Why can’t Juan de la Cruz be dynamic?

It is because of our instincts – which we manifest in our caste system that makes destiny a given. And so, rank has its privileges.

Unsurprisingly, “South Korea and the Philippines had similar per capita incomes in the early 1960s. Still, the Philippines languished in political and economic institutions (especially because power and wealth concentrated in a few hands), so it remains a developing country. In contrast, South Korea has joined the ranks of the developed.” [“Globalization and Poverty,” Pranab Bardhan, Scientific American, 26th Mar 2006]

In fairness, Western financial institutions nudge us and reinforce said instincts because we value the same metric. And so, they raised our credit ratings to recognize our GDP growth rates of 6%-7% — despite our reliance on OFW remittances and failure to move up from a consumption-service economy to an investment-industrial economy.

What is wrong with this scenario? Even The New York Times, in the obituary for PNoy (May he rest in peace!), recognized our GDP growth rates under his presidency.

Question: How come, despite several years of growing at the said pace, we are still the regional laggard?

On the other hand, consider the US economy that is fast recovering from the pandemic, it is growing at the same metric of 6%-7%.

What’s the difference? The US GDP is over $20 trillion. Ours is a drop in the bucket. Yet, we like to believe that we are better than our neighbors whenever they report a lower growth rate because of this metric.

What is our reality? We are the regional laggard. And only Mongolia is the last neighbor left to leave us in the dust.

It is grade 5 arithmetic. The laws of big and small numbers govern percentages.

And because we aren’t dynamic – in mindset and thinking – we can’t see beyond a narrow metric.

Recall that I changed the planning and budgeting system in a 200-year-old Fortune 500. And did several restructuring initiatives in different parts of its worldwide markets.

Let’s hold it right there.

Don’t we like to say that being Pinoys, we are different? But “reality” is, everyone is different; otherwise, we are as predictable as robots.

Many postings ago, some may recall that I shared this anecdote: Over dinner, the country manager where I was doing a restructuring said, “My wife asked me to ask you if you are firing me.”

I always had a ready answer for these questions: I am here to guide you and your team to figure out three things: (1) Where are you as an enterprise; (2) Where do you want to be; and (3) How do you get there.

It is a classic exercise in defining the common good. And as the Franciscans would say, it is about unity, not uniformity. Uniformity undermines creativity and innovation. While the search for the supposed unknown benefits from differences — and diversity.

That’s why Juan de la Cruz sits in abject poverty. Consider: We want homogeneity to the nth degree that we can’t even live with our Muslim brothers and sisters.

Why can’t we think beyond the 6%-7% GDP growth rate despite missing our plans? If we were a Fortune 500 company, we would have done a restructuring exercise by now. Why? So that we can figure out three things: (1) Where are we as an economy; (2) Where do we want to be; and (3) How do we get there.

Why? We will be running like a headless chicken if we can’t articulate a vision or forward-think.

For example: (1) Our economy has a structural problem. Think of the Miami condo that collapsed. We failed to move up from a consumption-service economy to an investment-industrial economy. While our neighbors begged for Western money and technology, we designed our economy to be restrictive.

(2) We want to traverse poverty to prosperity.

(3) Firstly, we must establish a benchmark, and the Asian Tigers are it. We do not have to reinvent the wheel and let our egos get in the way. And that comes from our caste system. We in the Philippine elite class must recognize that we failed this nation. We cannot cherry-pick our good deeds. We have countless accountants and know the distinctions among assets, liabilities, and net worth. Our net worth equates to the lowest GDP per capita in the region because we lag in competitiveness save for Mongolia.

The textbook metrics that we rely on are very narrow and reflect our lack of experience in development – and where we are in the cognitive development scale.

As the Franciscans would say, St. Francis of Assisi knew the laws like the back of his hands that he could go beyond them. That is why he’s the patron saint of the environmentalists; he saw the broader universe and the oneness and interdependence of creatures. Yet, as the Franciscans would explain, all he was doing was internalize what Christ did while on earth – and why he had to suffer on the cross, being a contrarian and a radical.

There are metrics, and there are metrics.

And we must not be surprised, especially us in the Philippine elite class – and chattering classes. We like to talk about the social responsibility inherent in a business enterprise. Or a sense of purpose. Or to save the planet, or whatever.

On the other hand, we see the West as overly profit-driven and miss the humanity of commerce and industry.

Yet, we’re stuck with the one narrow metric of 6%-7% GDP growth. 

That’s why the blog asked, what’s the difference between economics and business? For example, in the latter, you pay the price for missing your plans. And you cannot just rational a miss.

How many times have we missed our growth targets as an economy and nation? But there is no sanction, and we never pay the price – except that Juan de la Cruz sits in abject poverty.

On the other hand, our neighbors awed the West – and acknowledged them as economic tigers. They were not prisoners of a narrow metric. Instead, they knew they had to beg for Western money and technology.

But why can’t we? Consider: We are parochial and insular. So, we value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.

And because of our instincts, there is no “dynamism” to pull out from our quiver.

Consider: Even the conservative US bishops did not follow through with their instincts. “They won't withhold Communion from politicians. Days after a vote triggered a tsunami of Catholic debate about Communion and politics, leading US Catholic bishops working on an upcoming pronouncement about the sacrament are now deemphasizing confrontation with President Biden or other Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

“A public document on the Eucharist is very appropriate. But it must focus on ‘How do we attract people and make the beauty of what it means to us more evident to our young people and for them to understand why it’s so significant, instead of being focused on who can and who cannot receive.’” [The Washington Post, 25th May 2021]

Recall that the blog often speaks to the cognitive development ladder. That Franciscan theology, supported by the Jesuits, recognizes the spectrum of binary and relative thinking. Relativity isn’t solely Einstein’s – who also recognized a Creator because humankind, he included, can’t figure out the totality of the universe.

Recall that the blog never fails to raise the elements of dynamism and interdependence as inherent in an organism’s ability to thrive in this universe. And that includes humankind – and Juan de la Cruz. But that’s not foreign, given Darwin’s “survival of the fittest.”

But why can’t Juan de la Cruz be dynamic?

Unsurprisingly, “South Korea and the Philippines had similar per capita incomes in the early 1960s. Still, the Philippines languished in political and economic institutions (especially because power and wealth concentrated in a few hands), so it remains a developing country. In contrast, South Korea has joined the ranks of the developed.”

Here’s a quote from an earlier posting: “Will the implementing rules and regulations for CREATE and SIPP, accelerate raising GDP in absolute dollars? Take $200 billion. Over what period? In other words, a growth rate of 6%-7% did not lift us from regional laggard. And if the IRR will, what, industries and products will ensure that they do?

“Think of Vietnam and how one enterprise, i.e., Samsung, delivers more revenues than our eight top companies combined. We cannot be theoretical in this effort. We must step up to the real world of Juan de la Cruz.”

Gising bayan!