the meantime, Pandemic 2020 makes AmBisyon Natin 2040 a much higher challenge. Recognize that the economic slowdown that came with the lockdown can be the beginning of the end for countless enterprises, which will impact GDP.

On the other hand, if we are outward- and forward-looking, we would have – years ago – benchmarked against our neighbors. For example, AmBisyon Natin 2040 could have been AmBisyon Natin: To be the next Asian Tiger.

Let’s hold it right there.

Has it ever crossed our minds that we can be the next Asian Tiger? If it has not, it’s not surprising. Recall that our caste system is no different from a bunker mentality – “a state of mind, especially among members of a group characterized by chauvinistic defensiveness and self-righteous intolerance of criticism.” [Merriam-Webster]

In the meantime, here’s Investopedia on the Asian Tigers: “The four Asian tigers are the high-growth economies of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. They consistently maintained high economic growth levels since the 1960s, fueled by exports and rapid industrialization, which enabled these economies to join the ranks of the world’s wealthiest nations.

“Hong Kong and Singapore are among the most significant financial centers worldwide, while South Korea and Taiwan are valuable hubs of global manufacturing in automobile and electronic components and information technology.

“The four Asian tigers share common characteristics that focus on exports, an educated populace, and high savings rates. Their economies have proved to be resilient enough to withstand local crises, such as the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and global shocks, including the credit crunch of 2008.

“The International Monetary Fund (IMF) includes the four Asian tigers in its category of 35 advanced economies.”

In other words, “Sigurista si Juan de la Cruz.” “In 2040, we will all enjoy a stable and comfortable lifestyle, secure in the knowledge that we have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses. We can plan and prepare for our own and our children’s future. Our family lives together in a place of our own, and we have the freedom to go where we desire, protected, and enabled by a clean, efficient, and fair government.”

He thinks a safe bet is the best bet. Except for one thing: The universe we live in is not static but dynamic.

But let’s pause once more: Does “dynamic” even register, or is it too foreign to Juan de la Cruz? Without dynamism, we won't have the confidence to look to the future. Is that why we don’t forward-think?

Recall our instincts: 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.

There is no free lunch. That is why our elders created the characters of Juan Tamad and Bondying.

On the other hand, the blog never tires of recalling that Deng heeded Lee and Mahathir’s advice, “To lift the people of China from poverty, beg for Western money and technology.” And more recently, Vietnam borrowed the playbook and now poised to overtake Singapore.

If the four Asian tigers and China are way too far to reach, what about Vietnam?

Because of the bunker mentality, we did not recognize that our eight top companies can’t even equal one Vietnam enterprise, Samsung Vietnam.

And we expect a comfortable and secure life while being the regional laggard? Recall cause and effect. Poverty is the effect of our inability to develop rapidly. While Vietnam quickly overcame poverty by “begging for foreign money and technology.”

Consider these simple questions: Where are we? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?

If we don’t recognize the universal law of cause and effect, we will continue to bark at the wrong tree. We have to shift our perspective beyond poverty. 

Likewise, human as we are, we like to conflate our shortcomings with the problems of the world. In the vernacular, “sabog si Juan de la Cruz.”

That is why the blog has repeatedly raised the 3Cs of a hardy mindset. But the first “C” will already be a stumbling block because if we can’t “commit” to be the next Asian Tiger, we can’t accept the “challenge.” In the meantime, we settle for the status quo. But then we continue to witness our downward spiral. 

What to do? Conflate our problems with the rest of the world? And that brings us to the third “C,” “control.” We can control only ourselves. 

We cannot keep pointing at the speck on another’s eye. But given our hierarchical nature, we are above reproach. And why we struggle with “personal responsibility,” which is what self-government – aka democratic as opposed to autocratic – presupposes. Who cares if we’re the regional laggard with over 50 million impoverished Filipinos?

What to do? Benchmark and match the efforts of Vietnam, for example. Our biggest exports are in the same category as Samsung Vietnam. And there are other global brands and enterprises that we must actively pursue – so that we move beyond assembling computer chips.

But because the GDP gap we must cover is $200 billion – to beat the hell out of Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam – we need similar efforts for our other top exports. $200 billion is a humongous target. And replicating Samsung Vietnam brings us a quarter of the way.

And so, we need to sharpen our focus and learn more from our neighbors. That is why the blog raised the challenge to benchmark Central Luzon against the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone.

Here is a step in the right direction: “Taguig City being evaluated as potential agri-industrial site,” Revin Mikhael D. Ochave, BusinessWorld, 21st Jul 2020.

“Agri-industrial sites are expected to provide facilities, capital, and production know-how to small farmers, while also boosting their productivity and generating jobs to strengthen the economy. The DA is also hoping to develop New Clark City in Tarlac province as an agri-industrial center.”

It’s a step in the right direction because we move away from the crab mentality’s impulse. Undertakings, especially of the mega-sized kind, must be designed to enter, compete, and win in the global arena. Because that will give us a quantum leap in GDP and the resulting tax revenues, we need to develop the rest of the country.

But the caveat is we must do lots of practice in forward-thinking, prioritizing, exploiting Pareto. We must recognize that we have long mistaken “inclusive” with the crab mentality. 

Let’s get back to NEDA. And also, our economic managers and legislators.

For instance, we must recognize the grand plans of the DA but likewise understand that they are only a piece of a more ambitious vision to make Central Luzon the next Pearl River Delta Economic Zone.

In a very dynamic universe like ours, we Filipinos cannot assume a stable world in constant equilibrium. That is a lesson we learned from the creation story – of Adam and Eve’s banishment from the garden.

In other words, we must upend our instincts; otherwise, we can’t embrace personal responsibility, worse, ill-prepared for self-government: 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.

AmBisyon Natin 2040 must mutate to AmBisyon Natin: To be the next Asian Tiger.

Gising bayan!

“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste. 

“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

“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]

“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]

“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]

“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]

If we can’t self-govern, we can’t build a nation

When we talk of democracy, we typically refer to Western-style democracy. And it brings Lincoln to mind: “[That a] government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

But representative democracy came from Ancient Greece. “In the year 507 BC, the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or ‘rule by the people’ (from demos, ‘the people,’ and Kratos, or ‘power’).

“It was the first known democracy in the world. This system comprised three separate institutions: the ekklesia, a sovereign governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy, the boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes, and the dikasteria, the popular courts in which citizens argued cases before a group of lottery-selected jurors.

“Although this Athenian democracy would survive for only two centuries, its invention by Cleisthenes, ‘The Father of Democracy,’ was one of ancient Greece’s most enduring contributions to the modern world. The Greek system of direct democracy would pave the way for representative democracies across the globe.” [https://www.history.com/]

In other words, democracy is not a new phenomenon.

Consider: “A 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that only 15 percent of Filipinos were categorically committed to liberal democracy. That means more than 8 out of 10 Filipinos have expressed openness to, if not outright advocates of, more authoritarian rule. This unmistakable penchant for strongmen is the upshot of public fatigue with the absence of genuine democracy. It reflects the hollowness of liberal civil culture in our body politic.

“Our traditional politicians and populists are less Machiavellian geniuses than keen exploiters of this structural reality. Subverting an oligarchy-cum-democracy is far easier than many think, precisely because there are limited institutional checks on any determined despot.” [“Was PH ever a true democracy?” Richard Heydarian, HORIZONS, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14th Jul 2020.]

If in 507 BC, people already figured out the why of democracy, when are we Filipinos going to learn it? Think of why our elders created the characters of Juan Tamad and Bondying.

Consider: “Effectively dismantling oligarchy in the country requires ‘structural reform and overhaul of existing laws’ that allowed oligarchs to persist, Drilon said.

‘Without these necessary structural reforms,’ the senator feared that old oligarchs ‘would only be replaced by cronies.’

“Reacting to President Duterte’s claim he had dismantled oligarchy in the country without declaring martial law, Drilon declared that ‘it takes more than that.’

“Duterte’s recent speech before soldiers, where he boasted about having dismantled oligarchy, raised eyebrows because it came just days after the House of Representatives franchise committee rejected the franchise application of Lopez-led ABS-CBN, dooming the jobs of 11,000 workers.

“Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who insisted the President had not lifted a finger to influence congressmen, was put on the spot by journalists who asked whom Duterte meant when he bragged about defeating ‘oligarchs.’

“Roque pointed to the Ayala and Lucio Tan conglomerates, and the MVP Group, with which Duterte had tussled previously, but insisted that Duterte did not mean the Lopezes.” [Drilon: Dismantling oligarchs is fine, but not if they're replaced by a new set, Butch Fernandez, BusinessMirror, 16th Jul 2020]

Does Duterte bring Marcos to mind? Wasn’t it Marcos that derailed self-government in the Philippines and Duterte is today echoing the Marcos line – of defeating oligarchy, among others?

“Over the past four years, thousands of our countrymen have perished under a scorched-earth anti-drug campaign, which has yet to bag a single real ‘big fish.’ In any democracy, one would have expected million-strong protests in response to such a bloody crackdown.” [Heydarian, op, cit.]

Are we doing a Latin America – nurturing a banana republic?

Consider: After Marcos, Estrada came and then Macapagal-Arroyo and today, Duterte. 

Because we, the people, aren’t prepared for self-government? 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.

In a prior posting, the blog raised that we have been off base time and again.

Self-government is beyond us, individually. That our instincts will always yield to the crab mentality won’t give us a chance to nation-build.

In other words, because Philippine leadership can’t provide for the well-being of Juan de la Cruz, the answer is LGUs. And that a “weak” Philippines cannot stand a free market, and so the answer is parochialism and insularity. Because a colonizer will always lord it over us, the answer is to kick out the US military.

What do they have in common? We cannot see beyond the obvious – and the present. We cannot see beyond a Juan Tamad or Bondying.

The bottom line: We have continually undermined the building blocks of development, and so today, we are the regional laggard.

The evidence? Assume 13.1 million families see themselves as “poor,” equating to over 50 million Filipinos based on an average family size of 4. The real number is higher, at 4.8.

LGUs cannot erase that poverty mark. Neither can parochialism and insularity. Or a 6%-6.5% GDP growth rate. In other words, even if we recover very quickly from a 3.4% contraction – because of Pandemic 2020 – and get back up to 6%, Philippine poverty will persist.

We have to look beyond the obvious and the present.

With due respect to Sen. Drilon, the challenge of oligarchy is beyond “structural reform and the overhaul of existing laws that allowed oligarchs to persist.” 

Consider: Until we learn from our neighbors, open the economy to purposely attract and prioritize the right technology and capital that will turn us into the next tiger economy, the Philippine Competition Commission is not the answer to why the Philippines is uncompetitive.

In other words, to be a tiger economy demands to do our homework and a concerted effort to create an ecosystem that is a virtuous circle. And a Tiger economy is the way to beat the West in their own game. The magic is beyond monetary and fiscal cures. See below, The Competitive Advantage of Nations.

But we must first accept the reality that our world view and our knowledge base have not worked. 

Because we cannot separate the wheat from the chaff, we can’t distill the vital few from the trivial many. We confuse “inclusive” to the crab mentality. Why?

Because our caste system is no different from a bunker mentality, recall how the Bush-Cheney team engineered Iraq’s invasion.

Can we pause right there and ponder?

That is why we, in the elite class, hold the key. Our successes as individuals have not translated into nationhood. Think about why our eight top companies can’t match one Vietnam enterprise.

If we cannot bite the bullet, this nation can kiss “tomorrow” goodbye.

Where are our social scientists? We must learn to unfreeze our minds to allow new learning. 

It is not a cakewalk. The writer was a regional manager and knew what our neighbors can and cannot do, including the Chinese engineers – and today, they are the world’s manufacturers. But they all wanted to learn badly. And surprisingly, even Eastern Europeans do.

Indeed, there is reason to feel we Pinoys can be better. But we have not demonstrated that for decades. Even Rizal saw that. 

Recall the simple questions the blog keeps raising: Where are we? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?

Is nation-building way over our head – because we cannot self-govern?

How do we get over these two hurdles?

(1) “Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

(2) “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]

Worse, we face a “chicken and egg” dilemma. Because we cannot forward-think, we succumb to the crab mentality.

And the succeeding generations aren’t assured of a better future either because, in higher education, we are likewise the regional laggard.

We sorely need leadership. But then again, see above hurdles – and dilemma.

The blog has raised that within our respective circles, we can engage in some serious debates. And if we in the chattering classes will then take our role of thought leaders thoughtfully, we can start a national conversation that we can hand-hold until it snowballs.

But if we stay with the status quo, we are confined to this abyss.  

Because the spirit of creation is dynamism, not only don’t we know all the galaxies, but they are also in constant motion, mutating and moving farther and farther away.

And dynamism isn’t confined to outer space but is alive and present in organisms in our world, and not only humans. Think of Corona mutating from SARS and MERS to COVID-19. 

“Europe said it was pandemic-ready. Pride was its downfall,” David D. Kirkpatrick, Matt Apuzzo, Selam Gebrekidan, Behind the Curve, The New York Times, 20th Jul 2020.

“Only a Sith deals in absolutes.” 

Adam and Eve learned that very quickly after their banishment from the garden.

There is no free lunch.

Gising bayan!

“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste. 

“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

“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]

“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]

“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]

“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]

Que sera, sera (II)

“More Filipinos will be plunged into poverty this year even as government cash transfers and wage subsidies attempt to blunt the economic fallout from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic – i.e., on the most vulnerable, according to the World Bank. And assuming only two months of loss of income in the poor and vulnerable population, the poverty rate can increase by 3.3 percentage points in 2020.” [“Poverty rate to rise this year,” Czeriza Valencia, The Philippine Star, 10th Jun 2020]

“In the last quarter of 2019, 54% of families considered themselves “poor,” according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. The survey conducted in December was 12 percentage points above the previous mark of 42% in September 2019.

“The SWS said that 54% translated to around 13.1 million self-rated “poor families” in December 2019. In September that year, it was at 10.3 million.” [13.1 million Filipino families consider themselves poor, says SWS survey, Michelle Abad, Rappler.com, 23rd Jan 2020]

Consider what we were up to 40 years ago:

“A range of 11 big industrial projects is in the works,” The Christian Science Monitor, 19th Sep 1980. “Late in 1979, the Marcos government accelerated the launching of 11 major industrial projects.”

Then 32 years later, on 26th Sep 2012, President Benigno S. Aquino III delivered a speech at the Arangkada Philippines Forum: “The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFCP), acting in solidarity with our agenda of national transformation, has graciously conducted a study on how to accelerate investments and economic growth, and create jobs in the country.

“The Arangkada study mentioned seven promising sectors. Some in the audience may recall that these same seven sectors were part of my platform during the 2010 election campaign.  They represent the global competitive advantage of the Philippines. They are primary areas of growth that can create millions of jobs for our economy and potentially change the tragic paradigm of poverty afflicting too many citizens.

“2012 will be a good year because more people will have a chance to better their lot in life. It will be a good year because we will be one step closer to the Philippines’ vision, where every citizen has the capacity and the opportunity to contribute to the task of nation-building.”

Aquino was president from 2010-2016. And where was Arangkada after his term?

“Major reforms required for 9% GDP growth–JFC,” Cai Ordinario, BusinessMirror, 14th Sep 2017. “Despite the impressive progress, compared to its other major ASEAN neighbors, the Philippines still lags in overall competitiveness.

“The government should adopt policies to double the GDP growth rate. That has to be supported by a clear long-term industry policy.

“When it comes to manufacturing, the countries with strong industries are South Korea, Japan, the United States, and the EU. The manufacturing sector has created 5 million to 7 million jobs in these countries.

“If you look at $25 billion or $30 billion in export in the electronics sector and look at the related import figures, you will be shocked. Everything we do here, what we keep here is labor because all the rest is import, and what we export is a semi-finished good, not the finished product.”

Enter: the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” mantra.

‘Build, build, build’ woes, EDITORIAL, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 13th Jul 2020. “Since the government launched in 2017 its ambitious P8-trillion ‘Build, build, build’ (BBB) program – to stimulate economic activity and generate jobs to cut poverty and decongest the metropolis – it met skepticism. Beyond its gigantic size, the government’s track record of undertaking such projects is suspect.

“With only two years left, the Duterte administration is again scrambling to revise the BBB list, this time to include more health care infrastructure projects after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the country’s severe lack of such facilities.

“Thus far, the record of BBB is below passing grade when gauged against the original pronouncement in 2017. The government now expects only half of the 100 projects in the revised list completed when Mr. Duterte steps down in 2022. The rest can only begin construction within the year or early next year, but with completion seen in the succeeding administration.

“The next administration should pursue all the carryover projects it will inherit, but it should learn a lesson or two from this administration’s experience. First and foremost is that the government cannot — and should not — do it all alone.”

Is that wishful thinking given “que sera, sera”? In the West, they say it differently: “kick the can.”

Who can afford to wait? We are way behind the curve. 

Consider: “We, taxpayers, wish we can get back to business. The economy can’t wait too long to get revived. The situation on the ground is dire, as we common folks know. Local unemployment is on the rise. There is no agreement on what an ideal stimulus program should be. The big problem is that our National Treasury is empty.” [Arise... Create Cures!, Boo Chanco, DEMAND AND SUPPLY, The Philippine Star, 15th Jul 2020]

Can we pause right there? Haven’t we been here before – the times that tried our souls?

Will we again let our instincts kick into gear? Are we parochial and insular? We value hierarchy and paternalism that we rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.

Recall: “THESE are the times that try men’s souls.

“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value.” [The Crisis by Thomas Paine, 23rd Dec 1776]

Consider: “Ours has never felt like genuine democracy. When my former professor Felipe Miranda once asked us to classify the Philippine political system, I couldn’t help but cite Aristotle’s notion of ‘oligarchy,’ namely the unruly rule of a feckless few. First, a sense of common humanity and shared duty among citizens is central to any democratic life. From Alexis de Tocqueville to Robert Putnam, countless thinkers have emphasized the centrality of ‘civic culture’ and social capital to the endurance of democracies.

“Over the past four years, thousands of our countrymen have perished under a scorched-earth anti-drug campaign, which has yet to bag a single real ‘big fish.’ In any democracy, one would have expected million-strong protests in response to such a bloody crackdown.

“But a 2017 survey by the Pew Research Center showed that only 15 percent of Filipinos were categorically committed to liberal democracy. That means more than 8 out of 10 Filipinos have expressed openness to, if not outright advocates of, more authoritarian rule. This unmistakable penchant for strongmen is the upshot of public fatigue with the absence of genuine democracy. It reflects the hollowness of liberal civil culture in our body politic.

“Our traditional politicians and populists are less Machiavellian geniuses than keen exploiters of this structural reality. Subverting an oligarchy-cum-democracy is far easier than many think, precisely because there are limited institutional checks on any determined despot.” [“Was PH ever a true democracy?” Richard Heydarian, HORIZONS, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14th Jul 2020.]

Will Juan de la Cruz ever prove apt for self-government and the democratic way of life?

“Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

“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]

Leadership is vital in every human undertaking. But then again, recall Lincoln’s definition of democracy, i.e., it is a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

Boo reminds us: “We, taxpayers, wish we can get back to business.”

That is like déjà vu to the writer. When he first arrived in Eastern Europe, the sense of resignation was palpable because of the decades they were under Soviet rule. He couldn’t remember how many times he heard, “We are poor, Bulgarians.” Implicit in the thought is, “There is no way forward.” As the wife sighed a few times, “What are we doing in this god-forsaken place?”

Today they are in celebration mode. Because what these friends accomplished in 17 years is beyond even their wildest imagination. Last year they doubled profitability that to face and beat Pandemic 2020, they have a year’s profit to burn. The first half is over, and they are up 40 percent with no letup in investment to fortify the virtuous circle they have been creating for several years. 

But let’s get back to the Philippines.

Can the economic managers and legislators demonstrate leadership and work together – and do big things for the Filipino people?

For example, beat the hell out of our neighbors by (a) generating incremental GDP of $200 billion by moving up to an investment-industrial economy, and (b) benchmarking Central Luzon against the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone.

It’s the 21st century. And it demands specific skills as the 4Cs for humankind to thrive – i.e., critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. 

In other words, beyond the K-12 challenge is the 4Cs as well as the science of metacognition. The key is to forward-think. Recall the simple questions: Where are we? Where do we want to be? How do we get there? And they complement the 4Cs and metacognition. 

Think of why we kicked out the US military. But with what is happening in the West Philippine Sea, we relented and embraced the VFA.

Should we recall other instances when we failed to forward-think that we must now rectify?

For example, how do we generate economies of scale in agribusiness? How do we discard the absolute belief in a service-consumption economy and rely on OFW remittances and BPO revenues?

Recall that we assumed industry is beyond our core competencies. For example, we can’t be like Japan. Then we can’t be South Korea or Singapore or Taiwan.

Does that explain how Vietnam will surpass even Singapore?

We have been off base time and again. Can we pause one more time and ponder?

Because of our inward-looking bias – thanks to the spoils of our caste system – we don’t forward-think and why we succumb to the crab mentality. It equates to paternalism, as in dole-outs – which will not suffice given the gap in GDP that we must cover.

When we can’t visualize a far-out scenario, we can’t translate the trivial many into the vital few. 

In other words, we won’t internalize Pareto and won’t be able to prioritize. 

Look around, and we are the masters of analysis-paralysis. And the 42 industry road maps come to mind. But then again, it’s a manifestation of the crab mentality.

Vietnam won’t – nor can they – come up with 42 industry roads maps. How then do we figure out where to focus our monetary and fiscal interventions?

It took Christ to demonstrate why there are the Great Commandments. Translation: We mortals need lots of practice in forward-thinking, the 4Cs, and metacognition before we can get ahead of the curve. We need less of “Pinoy abilidad.”

In the meantime, Vietnam has demonstrated how they can overtake Singapore. Think of Samsung Vietnam and AirPods Vietnam. Their GDP per capita is still smaller than ours, yet they attracted these two major FDIs.

On the other hand, despite years of bragging that we’re the fastest growing economy, growing 6%-6.5%, our coffers are empty. 

In the private sectors, heads would have rolled. 

There is no free lunch, and we in the elite class cannot assume we don’t have a role to play to right this ship. “To whom much is given much is expected.” 

“More Filipinos will be plunged into poverty.” But dole-outs won’t suffice given the gap in GDP that we must cover.

Gising bayan!

“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste. 

“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

“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]

“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]

“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]

“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]