“We owe it to ourselves”

That’s a quote from Boo Chanco: “Competitiveness,” DEMAND AND SUPPLY, The Philippine Star, 16th Nov 2017. “Our ASEAN hosting showed we are capable of delivering better. I have no doubt we have competitiveness in the ASEAN region, if we put our best minds to it. Tourism, infrastructure, peace and order… we can and should do better. We owe it to ourselves.”

Does it bring back memories of the 1976 IMF meeting in Manila when we supposedly established the Philippines as a world-class convention center? Forty-one years later we’re still about can and should?

“[I]n an industry like tourism where we should have natural competitive advantage, we trail our neighbors in ASEAN. Vietnam has overtaken us. Vietnam has a tourism promotions budget of $5.3 million vs our $50 million, yet produces eight million visitors to our 5.4 million.” [Chanco, op. cit.]

Recall the blog has repeatedly talked about an ecosystem. There is no shortcut in development nor is there a silver bullet. We must, if we are to borrow from education reform, develop a growth mindset and hone our foresight.

But first and foremost, we must toss “crab mentality” and learn about community and the common good. Sadly, Juan de la Cruz isn’t predisposed to internalize the power of purpose. And in our case, it is about development. The sense of purpose is not on our radar screen, not in our psyche.

It is even embarrassing that we appropriate advertising as a core competency: it doesn’t mean spending $50 million in promotion per se and why Vietnam attracts more visitors. Boo discussed the building blocks of tourism and we are wanting in all respects other than our God-given natural beauty.

Indeed, we owe it to ourselves. And that means we must pull our respective weights and demand that enough is enough. And it must start with every one of us. And that’s the first challenge and why the blog constantly raises who and what we are. If we don’t know Juan de la Cruz, how are we to face the world?

We are parochial and insular … we defer to hierarchy and expect paternalism in return … we value and rely on political patronage and dynasties … and oligarchy. The bottom line: we have yet to develop a growth mindset and hone our foresight.

As the blog has stressed, democracy is of the people, by the people and for the people. Yet because of our instincts of leader-dependency, we cede absolute power to our leaders as if we haven’t learned that absolute power corrupts absolutely. We create and deserve the leadership that we get.

And do we want the Chinese and the Russians to do as we do? And the Americans too? How could we – compared to the rest of the world – overrate leaders that take the rule of law for granted? Does it explain our culture of impunity? Because we like to look around to pin the blame on another?

The writer has pointed to the church as a great influence on Juan de la Cruz and referenced Padre Damaso to make the point – of subservience. Yet, speaking to a young person that went to an Opus Dei school in Manila, it was refreshing to know that millennials indeed have a mind of their own. Opus “dehins” is how they acknowledge their education.

And more to the point, Francis himself doesn’t reflect the conservative wing of the Curia. People can and do change, as the writer himself has witnessed with his Eastern European friends. But then again, Jesus Christ was a progressive – “Crucify him ... Crucify him” – and embraced sinners and the lowly peasants and fishermen. He who is first is last, and he who is last is first.

But that’s anathema to the Philippine elite – where our leaders come from. Political dynasties given the power they wield – aka patronage – and oligarchy are two sides of the same coin. And we all fall in line behind one or the other if not both. Indeed, we owe it to ourselves.

Sadly, if we don’t have a good handle on development, chances are we can’t develop the 6th sense demanded by innovation and competitiveness. And leader-dependency in fact undermines innovation from the get-go. But we still need to wrap our head around that.

As some would know, the writer introduced his Eastern European friends to the challenge of innovation and competitiveness 14 years ago, a carryover from his MNC days – and competed globally for decades.

And for us Pinoys, there is another piece that brings about a double whammy: Logic, as the blog has discussed – which in Western higher education is likewise a dilemma – is overrated when it connotes linear and incremental thinking.

Think IBM and GE, even P&G, the world’s biggest advertiser. These once blue-chip enterprises – e.g., IBM holds the most patents in the world – today no longer carry the aura that earned them Wall Street’s absolute respect.

Yet we Pinoys in our heart of hearts believe that we are smarter than our neighbors? Do we wonder why we’re the regional laggard? It is not about smarts but to be outward-looking so that we learn from others and don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

As he writes, the writer and wife and family friends from the Philippines are in Italy on holiday. Talk about tourism. The group’s preference is to stay in B&B’s (Bed & Breakfast.) They are warmer than typical hotels, more homey, relaxing and pleasant.

And there appears a common thread among European B&Bs. Obviously, they attract lots and lots of visitors being developed countries – on top of their storied histories. And – surprise, surprise – infrastructure sets these B&Bs for success whether in Italy, France, Switzerland or Spain.

It is not atypical for a B&B to be owned and operated by a husband and wife team. And it is not a walk in the park. They need a great location, acquired at the right price and then turned into an ideal B&B – which makes for competitive advantage but a price, a 24/7 grind (including baking bread and pastries for breakfast) at least 7 months of the year, or what they call high season.

In one case, a retired couple fixed the inherited parents’ home. They were not wealthy, the woman worked in a garment factory. And to augment their retirement pensions, the income from the B&B was a necessity.

It is about the ecosystem. As the new UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) have articulated, it is imperative that: (a) we are unequivocal in accelerating infrastructure development; (b) be laser-like in our focus on industrialization, not be at the mercy of political patronage and oligarchy; and (c) dogged in the pursuit of innovation and competitiveness.

It is about development. It is not about the war on poverty or the war on drugs. It is not even about dictatorship which we tried before. Remember Marcos? We lag our neighbors as the last 50 years have demonstrated and have yet to come to terms with reality. Remember the times that try men's soul?

There is no shortcut in development. There is no silver bullet. But we cannot develop an ecosystem if we don’t develop a growth mindset and hone our foresight. We shall remain shortsighted otherwise. And be ruled by “crab mentality” – that empowers dictatorship – instead of community and the common good.

“Why independence, if the slaves of today's 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]

“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]