Juan de la Cruz has very slim – to none – a chance to change?

But why is the blog still around after almost a dozen years of falling on deaf ears?

David defeated Goliath. Isn’t that enough?

The blog discussed Vietnam even before the World Bank confirmed that it would be wealthier than the Philippines because Vietnam brings the Asian Tigers to mind.

The writer’s first foreign trip was to Singapore – a Christmas and birthday gift to himself. In his early 20s, he was not even in the third year of his professional life – still wet behind the ears.

The last batch of British soldiers was still around. And the writer witnessed Lee Kuan Yew’s hands-on leadership style as he directed work in the Singapore Zoo.

Orchard Road was not as lush as it is today. They were in the process of greening this city-state.

Who would know that Singapore will surpass the US in competitiveness?

Who would think Vietnam can outdo even Singapore? Or from rice importers following the Vietnam War, they will be a top rice exporter – exporting even to the Philippines?

Sadly, Juan de la Cruz won’t imagine how people and nations can excel as our neighbors do? 

The writer covered the region and saw up close and personal these “Asian miracles” come about, including the AEC’s regionalization efforts. And it became clear that the Philippines would lose out in the process.

Let’s hold it right there. 

Juan de la Cruz isn’t the only one challenged. 

Everyone has to paddle his or her canoe. That is why the blog often speaks to Adam and Eve’s banishment and humankind's migration from Africa.

The dynamism of the universe is not new. It is as old as the universe itself.

When his old MNC-company moved him to New York, it was also the heyday of Japan, Inc., and corporate America was scrambling to regain its manufacturing prowess.

But the world was accelerating at warp speed that both Japan and the US would lose out to China as the post-industrialization era came to these wealthy nations.

The era must have come too soon because corporate America realized that US higher education didn’t hold the keys to the future. And several Fortune 500 companies confronted the challenge by pursuing full-blown education and training initiatives. 

They wanted answers to the question: Why doesn’t higher education see beyond the present? And the writer got deeply involved as his old MNC-company tapped educators as partners in its efforts to leapfrog the challenge. The outcome is an extensive curriculum integral to its people’s training and development, including its succession planning program.

Inherent in the company’s culture is ensuring people reach their potentials and feed the management pool necessary to manage over 200 markets or countries. It preempts tyranny better than nations manage their affairs. It is diversified. It is consistent with the American values of fairness, team spirit, and interdependence, aka the common good's commitment. [Of the three CEOs the writer worked with, two were not Americans; and only one of the three country managers were Americans in the Philippines. And while in New York, beyond negotiating the China JV, he tapped the Philippine country head, his former boss, to lead the new China venture, given his extensive Asian experience and cultural sensitivity.]

And, of course, personal responsibility. There is no free lunch. It is not for everyone.

Should readers wonder why the writer has no respect for Trump? Or for American politics, for that matter? The good news is the State of Maine introduced an innovation in the election process – “ranked-choice voting,” discussed by the blog several postings ago – to ensure that the “majority” rules. It is a long shot to expect that it becomes universal, given the federal system. But it is an excellent first step.

Consider: Trump has the support of less than half of the Americans and is the anthesis of American values, i.e., he undermines the rule of law, taking America down to a “banana republic.” That is why he finds friendships with tyrants and despots; yet shuts out partner-nations. And extinguishes the beacon of America, the “beacon of hope.”

Beyond the challenge of the post-industrialization era, in wealthy nations, were the EU initiative and NAFTA. And from a technology standpoint, there is Silicon Valley. And change isn’t slowing down.

Who would imagine AI and quantum computing would come about in this lifetime?

And so, despite Asia putting poverty to bed, poverty has resurrected as progress saw winners distancing themselves and leaving losers behind. And no one country appears able to lead the way as a hegemon.

“Make America Great Again,” says Trump. Translation: America must become parochial and insular.

But the real translation is otherwise. The business – real estate development – Trump inherited from his father is an essential emerging economy industry. Why he plays ball with foreign tyrants and oligarchs, i.e., homeownership is a fundamental metric that differentiates wealthy nations from poorer ones.

In other words, he can’t figure out, much less harness, the post-industrialization era for the benefit of wealthy nations like the US. Unsurprisingly, he is stuck with “the Rockefeller era,” i.e., fossil fuel, yet hypocritical about big tech. He takes advantage when it suits his selfish interests – as in social media –  yet maligns innovators for their forward-looking instincts. The operative word is “harness.” [See below; human needs demand continual innovation.]

As Lee Kuan Yew recognized, the smaller countries’ stability hinges on the major ones’ stability. That is why there is JICA or USAID, for example. Very recently, Germany committed to hegemony in Europe to give the US greater leverage in Asia and ensure the Western values of freedom, democracy, and interdependence migrate far and wide for the greater good of the global community.

When the automobile first hit the road, people protested because of the risk to public safety. The writer did not see much to that piece of history until after the Soviet empire’s collapse. That was when the EU took into its fold former Soviet satellite states and paved the way for their rapid infrastructure development.

Long story short, with their spanking new European-standard highways, these young member-nations endured elevated highway-related fatalities. The EU responded by enacting a Union-wide road-convention statute. And that arrested the spike in road accidents.

There is no free lunch. Every action has a corresponding equal and opposite reaction. And the response can be as simple as road courtesy, for example.

Recall what democracy entails, i.e., self-government, personal responsibility, and the commitment to the common good.

Attempts to move back the hands of time through efforts as rightist populism appear out-of-step, given how technology has given humankind a peek into the future. For example, nations can’t sweep aside the imperative of interdependence.

Take the race to develop the vaccine for Covid-19. Humankind, like its history, says, must adapt accordingly, for the common good.

Think of generic drugs that are available to everyone, rich and developing nations alike. And its impact on the human lifespan. That is because patents aren’t perpetual.

At the writer’s old MNC-company, they have a pharma subsidiary that supports its main technology center. The former develops professional products, while the latter focuses on consumer products. 

The writer supervised the pharma unit and experienced firsthand humankind’s need for continual innovation. R&D is not an isolated undertaking and must be integral to human development.

The common good is not some esoteric notion. 

Consider: The writer, at the request of an Ivy professor-friend, hosted a group of Koreans at their technology center. That was before Samsung and LG became household names. The Koreans were doing their homework. Why not enroll in an Ivy for a course that included a peek into how the West does R&D? Knowledge can’t be parochial; otherwise, it undermines the pursuit of the common good. As a global enterprise, the writer’s old MNC-company keeps a worldwide network, so knowledge migrates beyond the developed world and benefits humankind.

And what is happening in Wuhan? China is showing the rest of the world that economies will rebound after the bout with the pandemic.

Predicting the future is not a productive exercise given all the above.

Yet, the Asia Tigers – and Silicon Valley – demonstrated forward-thinking.

“Vietnam’s recipe for success is the very same one that was ridden by the East Asian miracle economies: the East Asian model. In the wake of the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, western pundits and the Western thinking-dominated multilateral organizations, notably the IMF and the World Bank, silently rejoicing at the stumble of East Asian exceptionalism, had declared it dead.

“Now, multinational corporations of every stripe and color are flocking to Vietnam’s export processing zones. Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) — fleeing both the higher labor cost and US trade sanctions on China — have joined the frenzy. Ironic that Chinese MNCs are hardly a presence in the Philippines after all Xi’s courting by Malacañang.

“Vietnam knows China is the template, which means going big on slipstream industrialization as an export platform. On average, Vietnam’s exports grew 16% a year for decades now, twice the growth of Philippine exports of 8.6%.” [Vietnam rising: Does being a ‘currency manipulator’ matter (?), Raul V. Fabella, Introspective, BusinessWorld, 25th Oct 2020]

Vietnam is not reinventing the wheel. All it is doing is replicate the East Asian model, a carryover of the “Asian miracles” of Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China.

And where is the nation, the Philippines?

Here’s a quote from a prior posting: “Parochialism: the eye of our perfect storm. Parochialism lulled us into believing we are the center of the universe. And it is manifested by our caste system.  

“Why disturb the apple cart when hierarchy comes with paternalism? Unsurprisingly, we never understood dynamism and consequently remained an underdeveloped economy and nation. Our worldview is so ingrained that our ‘reality’ continually shrinks."

Let’s reprise the posting’s hypothesis: Juan de la Cruz has a very slim – to none – a chance to change?

Consider: “The challenge is that individuals cannot change the overall context in which they live and work, except by moving elsewhere. The improvements needed to raise an entire economy’s productivity require coordinated, collective action.

“Unfortunately, the need for coordination rarely features in the current productivity debate. Instead, the discussion — whether of why output per worker hour has been virtually flatlining in many OECD countries since the mid-2000s or of which targeted policies might help to revitalize left-behind towns or regions—has focused on numerous potential contributory factors, rather than the need for coordinated action.

“For example, policymakers typically undertake cost-benefit appraisals of potential infrastructure investments on a project-by-project basis. But the returns to any project will be affected by other decisions, both private and public.

“If a new railway line opens, will local bus timetables change to coordinate people’s journeys? Will developers build houses nearby, and will other government agencies open schools in the area?

“Absent coordinated decision-making, investing in new projects where more of the other pieces are already in place will generally look like the better value-for-money option. Unfortunately, government agencies appraising projects aren’t mandated to conduct a holistic survey of the policy landscape.

“Economists need to connect their analysis with an understanding of the political potential for change, the sociology of organizations, and the psychology of decision-making. Simply urging regions to ‘be more like Silicon Valley’ is useless.

“The challenge for researchers and policymakers is to understand—in each specific context—precisely the prescribed coordination to increase productivity, and what actions (and by whom) can achieve this.

“Vast inequalities between places, and therefore in people’s life chances, are a critical political issue almost everywhere, as election upsets and increasing polarization in recent years indicate.

“Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic, the likelihood of economic turmoil owing to extreme weather or civil conflict, the existential requirement of shifting to a zero-carbon economy, and widespread digital disruption will make delivering broad-based prosperity an even more pressing imperative.

“Although the obstacles to increased productivity are nearly universal, the solutions will be specific to each place and reflect its asset legacy, industrial history, location, and local politics. There is no science—yet—on the kinds of decisions at different government levels or how to coordinate choices across departmental silos and budgets.

“Nobody would be surprised that the factors contributing to low or stagnant productivity include lack of investment in physical and intangible assets, skills shortages, inadequate infrastructure, poor management, and a weak macroeconomic environment.

“More surprising is the lack of attention paid so far to find a recipe that addresses these problems in tandem. Economists and policymakers must begin to rectify this without delay.” [The key to the productivity puzzle, Diane Coyle, WORLD VIEW, Project Syndicate, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 25th Oct 2020.]

Recall these quotes from prior postings:

“Forward-think, think “ecosystem.” [That is what the above article expounded.]

“Let’s start with national leadership. We never had one like those of the Asian Tigers.

“Yet, that is not surprising when we recognize that the leaders we’ve elected reflected the worldview of Juan de la Cruz: 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 must create an ecosystem that will negate these instincts. Recall the demands of democracy, i.e., self-government, personal responsibility, and the common good.

“How do we make AmBisyon Natin 2040 more dynamic?

“The aim is to turn Malaysia into a fully industrialized country and to quadruple per capita income by the year 2020.”

“Like a broken record, the blog repeatedly raised the imperative to traverse poverty to prosperity. And given we’re a service/consumption economy, we must move up to an industrial/investment economy.

“Let’s continue with the vision of Malaysia: “To be industrialized requires the country to continue ascending the technological ‘ladder,’ i.e., from low- to high-tech types of industrial production, with a corresponding increase in the intensity of capital investment and more excellent retention of value-added (i.e., the value added to raw materials in the production process) by Malaysian producers.”

“How to do that? Consider what Mahathir said to us Filipinos. ‘He stressed the importance of industrializing. Industrialization became necessary because agriculture could not create enough jobs for the growing population.

“Government must welcome more foreign direct investments, and help businesses. ‘When newly-independent countries were nationalizing foreign-owned industries and businesses, we decided to invite foreigners, including the former colonial masters, to come back and invest in industries in Malaysia.’

“Let’s get back to Vietnam and how they surprised the rest of the world, no different from the Asian Tigers before them.

“That is why the blog teed up two concrete initiatives for the Philippines to consider.

“Since our most significant exports are similar to those of Vietnam (a) to lure the most significant global brand in electronic devices and offer an aggressive tax regime, and (b) to mirror the development of the Pearl River Delta Economic development zone. [It represents an “ecosystem” more profoundly than the export processing zones we have in the Philippines.]

“That is how we get the biggest bang for the buck. We have been kicking around lots of the ‘trivial many’ that we miss the ‘vital few.’

“And that is a function of the lack of human development experience.

“The answer to ‘inequality’ is not paternalism but the commitment to the common good.”

“The Asian Tigers’ leaders engaged big nations while we wanted to burn bridges and disengage from the US because we’re still at the dualism level? But did the South China Sea imbroglio wake us up?

“Have we learned the lesson? The acid test will be: To demonstrate that we can forward-think and create for this beloved nation, the ecosystem that will mirror the soul of creation. Think of the photosynthesis phenomenon.”

But why is the blog still around after almost a dozen years of falling on deaf ears?

David defeated Goliath. Isn’t that enough?

Gising bayan!