Alternative reality

In this parallel universe, we can create whatever is pleasing until "reality" presents itself as a healthy dose. Today we are celebrating a "booming economy" but how different is that to 2015 when we were singing hosanna to "manufacturing resurgence"?

In fairness, every administration concerned took credit for the consistency in GDP growth when the reality is (a) OFW remittances and (b) the BPO industry are driving PH economy, including our ability to keep the exchange rate stable and our forex reserves healthy.

So, credit rating agencies have been generous to us, but it dates to previous administrations given the OFW phenomenon. Still, we can invoke poetic justice, aka denial.

These two income streams accounted for a combined receipt of $57-B in 2018. If we add that to our accumulated FDI of $79-B, it gives us an investment source of $136-B, which is higher than Vietnam's accumulated FDI of $130-B.

It explains why we have created more Forbes billionaires and why the elite class can't or aren't complaining. The plight of Juan de la Cruz is something else or for politicians to exploit no different Trump is focused on promises to his base.

Here's the reality: Vietnam's poverty rate is down to 8% while ours is at 21.6%. The multiplier effect of Vietnam's exports dampens that of the two drivers of our economy. Because beyond FDI theirs' came with technology, scale and the emergence of sub-industries, and high-quality jobs.

For example, Samsung accounts for a quarter of Vietnam's exports – which approximate total PH exports – behind their investments of $17-B, which explains why the DTI is working on 42 industry road maps.

Sadly, they're still on the drawing board. Worse is the road maps won't get off the ground if the crab mentality gets the better of us and don't recognize the imperative of discipline in execution and prioritize the one or two industries that will give us the biggest bang for the buck sooner than later.

Our supposed manufacturing resurgence and booming economy indeed saw an uptick in electronic automotive parts that we export yet total manufacturing and exports still aren’t making a dent against Vietnam’s soaring revenues.

So, we are pointing to Build, Build, Build, including the $14-B airport proposal from San Miguel. As the blog has discussed, there are enablers and drivers – of development and business and economic activities.

What we're celebrating are the "enablers" that won't match Vietnam's "drivers," which are getting an added bonanza from the trade war between the US and China because manufacturer-exporters are moving from China to Vietnam.

Moreover, the US is expected to be the largest investor in Vietnam in the next couple of years. They are the same people that lied to justify the Vietnam war and wanted to bomb them back to the Stone Age. Is Vietnam today at the mercy of the Americans? What about China or Singapore or Malaysia?

Put another way, the US, Germany, and Japan have all committed atrocities yet are today members of the community of nations, which explains the partnership between Vietnam and the US, as in interdependence. Moreover, the Americans keep military bases in Germany and Japan, as in hegemony. Unsurprisingly, Juan de la Cruz trusts the Americans more than the Chinese.

Still, there is this open wound, such that we equate a US military base to subservience. How come we let them be in Mindanao? 

Meanwhile, the alternative reality we created has been around for the longest time and why the blog never tires of raising the "reality" of our instincts: 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.

Moreover, they rob us of dynamism, to look forward, and foresee.

Our instincts explain every barrier we erected and why we are the regional laggard, and it starts with our pitiful FDI — or some will say it starts from the "basic water" to our conflicted world view. Between a culture of impunity and regional laggard, what redeeming value then must we seek and hold?

The world will not wait until Juan de la Cruz sorts out his instincts and figures out if he is coming or going. 

In the meantime, Vietnam is not only overtaking us but poised to surpass Singapore at the rate they are going.

“We have gone through 120 years of ‘capitalism” and ‘democracy’ since our first try for freedom and self-governance in 1896. But where are we now? Are we truly better as country and as a people?

“Have we finally bucked the ills that plagued our society in 1896 onwards? Have we gone beyond our political and economic troubles and paved the way for the creation of a nation that is united and strong? Have we given our people better lives?” [Another chance at greatness, Marvin A. Tort, Static, Business World, 6th Apr 2016]

What about our instincts? As the blog has repeatedly pointed out, Lee and Mahathir counseled Deng to beg for Western money and technology. We may have all forgotten, but Mahathir also said the same thing to us Pinoys. 

Granted, we acknowledge that we must indeed attract FDI; the rest of our instincts won't give us the conviction to match that of our neighbors'.

Foreign investors aren’t blind. We must demonstrate conviction and transform our consumption economy to an industrial economy. News item: “BSP focused on improving FDI environment.”

Granted the BSP’s role is to be an enabler as in classical economics, what about the leadership? What is its focus? 

“So it’s baffling that President Duterte, despite having approved the planned auction of Imelda’s jewelry to allow the government to recover the people’s money, was also heard complaining earlier this week that, in the fight against unending corruption in government, his hands are supposedly tied by the present Constitution, and so ‘find another Marcos.’

“Marcos did not eradicate corruption, contrary to what Duterte implied. Marcos centralized it: he decided who can steal with impunity among his officials and cronies, but he made sure he got the lion’s share.’

“To this day, the government is still recovering the loot, and Imelda’s gems are but a small part of what was robbed from the people. But it no longer surprises that Mr. Duterte can utter such a falsehood; it’s clear the President is invested in the agenda to restore, deify—and copy where he can—the ruinous Marcos brand of governance, even if that means repudiating facts, history, the truth.

“Already convicted, she remains free and unpunished and—a star, indeed—untouchable as ever.” [Another Imelda, another Marcos, EDITORIAL, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 22nd Jun 2019]

Has DU30 given up on fighting corruption? What about the war on drugs? The friendship with China?

In fairness, the administration has its 10-point economic agenda. On the other hand, recall how our neighbors shocked the rest of the world by becoming economic miracles and earned the honor of Asian Tigers. "Beg for Western money and technology" was their common mantra.

Not surprisingly, today, they dominate the global ranking in competitiveness. Singapore and Hong Kong are no. 1 and no. 2, with the US at no. 3.

These neighbors demonstrated foresight and dynamism, beyond classical economics. It explains why they beat the West in their own game. If PH is to be the next economic tiger, we better beat the West in their own game. 

With due respect to the BSP, to improve the FDI environment goes beyond our current view of the world. We must convince the rest of the world that PH can support an industrial economy, including the pursuit of innovation and global competitiveness.

For example, why are manufacturer-exporters that are leaving China moving to Vietnam? It is the kind of question we never asked ourselves since the advent of the Asian economic miracles. We’ve stuck with our parochial and insular bias given our instincts. We cannot measure the rest of the world with the yardstick of our alternative reality.

Let’s get back to our leadership. If it is giving up on corruption, what about the war on drugs? “Int' l drug crime boss had heyday in Philippines, says book," Tony S. Bergonia, INQUIRER.net, 20th Jun 2019.

“At the book’s epilogue, its author, Ratliff, said he wondered how Le Roux would have operated under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who had launched a brutal campaign against drugs and criminality that had already claimed the lives of thousands of people.

‘One source connected to the Manila underworld told me he’d talked to people at the highest levels of the (drug) cartels now active in the country, who said that the killing campaign was targeted only at addicts and low-level dealers, leaving the higher-ups, who knew how to pay for protection, untouched,’ Ratliff wrote.

“The drug business [is booming.] They’re sending in more drugs. They’re stockpiling [them.]”

What about the friendship with China? “Duterte: I am not afraid of China,” Alexis Romero, The Philippine Star, 22nd Jun 2019.

“[It’s] not China that he’s afraid of but the prospect of the Asian power wiping out Philippine forces in the event of armed conflict.

“That is an open confrontation, there would be a gun battle. I’m not afraid of China. I am afraid that we might turn out to be helpless and just get wiped out. America has the right to interfere if it becomes a bloody confrontation.”

Are we rooting for China against the US, or are we changing our tune? These two nations today are competing on the world stage. Either way, we carry the baggage from the past. Because Juan de la Cruz is about looking backward not forward and why dynamism isn't natural to us despite living in this universe that is one and where extinction is the reality.

What do our instincts say according to Rizal? We submit to tyranny because we love it. One is an autocracy and the other a democracy. 

The Hong Kong people today are witness to the struggle, and they are demonstrating where they stand. The writer is in Sofia as he writes. He has lived and worked with people that survived a similar struggle.

There is no such thing as absolute yet countries that once saw the West as the enemy are today swearing against autocracy. They give the writer the motivation – through 16 years and counting – to share with them how democracy and the free market works for those that adhere to personal responsibility.

If through the blog, the writer is challenging Juan de la Cruz, these people must be masochists. Because they love to hear and accept the challenge – to beat their Western competition in their own game – despite the pain they go through. No pain, no gain.

How should we establish ourselves in the community of nations? Consider these pillars: (a) Democracy (b) Hegemony (c) Interdependence. Democracy means free, open, and competitive. Hegemony recognizes the leadership of powerful nations. Interdependence is being friends to others consistent with these pillars.

It’s worth repeating: “Have we finally bucked the ills that plagued our society in 1896 onwards? Have we gone beyond our political and economic troubles and paved the way for the creation of a nation that is united and strong? Have we given our people better lives?”

Why do we live in our "alternative reality"? Because it’s “pwede na ‘yan”? We have a generational challenge. Do we need to seriously revisit our instincts that brought us this culture of impunity instead of dynamism and foresight?

If in the continuum across the extremes of dualism and relativism, our perceptive judgment puts us closer to "dualism," our neighbors are farther away and moving towards relativism.

While in the one across autocracy and democracy, we tilt to "autocracy" no different from the base of Trump that sees him as a demigod, as we do DU30.

The bottom line: We get the leadership that we deserve. It is why our nation is left behind.

“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]

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]