One step forward, two steps back (2)

The above title came after the writer read two articles very recently, only to find out it is a repeat from two years ago.

The first piece goes, “Neda’s AmBisyon Natin 2040 needs to be subjected to review. Stakeholders from the government, civil society and the private sector must give their objective assessment on whether the first three years of the Duterte administration has brought us closer to the vision of ‘Filipinos enjoying a strongly rooted, comfortable and secure life.’

“Is the government walking its talk and getting the needed support by way of appropriate implementing laws by our legislators? Or are our legislators just talking the talk?” [AmBisyon Natin 2040, Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan, LEGALLY SPEAKING, BusinessMirror, 10th Jun 2019]

Here’s the other: “All the mandates of the Sagip Saka Act, including the grand promise to help farmers put up farming-related enterprises, are covered by agri-related laws. The law is superfluous and redundant.

“The Sagip Saka Act will be massively underfunded like all previous laws on farm sector amelioration. It is a compilation of big words and bigger promises, with no translation into reality.

“The truth is harsh, but it is the truth. Farm amelioration policies in our sad country has yet to be blemished by success. And all those grand initiatives for agriculture are now interred in a massive graveyard of failed amelioration programs.” [A massive graveyard of failed farm policies, MARLEN V. RONQUILLO, The Manila Times, 12th Jun 2019]

Aren’t we better than this? “Today, many of the nationalistic objections to foreign direct investments have essentially been smashed.

“Yet, the Constitutional economic restrictions on foreign capital are still very much written in a strict legal framework. There is almost a consensual agreement within the political leadership to clarify as much as possible to enable a more liberal definition of what is meant by these restrictions.

“Hence, the remedies being sought are clarificatory legislation that help to define and broaden the scope for foreign direct investments.” [Attracting foreign direct investments: 2019 vs 1970s, Gerardo P. Sicat, CROSSROADS TOWARD PHILIPPINE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROGRESS, The Philippine Star, 6th Mar 2019]

Those familiar with the blog know the writer guides and mentors a local enterprise in Eastern Europe that started as a cottage industry. Today they are giving Western behemoths a run for their money, including in the innovation space.

How do they do it? Beyond a specific knowledge that we may know is the challenge to (a) internalize and (b) turn it into a skill or habit. For example, through practice, they strive to be at ease to think outside-the-box. Consider the analogy, lifted from the story of creation, "There are six ways to Sunday."

Whenever they brainstorm – e.g., define and solve a problem, including product development and innovation – they will accept the first supposedly bright idea on the table as the Monday version; and then challenge themselves until they to get to the Saturday version.

Neuroscience says the chamber of the brain responsible for lateral thinking is not as developed as the one that does linear thinking. Like a muscle, it needs to be toned. In the good old days, we called it "lack of imagination." Which people find offensive, but it didn't deter the writer's high school class from voting him least likely to succeed.

Thanks to advances in the sciences, there are now ways to overcome what for the longest time people assumed as insurmountable.

What’s the point? “[The] private sector [can manage] capital assets they acquire and make them produce a good return for them as a result.

“Much of economic development is an accumulation of improving ways of doing things. Dramatic improvements in the development process often result when we learn how to plan and execute properly.

“Another way of describing development is that it is a process of rising per capita output and income characterized by spreading and improving economic welfare for a country’s citizens and residents. It is, one could say, a quiet revolution in the way a nation’s institutions and practices transform and evolve over time for the good, to serve the people and to empower them to do better.” [Sicat, op. cit.]

We Pinoys are getting better but note the following qualification, “Dramatic improvements in the development process often result when we learn how to plan and execute properly.”

Plan and execute properly. It is where the rubber meets the road. Moreover, in this era, the outcome is measured by the metrics of innovation and global competitiveness. Where do we stand in the World Competitiveness Ranking 2019? 

While we rose four places from last year, we are still way down, at no. 46, with Singapore and Hong Kong on top at 1 and 2, ahead of the US, no. 3. China = 14; Taiwan = 16; Malaysia = 22; Thailand = 25; Indonesia = 32.

The bottom line: We remain the regional laggard, that our economy is not competitive against our neighbors, despite the private sector’s better performance than the public sector.

So, we must learn how to plan and execute properly. Practice makes perfect. Recall “inertia” – “The tendency of a body at rest to remain at restor of a body in straight line motion to stay in motion in a straight line unless acted on by an outside force; the resistance of a body to changes inmomentum.” [The Free Dictionary]

It explains the bureaucracy in the public sector. On the other hand, the private sector can deliver excellent results because of the profit motive, expressed via the reward system as well as the pressure to win – beyond survive – over the competition.

It also explains why it takes us an inordinate time to (a) get the enablers of development, e.g., infrastructure, ramped up despite Build, Build, Build and (b) as well as make the drivers, e.g., Arangkada, a reality.

Recalling the distinction between drivers and enablers helps us (a) sift through the difference between analytics and big data, and (b) the vital few from the trivial many or Pareto, also (c) hold our breath before we succumb to the crab mentality, and (d) be top not bottom of the heap.

Practice makes perfect. We cannot go from a consumption economy to an industrial economy overnight. It takes a Porsche or Ferrari to go from 0-60 mi. (or 100 km.) in less than 3 seconds. 

In other words, while we are working on 42 industry road maps, we better recognize the imperative of discipline in execution and prioritize the one or two industries that we must rapidly pursue because they will give us the biggest bang for the buck sooner than later. 

Likewise, we will learn from experience or practice, especially from our mistakes.

How do we get the motivation to move forward as a nation? Not if rationalize our pathetic standing in the region nor prescribe the same cures. We know what Einstein calls it.

For example, Lacson was considered an action-man and why we kept him Manila mayor for as long as we can. Enrile advertised himself as "Aksyon agad, Enrile." Marcos was the "New Society," and today we have another action-man in Duterte?

We need leadership, beyond "Aksyon agad"! We take it for granted that we are schooled in leadership, forgetting Rizal's admonition: Our hierarchical-paternalistic instincts undermine leadership and bring about leader-dependency and tyranny. Also, it can happen even in the supposed model of liberal democracy as Trump now confronts the world.

The Great Recession of 2008-2009 turned middle-class middle America (but not only given its impact on the rest of the world while the financial community got off scot-free despite undermining the gains post the cold war) leader-dependent too mirroring Juan de la Cruz.

They are in the minority, but Trump’s celebrity status courtesy of the reality TV genre gives him the cover of infallibility, even better than the Vatican where there are now “two popes.” Consider: “To too many people he’s not a human being, he’s a demigod.” [Conservative radio host has doubts about Trump. His audience doesn’t want to hear it,” Jeremy W. Peters, The New York Times, 18th Jun 2019]

Conversely, the majority still adheres to personal responsibility – recall the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden that they had to fend for themselves – that feeds dynamism and the animal spirits. Unsurprisingly, despite the polarization of America, a recent study reported by USA Today reveals that most Americans foresee that their country will continue to lead in technology and innovation.

They point to America's pioneering and successful efforts in the medical field and today's longer lifespan compared to just a few generations ago, including the magic of modern medicine and its many facets.

In the meantime, as the blog has pointed out, Philippine inexperience in development keeps us tied down to the lowest rung of progress in the region. Our being "sabog" is not helping any. Because cause-and-effect has not disappeared from reality, i.e., recall the laws of physics. From as far back as we can remember, we always assumed poverty is what we must address.

So, we trumpeted the windfall from OFW remittances and created an alternative reality, that now makes us wonder why we don’t have an inclusive economy. Why? Our economy cannot generate jobs in the right quantity and quality owing to our underdevelopment. 

Now we even want to add a living wage and public housing to this economy that can’t generate jobs for over 10 million Filipinos that they have to be OFWs, and whose poverty rate equals the total population of an Australia?

Let’s pause and figure out: Underdevelopment is or is not equals poverty? Because underdevelopment is our destiny? Which is why the blog has repeatedly discussed the imperative of dynamism and foresight. 

We know about visionaries and what visions are but don't think them because every challenge we face is a fire we must fight, e.g., water, electricity, metro traffic, poor agriculture productivity, among others.

Inexperience informs our perceptive judgment, and our reactive posture and why to be proactive is alien to us. Still, we can develop foresight, but we must move beyond "kuro-kuro." It represents "Inside-the-box" Thinking and reinforces parochialism and the crab mentality and why we can’t prioritize. Worse, we can’t imagine ourselves capable of moving beyond a consumption economy to an industrial economy.

While "Outside-the-box" Thinking can come from this simple definition of leadership: "To take the people from where they are to where they have never been before." We are today one of the longest "underdeveloped nations." So, we need to break ourselves free from the confines of the box, holding our mindset hostage. See above re there are six ways to Sunday.

In other words, the war on drugs is not what a vision is. Moreover, an action-man will not suffice to turn us from “underdeveloped” to “developed.” Ranting and raving against the UN investigation of the war on drugs is a great distraction. It confirms how “sabog” we are. 

Are we coming or going? We seem to forget that extreme nationalism is what fascism is. On the other hand, if we were watching television, we would have seen that Poland – among other former Soviet satellite states hosting the US military – and the US are in bed.

Why do we keep to the same paradigm? [See above re be at ease to think outside-the-box.] Consider: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism, rely on political patronage and oligarchy, that at the end of the day, ours is a culture of impunity.

Let’s get back to Arangkada. Is it the beef behind Neda’s AmBisyon Natin 2040 to generate the level of national incomes we need to meet our ambition, i.e., appreciably raise FDI, exports, and employment? If it is, and the vehicle is the 42 industry road maps, we better prioritize, get cracking, and rapidly pursue the one or two industries that will give us the biggest bang for the buck sooner than later.

More is not better. 

Can we walk the talk and demonstrate that indeed we have become better in our pursuit of community and the common good?

Cambodia is in our rear-view mirror, not unlike Vietnam not too long ago. 

“Gising Bayan!”

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]

The absolute truths

Then we can't be Singapore. Now we can't be a Vietnam, too. Still, we are optimistic, cautiously though. We will keep our fingers crossed that Cambodia won't be the next.

Because Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia have left us in the dust. Meanwhile, we must talk up our annual GDP growth rate and be silent that OFW remittances drive it.

The writer was cautiously optimistic when P-Noy was elected president. There was Arangkada ready to be presented to the new administration. In other words, we can't remain blind to our failure to industrialize, especially in this era of innovation and global competition when an industrial economy is only the front end of development.

Yet, we don't have to go it alone and why Arangkada was a step in the right direction: (a) a cross-section of society crafted and designed it to attract FDI, drive exports, and generate employment; and (b) all in a significant way, to lift us and be the next tiger economy.

Six years of the previous administration plus three of the present and where we are is on the drawing board – working on 42 industry road maps. As the blog has pointed out, not even a Germany can win in 42 industries.

Major undertakings call for discipline in execution, and it starts with establishing priorities. Unsurprisingly, nine years out, all we can say is we are cautiously optimistic of PH economy.

Still, every after an election, Juan de la Cruz would be hopeful. Hope springs eternal.

Have we ever wondered why the Philippines has remained underdeveloped, poor and the regional laggard? Scanning our media and even going back ten years since the birth of the blog, we have prescriptions for our every ail. It has raised the point by calling out our "kuro-kuro" culture.

Is the reason because we are all coming from a perceived “absolute truth” that we hold dear as in our values? On the other hand, there is no disagreement that ours is a culture of impunity? How can these two live together? Fr. Bulatao calls it our “split-level” Christianity.

The blog has repeatedly raised that perfection is not of this world. The universe is a 24/7 dynamic phenomenon. Given our Christian upbringing, it has referenced Bible stories countless times as well as the laws of physics or nature. In other words, this world is not about perfection but dynamism – i.e., it explains how civilization has evolved.

Does the absence of dynamism in our instincts explain why the Philippines has remained underdeveloped, poor, and the regional laggard?

Recall Eden. Adam and Eve realized they had to fend for themselves after their banishment. The story of creation, indeed, is a compelling, dynamic story.

If it isn't apparent yet, the posting is teeing up "dynamism" against "absolute truths."

The first homo sapiens migrated from Africa, and if archeological finds are accurate, they were then found scattered across different continents. Given the Sahara Desert spans across northern Africa, standing in Morocco and then Egypt gave the writer a sense of how many challenges it must have posed to humankind.

Scientists call the universe “The Runaway Universe – it started with a bang and has been expanding ever since, the space between galaxies increasing with time.” [hubblesite.org]

While here on planet earth, throughout its history, we've had five major ice ages that redrew the configuration of the continents. The Alps and Australia are two examples, and the former today yields object that came from the bottom of the ocean while the latter was once part of Asia's landmass.

Let’s get back to the Bible stories. The scribes and Pharisees battled Jesus with their 611 commandments being the absolute truths. As we now know, he responded with the Two Greatest Commandments. Not surprisingly, they had to crucify him. Today we have “two popes,” whatever happened to Papal infallibility?

Who is a sinner or who is a saint? Padre Damaso is the absolute truth? Why wasn’t the Good Thief consigned to hell?

Recall it was heresy to utter that the planet earth is round. 

How do these absolute truths impact Juan de la Cruz? Consider: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism, rely on political patronage and oligarchy, that at the end of the day, ours is a culture of impunity?

The blog maintains that these are our absolute truths. Then consider: The US invaded and colonized us. Japan invaded us. With the Americans, can we or can’t we demonstrate dynamic thinking? We probably do and why we trust them more than the Chinese.

Still, the Chinese may have already overrun our country after we opted for the online gaming business. It is classic "pwede na ‘yan," no different from how OFW remittances became our "Dutch disease."

It’s called insanity per Einstein. Industrialization is what we must doggedly seek, not a gambling culture; that we are today a haven for money laundering. Will this be the legacy of Duterte on top of the failed war on drugs?

With the Japanese, we are perhaps more than dynamic and are forward-looking. In other words, how come with the Americans we can't seem to stand like equals?

Western Europeans have leveraged the military power of the US and accepted them as a significant NATO partner, including wealthy Germany. Which is the source of Trump's rant – pay up, or we pull out of NATO. We continue to declare victory for kicking out the US military proudly.

In the meantime, even former Soviet satellite states are hosts to US military bases because they don't want to relive the past when nationalism equated to fascism.

Three characteristics can explain our world view:

(A) Think of American kids that want to declare independence from their parents even when they still can’t fend for themselves. 

(B) Do we have a self-esteem problem? Think of the many nations rich and poor alike that recognize the power of the US military – which the Europeans tapped to subdue Hitler and continued through the creation of the League of Nations and then the UN – a hegemon, if you will, to preempt any more wars.

(C) Where are we in our perceptive judgment, which the blog has discussed? It is the ability to traverse the continuum across the two extremes of dualism and relativism. 

Alternatively, is it all about our instincts – that is, we value hierarchy and paternalism? They are Uncle Sam, and we expect them to demonstrate paternalism. Instead, they were barbarians for subduing and colonizing us.

Conversely, recall how civilization evolved. The humankind lived in caves. We were even cannibals. In other words, America is developing as well despite Trump and the rightist-populists and nationalists.

An elder in Papua New Guinea gave the writer an education while on a business trip: "Your hotel is well-fenced and protected because the outside world assumed, we are still cannibals. We no longer are. We were tribal and still are in more ways than one. We fought and killed one another for a reason. The survival instinct is inherent in us and must be with you too. Still, civilization has made us into a modern-day tribe."

Why are we underdeveloped, poor, and the regional laggard?

To those familiar with the postings, they all end with a series of quotes. For example, “National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

Does it remind us of the Asian Tigers, China, and Vietnam? “Beg for Western money and technology,” so counseled Lee and Mahathir to Deng. We are still into classical economics despite how these neighbors demonstrated to the world how they became economic miracles, one after the other?

What other absolute truths do we hold? Marcos is one that he was behind the golden years of the Philippines? Today it is Duterte?

Why is innovation not identified with Juan de la Cruz? It is an expression of this runaway universe. It is about dynamism, not the status quo.

Has civilization brought us to the wrong place? Who holds the absolute truth to render judgment?

The first homo sapiens lived in caves and were even cannibals because of the survival instincts.

Today the world is confronted with rightist-populism. Moreover, there is a sense of foreboding, and the president of the most powerful nation, Trump, is the poster boy. [Pleasingly, most Americans see Trump as un-American.]

There are two sides to this same coin: (a) civilization is picking up speed given ours is a dynamic universe, and (b) the survival instincts are manifest, and neither is a surprise.

However, survival instincts come in different shapes, including the preservation of tyranny. If history is to learn from and not to live in, we know that tyrants come and go. That despite oppression and tribal-like conflicts, civilization has brought prosperity to humankind.

Still, memories are short. Does a nation want to erect walls because they think they can create a superior race, "Make America Great Again" is the latest example? Hitler was not that long ago. The world recently celebrated the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It reminded everyone why the EU came to be.

The writer has been in Europe for several weeks now and was around during the last EU parliament elections. He asked a few friends why the pro-EU party won in their country. Their responses are captured succinctly by one of them: “The EU is not about nationalism but unity.”

Ours is a dynamic, runaway universe, and we are responding with our survival instincts. Still, they won't equip us to claim the absolute truths. "The humankind is good," meant to thrive not merely survive, if we recall the story of creation.

Today we celebrate Philippine Independence Day. It is the day we must ask, “Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]

Foresight is a rare commodity

Why are visionaries few and far between? Stephen R. Covey dissects it in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Moreover, Habit 2 is: Begin with the end in mind. It goes on to say, "Develop an outcome-oriented mindset in every activity [we] engage in. [Paradigms] are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world. If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm".

For example, our desire to overcome poverty has consumed us yet haven't stepped up to the plate with significant and primary changes in our world view. What changes do we need to be able to traverse the road from poverty to prosperity? As Lee and Mahathir counseled Deng, "Beg for Western money and technology."

That will be a scary change for Juan de la Cruz. It explains why we can't move beyond the rhetoric of opening the economy.

Consider: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism, rely on political patronage and oligarchy, that at the end of the day, ours is a culture of impunity.

Can we connect the dots? How does parochialism feed and nourish impunity? Let’s pause for a moment and figure that out. 

Why are we stuck in our dilemma, i.e., why are we: (a) underdeveloped (b) poor (c) the regional laggard? Before we get too far, let’s get back to the title of this posting: Foresight is a rare commodity.

We don't only have a big chunk of poor people we are an impoverished nation too. In a recent posting, the blog highlighted vital and critical elements, to distinguish analytics and big data, of our economic profile – i.e., GDP, exports, poverty, and FDIs – and how we lag our neighbors.

In other words, we are slicing and dicing a teeny tiny pie – focused on enablers while missing the drivers to prosperity – to accommodate over a hundred million people. Is the answer getting the Central Bank to facilitate lending to MSMEs and farmers to raise their productivity?

Before we proceed, let’s differentiate enablers from drivers. Monetary and fiscal interventions are enablers because yields don’t drop directly to national income or GDP. They also include infrastructure development. 

Drivers directly raise income. In the West, especially the US because of the animal spirits, they were able to evolve from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Recall that ours is a consumption economy reliant on OFW remittances.

In other words, industry is critical to drive and raise national income. In the 21st century, industry per se no longer bestows competitive advantage that fuels sustainable growth and prosperity. Enter innovation and global competitiveness.

We dissect the nuance by asking the question, what outcome do we want? See above, i.e., "begin with the end in mind."

How do we attain prosperity? The outcome we want is to become a wealthy nation. Recall the story of Eden: What did Adam and Eve set out to do? What did the pioneers set out to do in creating the New World? In other words, civilization brought about prosperity to humankind despite being marred by tribal-like conflicts.

What we've done instead is to seal our fate, conceded that we couldn't be a Singapore, for instance.

On the other hand, Vietnam – it is the same Vietnam that the American military wanted to bomb back to the Stone Age – is poised to be a bigger economy than Singapore. It is one of the major exporters to the US, and like real partners, the latter is expected to be the largest investor in Vietnam over the next couple of years.

It is like a broken record, our neighbors, one after the other, are moving from Third World to First-World nations. Not to be overlooked is that beyond foreign investment is technology.

“Theoretically, Facebook and Twitter should be banned from the Philippines because of their foreign ownership. Both entities broadcast news and opinion and influence cultural tastes. Our constitutional restriction simply looks antiquated and downright silly.

“State of the art technology also requires significant amounts of investments. We cannot hope to attract investors to risk capital in our tech sector with our outdated and even confusing bits and pieces of regulations.

“A recent study of PIDS, a government think tank, pointed out we are not ready to properly regulate the tech sector. Even the creation of DICT didn’t eliminate the conflict in regulatory functions with other government agencies.” [Keeping up with technology, Boo Chanco, DEMAND AND SUPPLY, The Philippine Star, 27th May 2019]

Technology goes beyond the tech sector and includes industry in general. That we are not industrial, but a consumption economy set us up to be a laggard in the tech sector.

Conversely, despite being a latecomer, Vietnam has leapfrogged industrialization by borrowing the playbook of the Asian Tigers and China. A quarter of its export receipts – which roughly equals PH total exports – is technology-based courtesy of Samsung and its $17-B investment in the country.

Technology is all around us, from the toothpaste or the soap or shampoo that we use, as well as detergents, and it goes way beyond. The bottom-line? The extent of our handicap measured against our neighbors is indeed confounding.

Agriculture is a sector that is near and dear to our hearts, driven by our compassion. The productivity of the farmers – the most unfortunate of the poor – their access to credit and farming inputs as well as farm-to-market roads, among others, don't capture an overarching vision that will pull us together.

Agribusiness is among our priority and critical industries. Today, when innovation and global competition are defining the 21st century, should compassion be the starting point in the development of a vision for this industry?

The writer is sitting in the offices of his Eastern European friends as he writes. His presence – sixteen years and counting – in this country, the poorest nation in Europe, stems from his Christian compassion and facilitated by American exceptionalism. However, to guide them craft an overarching vision for the enterprise during his first months, they had to understand and accept their reality.

Specifically, from a cottage industry that hadn't made a profit in 8 years, their effort over the ensuing few years must be to become a hundred-million-dollar enterprise. It was the most precise way for them to internalize, "Begin with the end in mind."

Of course, their jaws dropped. It takes this level of revenues for them to stand toe-to-toe against Western behemoths that have invaded their country. Innovation and global competition drive competition, they can't be driven otherwise.

That they have blown past this milestone years ago and recognized as one of the best and fastest growing companies in the EU even earlier is a testament to the habits – "effective," as Covey calls them – they have acquired in the process. How did they do it?

They kept figuring out and prioritizing the products and brands they had to develop – guided by the North Star of innovation and global competition – to get them to nirvana.

What is nirvana for Philippine agribusiness? What is nirvana for Philippine industry?

We are working on 42 industry road maps and are yet to figure out and prioritize – something that is alien to us given parochialism and insularity, if not the crab mentality, but crucial in the pursuit of development, i.e., to learn from our mistakes and build knowledge and experience  – the products that will deliver nirvana.

Will the numbers add up to make us a wealthy nation? Moreover, what are the "must innovations" – we must tap elsewhere in the world – and incorporate in these products that will make us win globally?

We will need money and technology. It is not about tapping our favorite "big boys," but scanning the world to win globally.

In other words, we must learn to view the world like an MNC because they have a track record on how to win globally. For example, before the writer retired from his old MNC-company, a small Chinese brand from Guangzhou, a state-owned enterprise, came to knock on their door.

"You are the biggest global brand in our business, and we want to partner with you. We will take a minority share, but our country needs lots of Western investment and technology to lift our people from poverty." It was an echo of the Deng mantra.

The partnership extended to another but more significant business but focused on their interest in securing an income stream in manufacturing. In short, it was a contract-manufacturing partnership because the Chinese knew MNCs market matter-of-factly to the broader regional and global markets. In return, the writer's MNC-company had one hundred percent ownership of the holding company.

It is not the first time the blog is sharing the story. It is how China traversed the road from poverty to prosperity. It is not rocket science. Does it come from their martial art heritage that they instinctively know how to use the size and bulk of MNCs to their advantage?

Do they recognize the distinction between drivers and enablers? What about analytics from big data? Recall the concept of sets and sunsets from "modern math."

How did Vietnam and Samsung find themselves together in bed to make the latter invest $17-B, not to overlook the technology behind their products, and deliver a quarter of Vietnam’s export receipts?

Aren’t the Vietnamese consumed by the desire to overcome poverty like we are, or the Chinese? The big difference is they, like the rest of our neighbors, have done it and we have not.

Gising bayan!

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? And that they will be such is not to be doubted, for he who submits to tyranny loves it.” [We are ruled by Rizal’s ‘tyrants of tomorrow,’ Editorial, The Manila Times, 29th Dec 2015]

“Now I know why Paul dared to speak of ‘the curse of the law’ (Galatians 3:13). Law reigns and discernment is unnecessary, which means there is little growth or change in such people. When you do not grow, you remain an infant.” [Faith and Science, Open to Change, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 23rd Oct 2017]

“As a major component for the education and reorientation of our people, mainstream media – their reporters, writers, photographers, columnists and editors – have an obligation to this country . . .” [Era of documented irrelevance: Mainstream media, critics and protesters, Homobono A. Adaza, The Manila Times, 25th Nov 2015]

“National prosperity is created, not inherited. It does not grow out of a country’s natural endowments, its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currency’s value, as classical economics insists . . . A nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade.” [The Competitive Advantage of Nations, Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business Review, March–April 1990]

“You have to have a dream, whether big or small. Then plan, focus, work hard and be very determined to achieve your goals.” [Henry Sy Sr., Chairman Emeritus and Founder, SM Group (1924 - 2019)]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” [William Pollard, 1911-1989, physicist-priest, Manhattan Project]

“Development [is informed by a people’s] worldview, cognitive capacity, values, moral development, self-identity, spirituality, and leadership . . .” [Frederic Laloux, Reinventing organizations, Nelson Parker, 2014]