Learning to “walk” – for 75 years, and counting.

Why haven’t we developed as all living things do?

Consider: The crab mentality undermines the ability to prioritize. Think of development as akin to progress and civilization. Recall how Marcos forced discipline via the Love Bus, that people learned to queue. And to this day, we see that at drop off points of P-to-P buses.

I also saw the contrast many years ago between (a) the fast-train – the Hong Kong/Guangzhou/Hong Kong route – before the Guangzhou (modern) airport was built; and (b) Metro-North trains to Grand Central Station in Manhattan.

Fast-forward to the West Philippine Sea imbroglio. Physical development can be fast-tracked, but civilization cannot. We know that growing up – and how we tripped countless times as adolescents. And we still do.

In other words, if Juan de la Cruz cannot toss the crab mentality, we will even be worse than my fast train experience. China has developed physically and became the largest economy. In our case, we are far from developing our physical assets and beyond.

The crab mentality, nurtured by our caste system, explains our impulse – as in knee-jerks – and why we keep taking the wrong fork time and again.

Consider: PH ‘sinking deeper and deeper’ into debt; Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 6th Feb 2021.

"As presidential spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. wished rigor mortis on critics of the Duterte administration, the country's economic managers scrambled to stop the economy itself from 'sinking deeper and deeper,' as President Duterte himself lamented earlier this week.

“To accomplish the mission, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III had earlier conceded that the country would need at least $1.3 billion in foreign loans from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).”

Consider: How long ago did we start to celebrate what we called the “manufacturing uptick”? Even longer is our adoration of the OFW phenomenon.

We cannot prioritize if we can’t forward-think.

It explains why our “success model” is a monopoly or an oligarchy. It is classic logical, linear, and incremental thinking. The “haves” will have it and the “have nots” won’t. 

But that is why I took on the challenge of assisting my Eastern European friends despite the wife’s protestations: Why are we in this god-forsaken place? Recall the assignment was a partnership between USAID and corporate America – to send volunteer experts – to assist Eastern European countries in their accession into the EU. 

Let’s forward-think so we can unfreeze the mind of Juan de la Cruz. That is taking from neuroscience. A frozen mind cannot absorb new learnings.

But we have a slew of economic reform bills that we are fast-tracking in the legislature.

Let’s hold it right there. That is again classic logical, linear, and incremental thinking. It assumes a forward-look but not forward-thinking.

What’s the difference? Think of the Philippine Competition Commission.

What is the principle behind the rule that says we must have a competition commission?

It is to create an open economy – and an even playing field. But we still have no clue when we get there because of the absence of forward-thinking.

In other words, what we want is prosperity for Juan de la Cruz. But that requires employing a GPS. But a GPS is useless in the absence of forward-thinking.

A GPS requires a “given” – where do we want to be? That is the basic principle of forward-thinking.

But we believe we have a GPS: a GDP growth of 6%-7%. What is missing?

It will take a generation to get us a GDP per person that will approximate prosperity. In other words, it is wishy-washy. It is logical yet linear and incremental.

It reveals our Western orientation – and misses the learnings from the Asian Tigers. These economic miracles bucked the Western model and awed the rest of the world.

On the other hand, setting forward-looking revenue goals is inherent in the private sector. That is not a surprise if we take the product development and manufacturing and supply chain lead times.

Does the Chinese inherent trade preoccupation explain the Asian Tigers’ bias on trade and why they dominate global trade?

In other words, there is no one absolute rule in defining forward-thinking, especially in driving an enterprise or an economy’s revenue goals. Instead, recognizing the knowledge from neuroscience and psychology can give the enterprise a leg up.

That’s why the blog is the story of my real-world experiences. While I represented the “animal spirits” inherent in the Western model, I also suffered the failings – during the heyday of Japan Inc. – of corporate America that translated to restructuring initiatives that are not foreign to us in the Philippines.

We assumed corporate America was heartless for embarking on restructuring programs, not recognizing the reality of this dynamic universe.

In other words, an enterprise’s sustainability isn’t a given. That is why it cannot be static.

And the world is witness to the “populism” that swept the world, including America, because globalization resulted in China pulling the rug from under the wealthy economies.

Of course, greed displayed by the financial services sector contributed to their economic slowdown.

Unfortunately, “greed” cannot be legislated. It is the human condition and why the blog often raises the story of Eden.

The saving grace is humankind is as dynamic as this universe.

The moral of the story is we Filipinos cannot be ensconced in our static or fixed mindset.

Can we pause and ponder that assertion?

That is why we need to look outward and benchmark against our neighbors. And, as necessary, to forward-think.

We want an economic miracle to pull Juan de la Cruz out of the abyss.

In the meantime, we have been learning to walk for 75 years – and are still learning.

That is why the blog offers a forward view: To raise GDP by $200 billion and beat the hell out of our neighbors, including Malaysia.

A forward view opens the mind to this imperative: to prioritize.

Resources are always limited, and why our inability to prioritize turned us into the regional laggard. It represents the failure to progress and develop. And that is not a virtue or a redeeming value because it is anathema to the story of creation. That is why our elders created the Bondying myth.

That brings us to our top export industries. They must be our number one priority in any industrialization efforts.

In other words, merely bringing down tax levels to approximate our neighbors doesn’t give us a leg up. We are playing catch up. We must do more – and aim for competitive advantage.

Recall how my Eastern European friends, from the poorest country in Europe, have scaled the development curve and are now in that enviable position characterized by competitive advantage.

We must be precise and focused on ensuring we attract the right FDIs to drive our top exports.

I still recall when Lee Kuan Yew offered Western oil companies to put up several refineries – I visited the Esso refinery on my first overseas trip – in Singapore. Singapore was playing catch up. We already had refineries in the Philippines.

Fast-forward to Deng Xiaoping. China offered the West the Pearl River Delta economic zone. And it is now into its 2.0 version – geared to top what remains today the most successful economic development project. It catapulted China to the world’s manufacturing hub.

Why does the blog keep talking about it? Again, I lived through the experience. Reading about Deng and negotiating a joint venture with Chinese managers revealed how they had internalized Deng’s aggressive push to industrialize and lift the Chinese people from poverty.

Reading how we craft our plans to raise FDIs leaves much to replicate the Asian Tigers.

Why? We are too inward-looking. We can only over-promise but under-deliver.

The reality is we are a novice in nation-building. We don't have the track record of pursuing such lofty efforts.

We have been learning how “to walk” for 75 years – and are still learning.

That is why the blog keeps reminding us that our top eight companies are no match to those of our neighbors. Isn’t that enough caveat?

Sadly, we can only point to our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.

Gising bayan!