The caste system undermines Juan de la Cruz.

It blinds us from fundamental givens. It starts with our inability to internalize democracy. And our proudly professed faith: freedom is the mirror image of Christianity – beyond self is the “common good,” as in love of neighbor.

Then take the parable of the talents and Pareto, the earliest known econometric model.

And if we could only take our blinders off, we would readily see, for example, that people born and raised as socialists under Soviet rule could teach us a thing or two.

Can we stand for freedom like the Ukrainians, Slovaks, or Poles?

News item: Poland, Slovakia urge allies to send fighter jets to Ukraine.

I’ve lived and worked with these people for twenty years.

On the other hand, we worry about China invading Taiwan, and then PH being impacted if China does it or because we signed up to EDCA.

Question: Do we see – from current events – the common denominator between Putin, Trump, and Duterte? Of course, Bato de la Rosa is clueless.

Zoom in, then zoom out – for perspective.

“People in Ukraine are dying. We can help them,” Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said Thursday on Facebook. “This is inhumane and irresponsible.”

“Slovak and Polish officials have made the calls before but have recently renewed their appeals. Both countries are NATO members.” [(helenair.com)]

We have a team on the ground in Ukraine doing business with products trucked in from Bulgaria. They are risking life, but we’re among the few able to supply some of their needs. And their valor and bravery are contagious for the bigger team that aren’t Ukrainians.

On the other hand, because we can’t look in the mirror – to recognize how the caste system undermines Juan de la Cruz – we resort to “panakip butas.”

“The annual budget for the 4Ps grew from $422.31 million in 2011 to $1.77 billion in 2019. [Up to $2 billion in 2021.] The target beneficiary households increased from 2.30 million to 4.25 million.

“Despite the steady economic performance between 2012–2019, levels of poverty and inequality in the Philippines remain high. Approximately 14.2 million people live just above the line and are vulnerable to falling into poverty.” [ADB website]

Why is Juan de la Cruz vulnerable to falling into poverty? Because our income per capita is a fraction of Thailand’s, Vietnam’s, and Malaysia’s.

We deluded ourselves into believing that the only metric is the 6%-7% GDP growth.

See below; fourteen years ago, our GDP was twice Vietnam’s, yet as the first posting in the blog pointed out, Vietnam already demonstrated sanity. They cornered far more FDI than PH. In other words, we were on a slippery slope, yet in 2014 we celebrated the “manufacturing uptick.”

The bottom line? We have been traversing the wrong path for decades, and what have we done?

What did the blog say when the wife and I arrived at NAIA in January? It’s organized confusion. We ruined this country beyond mismanaging it. And I was a party to that, spending the first 20 years of my career in the Philippines.

Recall that “focus” is tri-dimensional: self-awareness, awareness of others, and understanding our universe.

Sadly, we’ve fallen into “learned helplessness.”

We can’t eliminate corruption at the Customs and BIR and in the public sector in general so long as impunity reigns. Families like Marcos, Arroyo, Estrada, and Duterte, among others, continue to call the shots.

To add insult to injury, we even lionize oligarchy. Unsurprisingly, we include ourselves among the chosen few, the Philippine elite and chattering classes.

None of us was smart enough to determine how to outperform our neighbors.

We even tried Arangkada, AmBisyon, the PDP – and the scores of industry road maps. Yet, we’re still screaming “poverty!” In other words, throwing tens of millions and now billions to overcome poverty brought us nowhere.

Over forty years ago, I was on a PBSP committee, and we each pledged to lead a poverty-reduction effort beyond the broader PBSP undertaking personally. I worked with Fr. Beltran to provide a sustainable business enterprise to a group of young people in Smokey Mountain. It was easy for us. My company provided the initial inventory of products they would peddle. And the kids were able to replenish them from the proceeds of their sales.

It was “panakip butas.” Philippine poverty exploded in the 21st century.

Zoom out, then zoom in.

That’s how to “train the brain” in “coherence.” Coherence, per neuroscience, is not a given. And why [the three dimensions of] “focus” is foreign to most people.

Why? Because daily life demands the exact dimensions, education gave us, i.e., logical yet linear and incremental thinking. 

Recall the CEO of a startup and product of MIT; she confirmed what the blog has repeatedly said about the challenge posed by the real world. 

No idea is final. 

Iterate. Iterate. Iterate. 

And that explains why Juan de la Cruz can’t fathom Pareto – the distinctions between the “vital few and the trivial many.” It is instrumental that we’re stuck with the one dimension of poverty, forgetting the lesson of the parable of the talents. And the church does not help any.

But it’s not surprising. The Franciscans are non-stop in calling out the far-right in the US for following the footsteps of the scribes and Pharisees instead of Christ. And yet even in the Vatican, there is a left and right divide. 

Of course, it’s not binary. For example, religious fanatics and self-righteousness are on the way to undo the successes piled up by Israel. Recall why I’ve kept my commitment to assist my Eastern European friends, “You must commit to transparency, or I’m out the door.” See above; the challenge to internalize freedom and democracy.

The bottom line: Perfection is not of this world. Neither is underdevelopment. 

Sadly, our caste system reflects self-righteousness, as rank has its privileges. Moreover, it undermines Juan de la Cruz, which explains why we’re the laughingstock of the region.

When the blog started fourteen years ago, our economy was twice the size of Vietnam. Now their income per capita is 31% greater than ours.

Question: Does communist Vietnam know more about the parable of the talents?

Zoom out, then zoom in.

I was delighted that Ciel Habito is working with the BOI and MAP to focus on the drivers of the economy.

But then, we read that MAP is looking at child malnutrition. The 4Ps were supposed to address that!

Can MAP double the 4Ps to $4 billion? But we already jacked it from $400 million to $2 billion. That’s five times bigger. How much more?

In other words, let’s check our “sabog” instincts.

Ramon Ang teed up a sharper focus, i.e., beyond the Bulacan airport is the ecozone that will generate $200 billion in exports. That is roughly 50% of the total GDP. That matches Thailand’s profile. Vietnam’s exports make up its entire GDP.

We have a restrictive Constitution, yet Duterte overcame it in more ways than one. In other words, we shall overcome the restriction if our economic managers can take personal responsibility in gearing their economic efforts to drive exports consistent with the Ang initiative.

For example, we must redesign TRAIN and CREATE accordingly.

But our economic managers must determine what export products must constitute the “vital few” before we get bogged down for whatever reason.

It means tossing the 6%-7% mental block or GDP metric. That’s how the real world – as in the private sector – works. 

It is called the GPS model: Where are we; Where do we want to be; How do we get there?

How do we overcome our “sabog” instincts?

Zoom in, then zoom out.

It’s called coherence, as in connecting the dots.

Gising bayan!