“We'll go forward.”

“In these challenging, difficult times, we are discovering a pearl of wisdom that we needed all along, and that wisdom is that we are all connected. We are not separate. We used to think that we caught diseases as individuals: ‘I'm sick; you’re not.’ But now we realize that no, we catch diseases as individuals who are part of families, families who are part of cities, and cities that are part of states and nations. We realize now that our whole species can become infected, and that our entire globe can change because of our interconnectedness.

“This is also an opportunity for us to become enlightened about some other viruses. They’ve been spreading and causing even more considerable damage, without being acknowledged: social and spiritual ‘viruses’ that spread among us from individual to individual, from generation to generation, and are not named. We don’t organize against them, and so they continue to spread and cause all kinds of sickness [and death].

“Consider social and spiritual viruses like racism, white supremacy, human supremacy, Christian supremacy, any hostility that is spread, based on prejudice and fear.

“In this pandemic, many of us are nostalgic for the old normal. We want to get back to our favorite coffee shop, our favorite restaurant, our church service. And of course, there’s nothing wrong with so many of those desires for the old normal.

“If we are wise at this time, we will not go back unthinkingly to the old normal. There were problems with that ‘old normal,’ many of us ignored.

“The old normal, when you look at it from today’s perspective, was not so great, not something to be nostalgic about, without being deeply critical. As we experience discomfort in this time, let’s begin to dream of a new normal, a new normal that addresses the weaknesses and problems that were going unaddressed in the old normal.

“If we’re wise, we won’t go back; we’ll go forward.” [Wisdom in Times of Crisis, Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, 9th Jul 2020]

Recall the blog has argued that we don’t forward-think because of our caste system. Unsurprisingly, it informs our instincts, including our world view.

Moreover, we couldn’t care less if one neighbor after another would leave us in the dust. Yet, internally, we like to champion “pro-poor” ideas and initiatives. In other words, do we know if we’re coming or going?

We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism that we rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.

We don’t forward-think, yet we believe it is an asset and a virtue. “Sigurista si Juan de la Cruz.” In other words, he is “maabilidad.” He is brainy, not naïve. Who can fight City Hall? Thus, we value oligarchy and their spoils – as in monopolies and franchises. And that is why we love tyranny.

“If we are wise at this time, we will not go back unthinkingly to the old normal. There were problems with that ‘old normal,’ many of us ignored. If we’re wise, we won’t go back; we’ll go forward.” [Rohr, op. cit.]

Are we waking up yet? “Philippines Backs Off Threat to Terminate Military Pact With U.S.,” Jason Gutierrez, The New York Times, 2nd Jun 2020.

Consider: “Our whole globe can be changed [courtesy of the pandemic] because of our interconnectedness.” 

If before we kicked out the US military, this time, we better recognize which side of the bread has butter. Look at what is happening in the West Philippine Sea. Think of these wealthy countries that won’t demonstrate the hubris that we do: Japan, Germany, and South Korea.

As the blog has argued, if we care to forward-think, we can’t be an island unto ourselves. And when making friends, Rizal is a great guide: That it is not tyranny but the rule of law that we must value. Sadly, because of our caste system, we are not steadfast in our values.

We have an uphill battle, and over the twelve years of the blog’s existence, it is hard-pressed to acknowledge that we are prepared to undo our instincts.

For example, beyond overcoming the pandemic, we must be gearing up to go much farther. We must learn to forward-think. But it will take some time. 

Neuroscience tells us that the chamber of the brain responsible for forward-thinking is untapped – and underdeveloped – and why visionaries are few and far between. 

To quote from a prior posting: “Creativity. It is the practice of thinking outside the box. While Creativity generally connotes either you-have-it-or-you-don’t quality, students can learn how to be creative by solving problems, creating systems, or just trying something they haven’t tried before. That doesn’t mean every student will become an artist or a writer. Instead, it means they’ll be able to look at a problem from multiple perspectives — including those that others may not see.

“Creativity allows students to embrace their inner strengths from big-picture planning to meticulous organization. As students learn about their Creativity, they also learn how to express it in healthy and productive ways. More importantly, they also become motivated to share that Creativity with others. Just like with Critical thinking, that makes Creativity contagious.” 

Why does the blog say we now own the “Dutch disease”? It’s another name for insanity. For many years, we celebrated our GDP growth rate of 6%-6.5%. Yet, over the same period, we remained the regional laggard.

Still, we can’t think out of the box – even when we know the drivers of the economy are principally the OFW remittances and BPO revenues.

Recall the blog raised a paradigm shift, from thinking in percentage to an absolute value, of $200 billion. Why? It will demonstrate how to catch up with our neighbors – and break the back of poverty as they did. An incremental GDP of $200 billion will put us ahead of Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

And what is the way forward? To benchmark against the wonder of Samsung Vietnam and purposely attract a major global electronic manufacturing hub. And that will put us a quarter of the way to an incremental GDP of $200 billion.

That is how students learn creative thinking. Surprisingly, that is how adults learn too. And so, it applies to MSMEs as well. If a thousand (out of almost a million) of our MSMEs imagine themselves hundred-million-dollar enterprises, that will equate to an incremental GDP of $100 billion.

And that example is not an abstract one but a restatement of how the writer challenged his then-found Eastern European friends – an MSME that had not made money in eight years. You want to compete and win against all comers, especially Western giants; you cannot think like an MSME. You have to forward-think. 

It works for Fortune 500 companies too. And the writer lived through a much daunting challenge, selling over a hundred brands and cutting revenues by half. But by the time he retired, it was four times bigger both at the top and bottom lines. And the only consumer product brand that penetrated global households of nearly 70 percent.

There is no free lunch. Even the writer’s Eastern European friends know it firsthand. And so, they earned every bit of the recognition they received from the EU Competitiveness Commission – for being a model enterprise.

But let’s get back to Samsung Vietnam. Even if we attract an FDI to match their impact on Vietnam, we will still be several billion off the goal of $200 billion in incremental GDP. That is especially so if we consider that MSMEs will not produce $100 billion overnight or shortly. 

What to do? Think even more outside the box. Benchmark Central Luzon against the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone. How far is that from celebrating a 6%-6.5% GDP growth? 

That’s very far. And the farther it is, the more it is outside the box. We have millions and millions of impoverished Filipinos we must think outside the box – not dole-outs. [In other words, the Philippines is not just for us in the elite class, sheltered from the poverty surrounding us. Otherwise, we are well on the road to a banana republic if not a failed state.]

With that new paradigm, we can then reconstruct our monetary and fiscal interventions. It cannot be the same-old, same-old.

“If we’re wise, we won’t go back; we’ll go forward.”

Gising bayan!

“Here is a land in which a few are spectacularly rich while the masses remain abjectly poor. And where freedom and its blessings are a reality for a minority and an illusion for the many. Here is a land consecrated to democracy but run by an entrenched plutocracy, dedicated to equality but mired in an archaic system of caste. 

“But the fault was chiefly their own. Filipinos profess the love of country, but love themselves – individually – more.” [Ninoy Aquino, Foreign Affairs magazine, July 1968; Stanley Karnow, New York Times Magazine, “Cory Aquino’s Downhill Slide,” 19th Aug 1990.]

“Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow? Moreover, 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]

“True social reform has little to do with politics. To unmoor ourselves from the burdens of the past, we must be engaged in the act of continual and conscious self-renewal. All men are partially buried in the grave of custom. Even virtue is no longer such if it is stagnant.

“Change begins when we finally choose to examine critically and then recalibrate the ill-serving codes and conventions handed down to us, often unquestioned, by the past and its power structures. It is essentially an act of imagination first.” [David Henry Thoreau; American essayist, poet, and philosopher; 1817-1862]

“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]

“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]