A platform for a shared aspiration

Do we want to thrive beyond survival? Why are we still desperately struggling to survive when our neighbors have thrived?

Can we agree on a platform for a shared aspiration?

In jest, we recognize that we are “sabog.” And that comes in full view and living color once we land at NAIA. It’s organized confusion.

But is that a function of being a third-world country? To a foreigner, it screams “poverty.”

While in Metro Manila for our periodic homecoming, the wife and I alternately stay in Legazpi, Alabang, and Paranaque. And drove several times from Makati to the Ayala Mall Vertis North, over the Skyway, Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina, and Greenhills, among others. 

It’s organized confusion.

Still, a world-class resort in Tagaytay lifted our spirits. And the Vietnamese restaurant nearby, plus a visit to a couple of event venues, rounded a long weekend to remember. And in Boracay, a trio of Brazilians enjoying the open-air bar just before sunset engaged in small talk. Don’t you have “the sunset” in Rio? “This is the best sunset in the world, bar none!”

Why a platform for a shared aspiration – for Juan de la Cruz? 

Because we have fallen into “learned helplessness.” That comes from the mismanagement of the economy – and nation – i.e., the agriculture sector for a century and manufacturing half.

And worse, we are today among the most corrupt in the world. And let’s not forget the Marcos dictatorship and the two EDSAs.

If in a few short weeks, I would get an earful about the web of corruption in the Philippines, it merely confirms that malfeasance is out in the open. But because of learned helplessness, we are no longer perturbed. 

Does it point to naïveté that we think our tax rationalization initiatives and the POGO phenomenon are feathers in our cap and are to embrace?

Can we connect the dots from the EJKs to the role of the Philippines in the transshipment of illicit drugs, to the Bureau of Customs, to the absence of capital punishment, to the double bookkeeping in errant private enterprises, to the monster we created, aka culture of impunity?

The investigative reporters of the New York Times and the Washington Post would have a field day covering the Philippines.

And to paraphrase Einstein, we can’t solve the problems we created with the same thinking that created the problems in the first place.

Let’s stop right there.

Over the last 14 years, the blog narrated time and again anecdotes from my former Fortune 500 company and Eastern European friends. Why? They looked in the mirror and realized where they were. They didn’t want the road they were on. The same thinking was not the way to nirvana.

I was delighted to spend time with two local enterprises in Manila. Both are successful endeavors yet face challenges that demand new “thinking.” Dynamism is in their instincts. 

One challenge they share concerns new business propositions. “We go through the financial measures after financial measures, yet down the gut, we always sense discomfort.”

Recall that the blog often speaks to the photosynthesis phenomenon. And so my response went, The key is replicating the “phenomenon.” The notion that this is a “quant” world is short-sighted.

We need oxygen to live, but not only. There are three dynamics to consider replicating photosynthesis: (a) the marketing mix, (b) the resource mix, which is beyond “finance,” and (c) the execution mix. Once you have the prototype, doing a “test market” or “test run” will confirm your hypothesis. 

Think “dynamism,” and be prepared to iterate not once but several times. There are six ways to Sunday.

On the other hand, if the Philippines were a brand, our personality would run along these lines: “Sabog,” organized confusion, third-world, poverty, “learned helplessness,” and among the most corrupt.

Ergo: We suffer from abject poverty and learning poverty to boot.

Our challenge is beyond Arangkada, AmBisyon, and the PDP. They are tools. Call them strategic plans, if you will. Planning and execution are two sides of the same coin. See above; the key is to replicate the photosynthesis phenomenon.

In other words, strategic plans don’t operate in a vacuum. To manage change, recognize that there are factors that will drive the efforts, but not only. There are restraining ones too.

And we Filipinos don’t want to face that reality — because of the bunker mentality courtesy of our caste system. 

Enter George Gorospe, SJ: Reality is beyond human experience or “system.”

We can’t get Arangkada, AmBisyon, and the PDP off the ground. Why? Because of our instincts, reflected in our caste system: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy; ours is a culture of impunity.

Consider: The Arroyo administration was at its tail end when this blog started. Then, very excitedly, we anticipated the installation of the Aquino administration. Unsurprisingly, the JFC presented Arangkada to him and then to Duterte. And now BBM has embraced Arangkada.

Can we ever agree on a platform for a shared aspiration?

Like a broken record, the blog keeps reminding us that Lee and Mahathir advised Deng [and Juan de la Cruz, too] to “beg for Western money and technology” if China is to lift its people from poverty. It was Vietnam that heeded the advice, not Juan de la Cruz.

Here’s how China translated the Lee and Mahathir counsel: “The economic development of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone took off at the heels of the China reform program. The region’s GDP grew from just over US$8 billion in 1980 to more than US$89 billion in 2000 and nearly US$221.2 billion in 2005. During that period, the average real GDP growth rate in the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone exceeded 16 percent, well above the People's Republic of China national figure of 9.8 percent.

“Background: In 1979, the Central Government of the People’s Republic of China announced that Guangdong Province would be allowed to follow less restrictive economic policies and would be permitted to set up three Special Economic Zones (SEZs), including two in the Pearl River Delta, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai.”

Then consider this article: “Philippine strategic environment for corporate planning,” Bernardo M. Villegas, Human Side Of Economics, BusinessWorld, 14th Feb 2023.

“President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. recently signed an executive order adopting the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 which can be a guideline for both the public and private sectors to help the Philippines achieve the goal of becoming an upper middle-income economy by 2025 and over the longer term lay the foundation for First World economic status 15 to 20 years from now.”

How do we bring that down to earth?

As the blog has repeatedly said, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. The real world is a wealth of knowledge. And so, we must bridge the academic world with the real world.

See above; how China translated the Lee and Mahathir counsel.

And our response is TRAIN and “sustainable consumption”? Is that an academic bias, or what?

What about the real world? Beyond the Bulacan airport, the Ang Bulacan initiative will raise export revenues to $200 billion, and TMCC is on the target list.

What should be our shared aspirations if the BOI is listening? Create an economic zone – with less restrictive economic policies – that will mirror the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone and grow Bulacan’s GDP to nearly $221.2 billion.

Can we distinguish that from the over 400 PEZA ecozones that we have? Why do we want to put up three more each year? It’s called insanity! If that’s how we support devolution. It’s insanity to the nth degree! See above; the role of the Philippines in the transshipment of illicit drugs and smuggling in general, including agri products.

Recall that the “present value” concept quantifies the value of the “vital few” – as in the “common good” – and the folly of the “crab mentality.”

We need “quick hits” like yesterday so that instead of a poverty program, we will benefit from the compounding effect of an incremental GDP of $200 billion. Given how we have mismanaged manufacturing, we don’t have to wait 25 years – which would most likely balloon to 50 years.

Hopefully, the BOI and MAP working with Ciel Habito would edify us on a platform for shared aspirations. See above; is the Philippines on the road to nirvana? 

Or are we stuck with the same thinking that created the problems of Juan de la Cruz in the first place? Is it because we are Pinoys? 

We need dollars and sense to define “shared aspirations” instead of rehashing Arangkada, AmBisyon, and the PDP.

Gising bayan!