Why does the blog keep raising how our caste system undermines our “reason for being”? Our inability to forward-think and respond to the Creator’s gift – unconditional love – cannot be overcome until we reconcile our reality.
Here’s a quote from an earlier posting: “Recall Fr. George Gorospe: ‘No human formulation of reality or philosophical explanation of human experience will suffice. We cannot conclude that we have grasped the whole of reality and crystallized it in an expression or system that exhausts all its meaning. Reality is too rich and is continuously changing; it can’t fall under a set of categories.’
“Hence, there is need today of a more dynamic and more existential philosophy inspired by the Neo-Thomist revival of the authentic thought of St. Thomas, i.e., it is not a ‘closed system’ but remains ‘open’ to the valid insights of other philosophies. For example, to the contribution of contemporary phenomenology and existentialism.” [Christian Renewal of Filipino Values, Vitaliano R. Gorospe; Philippine Studies vol. 14, no. 2, 1966; Ateneo de Manila University]
Consider our instincts: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.
If we can’t visualize prosperity as our neighbors did, we will fall flat on our faces. The urge to rationalize is how people keep their sanity, yet it also misses the distinction between the growth mindset and the fixed mindset.
Why do we keep tripping ourselves and missing every fork in the road? We are left to prescribe solutions that are looking for a problem. Simply put, those who know where they are going will get there. Conversely, those that don’t know won’t.
Paternalism insults the Creator, i.e., rationalized by our value of parochialism and insularity. How many times do we mouth the nuance between giving fish and teaching how to fish?
Weren’t we supposed to fix jobs and poverty with the OFW phenomenon that we kept celebrating? What about the comprehensive land reform program or the coconut subsidies?
One after the other, our neighbors fixed jobs and poverty, not via paternalism – or giving fish – but by recognizing their people’s reason for being. Simply put, they traversed poverty to prosperity.
A prosperous Juan de la Cruz is nirvana – not the 4Ps, for example.
And so, before we jump for solutions looking for a problem, we better first reconcile our reality. That’s why the blog is critical of the slew of legislation that is supposed to attract FDI more substantially than before.
The good news is beyond “CREATE,” we are now looking at SIPP.
“Trade Undersecretary Rafaelita M. Aldaba said in an online event that DTI will adopt the SIPP—a list of investment sectors that may apply for the ‘fiscal incentive’—after CREATE'S signing into law.
“In terms of the incentives, these are much higher menu of incentives [and] reduction in the corporate income tax rate. SIPP breaks down the investments and projects into three industry tiers.
“Tier 1 includes high potential for job creation and emerging industries owing to potential comparative advantage, while Tier 2 includes activities that produce supplies, parts, and components. Meanwhile, Tier 3 has [research and development] with significant value-added, high productivity, breakthroughs in science and health, and high-paying jobs.
“Under SIPP, the critical industries include electrical and electronics; chemical and pharmaceuticals; machinery and transport; agriculture and agribusiness; information technology-business process management; research and development; and artificial intelligence, automation, robotics, and digital technologies.” [“CREATE signing cheers business; DTI preps SIPP,” Tyrone Jasper C. Paid and Butch Fernandez, BusinessMirror, 29th Mar 2021]
Note: “In terms of the incentives, these are [a] much higher menu of incentives [and] reduction in the corporate income tax rate.”
And this is where we need the DTI and the public sector to keep Juan de la Cruz reeducated to overcome the crab mentality. And media, too, has a role to play.
The crab mentality has turned us into the regional laggard characterized by abject poverty.
What about us in the Philippine elite class?
The bog will not tire of calling out our top companies because of their influence in keeping us parochial and insular. But the blog cannot be a voice in the wilderness.
For example, the blog has raised many realities that have not made it to our national conversation. One Vietnam enterprise contributes more to Vietnam’s economy than our top eight companies combined to ours. And why do we have to wait for Moody Analytics to tell us that more significant export receipts – and tax revenues – will come from electronic devices [like Samsung smartphones and Apple AirPods]?
In agribusiness, nirvana must translate to “produce that is globally competitive, beyond food security.” Again, look at Vietnam and Thailand. Their rice industry is world-class, and why we import from them.
On the other hand, our caste system has defined our reality that we can only sink deeper into the abyss if we can’t step up to the plate.
Juan de la Cruz is to be prosperous, beyond exist.
Gising bayan!
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