Sadly, the Philippine elite and chattering classes – wittingly or not – have an ironclad hold on our psyche.
Consider: “The “high performing Asian economies” (HPAEs) that pulled off the so-called “East Asian Miracle” in the 1980s and 1990s, documented by the World Bank in a book with the same title, had one thing in common: they pursued and attained very rapid export growth.” [“Doing a Vietnam,” Cielito F. Habito, NO FREE LUNCH, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 31st May 2022]
And we are not one of them. The reference book came out in 1993. And almost three decades later, this is what we read in the local media:
“A game-changer and pace-setter, this is the single most significant investment by any company in the Philippines. No private enterprise has had a more pervasive impact on the life and work of Filipinos than San Miguel Corporation.
“SMC produces public goods at a scale, intensity and costs never undertaken before by any other corporation." ["Megaprojects," Tony Lopez, Virtual Reality, manilastandard.net, 8th Jun 2022]
What are we missing?
“We lack grounded, levelheaded, future-oriented leaders. And like it or not, that means we need a more middle-aged politics and culture.” [“Why Are We Still Governed by Baby Boomers and the Remarkably Old (?), Yuval Levin, The New York Times, 3rd Jun 2022]
“We should wish them many more healthy years and be grateful for their long service. But we should also recognize the costs of their grip on American self-government and the country's self-conception.
“It’s often said that Americans now lack a unifying narrative. But maybe we have such a narrative, only it's organized around the life arc of the older baby boomers, and it just isn't serving us well anymore.”
What to do?
“An export breakout exemplified by the HPAEs would be vital in getting out of this trap. That is why the Philippine Export Development Plan (PEDP) 2023-2027, now spearheaded by the DTI, must receive far wider attention and commitment than all past PEDPs crafted since the enactment of the Export Development Act (Republic Act No. 7844) in 1994.
“People now like to say that an “all-of-government” effort is a must on this-or-that initiative; for the PEDP, an “all-of-nation” push is what the country needs. That is because achieving export expansion entails far more than what the DTI does. The PEDP should not be merely a DTI plan, for it is a plan that requires unison among all the moving parts—including exchange rate policy, infrastructure development, agricultural development strategy, human resource development, and fiscal and monetary policies, among others.
“Vietnam, it seems, has conducted the complex symphony orchestra better than everyone else has. Can our sterling new economic team manage to do a Vietnam in a country where unity, solidarity, and teamwork have traditionally been in deficit?” [Habito, op. cit.]
Those familiar with the blog may recall that in earlier posts, I raised the challenge to Messrs. Ang and Dominguez to lead the effort of replicating the success of Vietnam in attracting Samsung – and more recently, Apple – and making Vietnam the latest Asian Tiger.
Let’s hear it one more time, with feelings: “We lack grounded, levelheaded, future-oriented leaders.”
And from a prior post, “To be “first-world” must be the outcome that we seek – so that we can (a) learn to forward-think, (b) distinguish the “vital few” from the “trivial many," and (c) “drivers” from “enablers.” That presupposes learning to move across the “binary” to “relative” thinking continuum.
If Mr. Ang alone cannot deliver the future of Juan de la Cruz, so does BBM!
“An “all-of-nation” push is what the country needs.” [Habito, op. cit.]
In other words, if we must set an urgent direction for the country, it is to put “industrialization” front and center.
“Beg for Western money and technology” is not new. It was how our neighbors did it.
We cannot keep to our caste system, to our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy; ours is a culture of impunity.
The blog never tires raising the distinctions between a “fixed mindset” and a “growth mindset.” [“Mindset: The new psychology of success,” Carol Dweck]
“Success is about being your best self, not about being better than others; failure is an opportunity, not a condemnation; effort is the key to success. But we can’t put this into practice because of our basic mindset — the belief in fixed traits. It tells us something entirely different: success is about being more gifted than others, failure does measure you, and effort is for those who can’t make it on talent.”
In other words, we in the Philippine elite are more gifted than Juan de la Cruz; we are not the ones that must exert effort, but Juan de la Cruz.
Consider: “The numbers are indeed glaring: over the last five years, we averaged only $70 billion a year in merchandise exports, while Indonesia earned $182, Thailand $246, Malaysia $248, Vietnam $268, and Singapore $401 billion. We’re not even anywhere near half of what Indonesia made, the closest neighbor we trail.
“The new government simply must give focused and determined attention to this abysmal export performance, as in it lies the key to solving the major perennial challenges our economy keeps facing, namely: (1) lack of quality jobs, (2) low incomes and high levels of poverty, and (3) higher prices, especially of food, leading to wide food insecurity and malnutrition among our poor—in short, the basics of presyo, trabaho, and kita.” [Habito, op. cit.]
I read the book quoted by Ciel Habito, The East Asian Miracle. And I understand why we struggle to make heads or tails figuring out how our neighbors did it. For example, we proudly developed scores of industry road maps, yet we aren’t any closer to an industrial miracle.
The good news is that countless countries and economies failed to comprehend it too. Why? Because higher education – as the world knows it – stands on logical yet linear and incremental thinking.
That’s why the blog keeps raising Edward de Bono’s treatise on lateral or creative thinking.
In other words, the world recognizes the challenge of the 21st century and hence the skills humankind must learn to navigate it. They are the 4 Cs to 21st-century skills: (1) Critical thinking, (2) Creative thinking, (3) Collaboration, and (4) Communication.
We in the Philippine elite epitomize the “fixed mindset.” We in the chattering classes have written about the 4Cs, yet internalizing information is something else. And it isn’t surprising given our caste system.
“Success is about being your best self, not about being better than others; failure is an opportunity, not a condemnation; effort is the key to success. But we can’t put this into practice because of our basic mindset — the belief in fixed traits. It tells us something entirely different: success is about being more gifted than others, failure does measure you, and effort is for those who can’t make it on talent.”
In other words, we in the Philippine elite are more gifted than Juan de la Cruz; we are not the ones that must exert effort, but Juan de la Cruz.
Gising bayan!
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