Here’s what the NEDA website says: “AmBisyon Natin 2040. By 2040, Filipinos enjoy a strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure life. 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, that 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.”
On the other hand, here’s a course offered by Oxford University: “From Poverty to Prosperity: Understanding Economic Development. This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), led by renowned economist Paul Collier, examines the vital role government plays in economic development, analyzing the political, social, and economic factors that elevate society from poverty to prosperity. It will help people understand how their community and country can flourish, wherever they are in the world.”
Do we want to elevate Juan de la Cruz from poverty to prosperity?
CREATE will create over a million jobs. Recall the OFW phenomenon gave employment to over 10 million Filipinos – and became the driver of the economy. And that is why we kept celebrating it.
Now we realize that unless we move up from a consumption-service economy to an investment-industrial economy, expect Juan de la Cruz mired in poverty.
But even our top companies can’t turn us into an Asian Tiger as our wasted decades’ show. They are part of our instincts best described by our caste system. They are part of the problem, not the solution, and why we are still a restrictive economy despite being well into the 21st century.
The blog often speaks to divine oneness. But we only see that when we are under threat, as in the West Philippine Sea. That is why we must be one with freedom-loving people and not be the pariah for embracing EJK.
[Disclosure: My DNA says I am essentially from Central Luzon but have more roots from the area covering China and India than the rest of the Philippines.]
There is also the economics to the reality as in economies of scale. And our neighbors see that and why they all rapidly turned into exporters. And they shared one mantra, “Beg for Western money and technology.”
How come we can’t simply swear against parochialism and insularity? Because we value hierarchy in exchange for paternalism. “He who submits to tyranny loves it.”
Still, we struggle to forward-think. For example, to aspire to have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses reflects our modesty. But does it fall short of our “reason for being” given the pronouncement of the Creator?
Simply put, Juan de la is to be prosperous. If a blade of grass can thrive in this universe – recall the photosynthesis phenomenon – what more of Juan de la Cruz?
Let’s push the envelope further, e.g., beyond food security; we must be globally competitive in agribusiness because that is the road to nirvana, not food security.
Food security concedes our parochialism and insularity and does not get the biggest bang for the buck. It is similar to the war on poverty – as in the 4 Ps. It perpetuates hierarchy and paternalism – and why ours is a culture of impunity.
Does a culture of impunity lend itself to mediocrity?
“Why can’t we get our act together? When did this culture of ‘pwede na’ and ‘okay lang’ become the norm for what is acceptable? How did it happen? What can we do about it? Perhaps the attitude is that given the unfair and even hostile environment, ‘pwede na’ has got to be good enough.
“These issues must be raised as a challenge to our educators and leaders in politics, business, and civil society. What are we doing to our children? Are we challenging them enough? What are the standards we are setting for them, primarily by example?” [“A culture of mediocrity,” Teresa S. Abesamis, Grassroots & Governance, BusinessWorld, 6th Apr 2021]
Here’s a quote from an earlier posting: “If we can’t visualize prosperity as our neighbors did, we will fall flat on our faces. The urge to rationalize is how people keep their sanity, yet it also misses the distinction between the growth mindset and the fixed mindset.
“Why do we keep tripping ourselves and missing every fork in the road? We are left to prescribe solutions that are looking for a problem. Simply put, those who know where they are going will get there. Conversely, those that don’t know won’t.”
Is Philippine education the culprit?
“Average IQ in the Philippines is the lowest among the 10 ASEAN member states, based on cross-country assessments made by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen. But intelligence also comes from cognitive ability, which is in turn dependent on physiological brain development.
“I have written much about how our peculiarly high levels of child stunting due to severe malnutrition have impaired not only physical development but more importantly and more permanently, brain development as well, inflicting lifelong damage to the child.
“The country’s disastrous Pisa results have been an eye-opener for our government, but even herculean efforts to reform and improve our educational system cannot be enough, as the problem goes well beyond that.” [“Our education disaster,” Cielito F. Habito, NO FREE LUNCH, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 6th Apr 2021.]
Indeed, our problem is more severe than we care to admit.
“Even during pre-pandemic times, farce, hypocrisy, and duplicity have been hallmarks of the Philippine banking system.
“And the lending sector where these negatives most apply has been in the 'agri-agra' loans, now covered by Republic Act 10000. The law requires banks to allot 15 percent of their yearly loan portfolios to agriculture and 10 percent to agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“The 2020 lending under the law was not much different from the previous several decades. The Agri-Agra Law had its origin in a toothless presidential decree that provided for the same loan lending percentages, though with multiple riders that allowed the banks to cite ‘alternative compliance’ without actually lending to agriculture and agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“Last year, the compliance with the 15-percent lending to agriculture was 9 percent or 6 percent below the law’s requirement. On the agrarian side, the law’s an essential component because this directs credit to agricultural reform beneficiaries; the lending percentage was a mere 1 percent, 9 percent short of what is required by law.
“Last year, the banking system opted to pay roughly P2 billion in fines for massive violation of the mandate to lend to agriculture and agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“While the banks have been opting to pay hefty fines to violate the law, business groups, chambers of commerce, trade, and commercial associations to which the banks belong have been sounding one battle cry — invest in agriculture.
“How can you even urge others to ‘invest in agriculture when the banks themselves would rather pay P2 billion in penalties every year to avoid lending to agriculture and the Exhibit A of rural poverty, the agrarian reform beneficiaries.
“How about this? You extend billions of pesos in unsecured loans to a bankrupt South Korean shipbuilder, then deny the country’s small farmers and agrarian reform beneficiaries the loans mandated in a law? One of the creditor banks of bankrupt Hanjin was the Land Bank of the Philippines. And the LandBank’s original charter was to support the agrarian reform beneficiaries.” [“The tragedy, then the farce,” Marlen V. Ronquillo, The Manila Times, 7th Apr 2021]
In other words, why can’t we get our act together?
Recall the blog asserts that democracy is the mirror image of Christianity, i.e., the imperative of personal responsibility for the common good.
Here’s an example — the Danish Pig Meat Industry — from many postings ago. It is an excellent example of how a nation can get its act together. And why the blog keeps stressing that beyond food security, the mantra for agribusiness must be global competitiveness. How come Vietnam and Thailand’s rice industry is world-class? Why can’t we do the same?
“Denmark is among the world’s largest pig meat exporters.
“For more than 100 years, the production of pigs and pig meat has been a significant income source for Denmark. Approx. Ninety percent of the output is exported and is thereby essential to the Danish economy and trade balance. The Danish pig industry is among the world leaders in breeding, quality, food safety, animal welfare, and traceability. That is the reason why Denmark is among the world’s largest pig meat exporters.
"Danish pig meat producers observe high animal welfare standards, and pig farmers constantly strive to improve live pigs' welfare. Danish pig production equates to high food safety standards and good animal health. Environmentally sustainable production methods are critical to Danish pig production.
“Around 5,000 pig farms in Denmark produce approx. 28 million pigs annually. Most pigs are slaughtered at the co-operative abattoirs Danish Crown and Tican. Also, a substantial number of live piglets are exported, mainly to Germany.
“Pig meat exports account for almost half of all agricultural exports and more than 5 percent of Denmark's total exports. More than 70 percent of Danish pig meat production goes to other EU countries and the remaining part to countries outside the EU.
“Danish pig meat finds home in more than 140 countries, and the largest markets in terms of volume are Germany, UK, Poland, China, Japan, Italy, Russia, and Sweden.” [https://agricultureandfood.dk/danish-agriculture-and-food/danish-pig-meat-industry]
Let’s get back to the Philippines. “An outstanding classmate in college used to say, ‘whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.’ Indeed, she adhered to her motto and topped the class. At the time, and even later, Singapore and Korea were backwoods countries, and the Philippines looked like the next candidate for getting into the First World.
“Today, our grade school students are ranking at the bottom among almost a hundred tested countries in reading, science, and mathematics. Our government’s performance against the COVID-19 pandemic is pathetic compared to those of erstwhile less developed countries like Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, countries bordering China where the coronavirus originated.
"We have a police chief, the head of the law enforcement agency, violating pandemic protocols, being allowed to stay in office. A health secretary exposed as having conflicts of interest as a government official doing business with the government while still in office. A Solicitor General maintains million-peso retainers with government agencies that he is duty-bound to monitor to ensure civil service ethics compliance.
“And we have a president who openly behaves as a lackey of China, considered our enemy since they are brazenly taking over our internationally recognized territories. The work performance, morale, ethical standards, and compliance with the laws are rapidly going downhill.
“How far down will they go? And are the trends reversible?” [Abesamis, op. cit.]
Juan de la Cruz needs more than “to have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses.” He is to be prosperous.
Those who know where they are going will get there. Conversely, those that don’t know won’t.
Recall the two “operating systems” in the brain – (1) automatic (2) conscious – postulated by Daniel Kahneman, the 2002 Nobel Prize winner in Economics. Kahneman is a psychologist who pioneered the integration of research about decision-making into economics.
Recall too the “The Innovator’s DNA” by Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton M. Christensen; Harvard Business Review, December 2009. And “the ability to successfully connect seemingly unrelated questions, problems, or ideas from different fields, is central to the innovator’s DNA.”
And as a practitioner — from developing a globally dominant brand, on the one hand, to pursuing restructuring efforts to fix an underperforming business, on the other — I witness the limitless range of challenges where the brain’s operating systems can come into play.
For example, how many enterprises, including those in MSMEs, tweak their financials – as an automatic response to a challenge – in isolation, without revisiting the business model that may be defective in the first place.
Or how marketers manipulate the advertising campaign without recognizing that the product is a bomb. It applies to innovation too. And why the blog often speaks to “innovation” – that it is not for “innovation’s sake.” It must respond to a human need that will raise one’s wellbeing.
Or think of our poverty efforts, including the OFW phenomenon, and how we wasted decades and today remain the regional laggard.
Or do we want to elevate Juan de la Cruz from poverty to prosperity?
Gising bayan!
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