Let’s start with a predicate, for example, the GDP per person (purchasing power parity) in US dollars of PH, SG and US. And hopefully we will appreciate why same old, same old can only guarantee our being the regional laggard: PH = 8,200; SG = 90,500; US = 59,600.
For an even broader perspective lets add the GDP per person of: MY = 28,900; TH = 17,800; VN = 6,900. Before we celebrate that we are ahead of Vietnam, let’s look at FDIs and Exports: PH = 67.25-B and 53.22-B, respectively; VN = 128.3-B and 194.6-B. In other words, Vietnam delivers roughly 4X more exports than the Philippines, which is not a surprise given their FDIs are almost 2X greater than ours. And, again not surprising, their GDP growth is in our ballpark: PH = 6.6%; VN = 6.3%
Given where we are on income per person (and refer to our depressed FDIs and exports), we should not be surprised that we can’t overcome poverty: PH = 21.6%; VN =11.3%, i.e., ours is practically twice theirs. Note how poverty mirrors our deficit in FDIs versus Vietnam.
Question: Why are we celebrating our GDP growth as if we’re not the regional laggard – and when it will take us a generation to see the light at the end of the tunnel – and not being circumspect? We behave like kids and we will remain kids. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course, it is good for our self-esteem. But we can’t be in perpetual infantile mode. That is why there is such as a thing as the 12 Steps AA (Alcohol Anonymous) Recovery Program.
And look at how Singapore has bested the US. We can’t imagine matching our neighbors wealth-wise while ignoring that Singapore can be better than the US. It takes dynamism to develop a sense of foresight. It is understandable that poverty has rendered Juan de la Cruz rather shortsighted – to look beyond the horizon. But that is where leadership comes in – as well as the foresight of our economic managers.
We have two challenges: (a) how to get our leadership and economic managers to educate us in this regard; (b) how to open the eyes of Juan de la Cruz that even if we get greater social safety net (e.g., CCT, etc.) delivered to him, we don’t have the means to satisfy his needs to the extent we assume such initiatives will.
The freebies that the Du30 administration and economic managers are crowing about are like candies meant to pacify a kid. Juan de la Cruz doesn’t need to be an economist to figure out that with our income per person at 8,200 – versus Malaysia = 28,000 and Thailand = 17,800 – we truly are deep down the abyss.
And to our economic managers, we must start to learn from the private sector and set income targets over the medium and longer term – beyond GDP growth and confining ourselves to economic tools. In other words, development is beyond economics. [See below re The Competitive Advantage of Nations.] And then to craft an industrialization policy that will deliver such income targets. Let’s benchmark and learn from the Asian Tigers.
In other words, we must focus on the JFC’s Arangkada – unless we can come up with something better, but why reinvent the wheel and waste one generation after another? – beyond GDP growth.
But we have an even broader challenge and why the blog constantly refers to Padre Damaso, the quintessential ideologue.
Note that the blog is about the reinvention of Juan de la Cruz. And during the nine years of its existence, it has argued that we are not getting there. If there is one reinvention that we witness today, it is the Du30’s war on drugs, which has gained us infamy, i.e., are we civilized yet or still tree people?
It is a reinvention of the wrong kind, not the positive evolution – that would lift PH from the curse of poverty. But given our deference to hierarchy, we embrace such short-sightedness. Who can say when and how Du30 will win this war? Is there a body of knowledge we can refer to? Go figure. Or is our lack of foresight simply in full display?
The blog has argued that we need to develop our sense of foresight, which makes man superior to the rest of creation. It is a recent finding from the social science and not yet well appreciated. And especially by Juan de la Cruz who gravitates to the static instead of the dynamic.
Should we be surprised given the church is very much a key element of our culture like family? Note that within the church leadership there is the progressive wing and the conservative wing. While Pope Francis chose to be called Francis being a devotee of St. Francis. And there is a Franciscan theology that at its core believes in a God of Love – and a God of Mercy. And mercy is a constant message from Pope Francis
Here is how Juan de la Cruz may want to evolve. It is from Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 25th Feb 2018: “[W]e are ‘pressured’ from within to evolve. That pressure is what we have always called the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit is creatively at work … urging us to evolve, to become a new kind of human being such as the world has rarely seen before. But what has been rare must now become commonplace.
“The universe is not inert, but is ‘inspirited matter.’ We might call this driving force instinct, evolution, nuclear fusion, DNA, hardwiring, the motherboard, healing, growth, or springtime. Nature clearly renews itself from within. God seems to have created things that continue to create and recreate themselves from the inside out. A fully incarnate God creates through evolution.
“The very meaning of the word universe is to ‘turn around one thing.’ There is either some Big Truth in this universe, or it is an incoherent universe. We are hardwired for the Big Picture, for transcendence, for ongoing growth (another name for evolution), for union with ourselves and everything else.
“Either God is for everybody and the divine DNA is somehow in all creatures, or this God is not God. Humans are driven, hopefully even drawn, toward ever higher levels of conscious union and the ability to include (to forgive others for being ‘other). Everything that rises must converge.
“Unfortunately, many people view God as a deity who tortures and excludes forever those people who don’t agree with ‘him’ or get ‘his’ name right. How could you possibly trust such a small God or ever feel loved, safe, and free? Jesus undid the stingy, violent view of God when he said, ‘You, evil as you are, know how to give good things to your children … If you, then how much more, God!’ (Matthew 7:11).
“If we are created in the image and likeness of God, then whatever good, true, or beautiful things we can say about humanity or creation we can also say of God—but they’re even more true! God is the beauty of creation and humanity multiplied to the infinite power.
“[T]his wondrous universe cannot be an incoherent and accidental cosmos, nor can it be grounded in evil … [A] free and loving God desires our participation in co-creation. The Great Work is ours too.”
The blog has often referenced the church because of its influence on our static tendencies. Recall planet earth was viewed as flat not round. It takes ages before we can step up to reality. Indeed, we are perception-challenged. And why we must seriously want to reinvent Juan de la Cruz.
In the meantime, so that we can keep an eye on our way of life – or “culture” – the blog never tires of raising it: We are parochial an insular. We defer to hierarchy while expecting paternalism in return. We value and rely on patronage and political dynasties and oligarchy.
And the resulting impunity is something we all want to go away, forgetting that it is the outcome of our collective instincts.
“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]
“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]
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