“A healthy diet is estimated at $4.08 per day. That means that out of the total 105.2 million Filipinos (1917), 67.57 million had limited to no access to a set of dietary recommendations intended to provide nutrient adequacy and long-term health.” [“Study says most Filipinos can’t afford to eat ‘healthy,’” Cristina Eloisa Baclig, INQUIRER.net, 11th Jul 2021]
Should we be surprised?
“Fitch revises Philippines outlook to negative,” Lawrence Agcaoili, The Philippine Star, 13th Jul 2021. “New York-based Fitch Ratings has lowered its outlook for the Philippines to negative from stable. It expects a slower recovery from the pandemic-induced recession with a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of five percent instead of 6.3 percent this year.
“A negative outlook means the debt watcher could downgrade the Philippines’ credit rating in the next 12 to 18 months if the country fails to recover from the pandemic.
“This is the second revision given by Fitch after it lowered the country’s outlook to stable from positive in May last year, at the height of the strict lockdown measures imposed by the government to slow the spread of COVID-19 cases.
“The revision to negative outlook reflects increasing risks to the credit profile. That is from the impact of the pandemic and its aftermath on policymaking and economic and fiscal outturns.
“The last time the country received a negative outlook from debt watchers was in July 2005 when Fitch, together with S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service, lowered the outlook as plans to oust then-president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, mounted.”
Per the “IMF, the Philippine government needs to boost spending capacity during the crisis,” Luz Wendy T. Noble, BusinessWorld, 12th Jul 2021. “It is more important that government policies are flexible enough to respond to evolving priorities. The critical task is to speed up spending where it is needed.”
Let’s stop right there.
Do we or don’t we hold the future of Juan de la Cruz in our hands?
Here’s a quote from an earlier posting: “This push for Duterte to join the vice-presidential race, according to Monsod, can serve as a ‘backdoor’ for the incumbent Chief Executive to serve another term as president, which goes against the intent of the Constitution.
“It’s clear that the plan is to enter the backdoor to the presidency. If this happens, the constitutional provisions on social justice and anti-political dynasties are ‘meaningless.’
“I am not surprised if we have taken the blog’s continual reference to our instincts with a grain of salt. Sadly, what it has said repeatedly for over a dozen years has been with us, except that denial – if not ignorance – is bliss: We are parochial and insular. We value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that ours is a culture of impunity.
“How can we define the common good in the first place when a culture of impunity consumes us?
“We must reinvent ourselves. We must figure out how to overcome our instincts. Recall Einstein’s definition of insanity.
“Stop. Look. Listen.
“For example, because of our caste system, how do we expect to teach the succeeding generations about the ‘growth mindset’ – its absence compounds the challenge of students? And is a recurring theme of the postings.
“Our sense of denial comes from a fixed mindset.
“Consider: The debate on climate change is unresolved because humankind takes the universe’s character — of dynamism and interdependence — for granted. In the Philippines, we can’t step up to the plate: We denuded our forests. That’s why the blog often references Sweden’s efficient forest industry.”
Do we or don’t we hold the future of Juan de la Cruz in our hands?
Sadly, our instincts are so ingrained that we can’t imagine how Juan de la Cruz can be forward-looking.
In other words, when will we ever learn that there is no free lunch?
We can’t keep blaming our parents if we can’t find our place in the sun.
We cannot personify Juan Tamad or Bondying.
And perfection is not of this world.
We can’t even get over pitting one system over another when no governmental system is evergreen.
Think of Germany and Japan, and then think of Russia.
Germany and Japan have joined the community of freedom-loving nations while Russia – or Putin – still wants to turn back the hands of time. The Soviet empire is gone, in the same manner, that Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan are gone.
Or how come poverty-stricken Singapore or Malaysia or China or Vietnam are gone? And only the poverty-stricken Philippines is the one left?
But then again, 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.
Recall that the blog often speaks to the growth versus the fixed mindset: “The consequences of believing that one’s intelligence and personality isn’t static rather than being immutably engrained traits, Dweck found in her two decades of research with both children and adults, are remarkable.
“She writes: For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have the power to transform your psychology and, as a result, your life?
“Believing that your qualities are static — the fixed mindset — creates an urgency to prove yourself over and over. If you have only a certain amount of intelligence, a particular personality, and a specific moral character — well, then you’d better prove that you have a healthy dose of them. It simply wouldn’t do to look or feel deficient in these most basic characteristics.
“I’ve seen lots of people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves — whether in the classroom, in their careers, and their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character: (1) Will I succeed or fail; or look smart or dumb? (2) Will I be accepted or rejected? (3) Will I feel like a winner or a loser?
“There’s another mindset in which these traits are not simply a hand you’re dealt and have to live with, always trying to convince yourself and others that you have a royal flush when you’re secretly worried it’s a pair of tens. In this mindset, the hand you’re born with is just the starting point for development. This growth mindset presupposes that your ‘basic’ qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way — in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments — everyone can change and grow through application and experience.
“Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven? No, but they think that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what one can accomplish with years of passion, toil, and training.
“At the heart of what makes the ‘growth mindset’ so winsome, Dweck found, is that it creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval. Its hallmark is the conviction that human qualities like intelligence, creativity, and even relational capacities like love and friendship can develop through effort and deliberate practice. Not only are people with this mindset not discouraged by failure, but they don’t see themselves as failing in those situations — they see themselves as learning.
“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for pushing yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. That mindset allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.
“This idea, of course, isn’t new — if anything, it’s the fodder of self-help books. What makes Dweck’s work different, however, is that it is rooted in rigorous research on how the mind — especially the developing mind — works, identifying not only the core drivers of those mindsets but also how to program them.
“Dweck and her team found that people with the fixed mindset see risk and effort as potential giveaways of their inadequacies, revealing that they come up short in some way. But the relationship between ‘mindset’ and effort is a two-way street:
“It’s not just that some people happen to recognize the value of challenging themselves and the importance of effort. Our research has shown that this comes directly from the growth mindset. When we teach people the growth mindset, with its focus on development, these ideas about challenge and effort follow.
“As you begin to understand the fixed and growth mindsets, you will see exactly how one thing leads to another. For example, how a belief that your qualities are static leads to a host of thoughts and actions. How a ‘belief’ that your qualities can develop leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.
“The ‘mindset’ changes what people strive for and what they see as success; they change the definition, significance, and impact of failure; they change the deepest meaning of effort.” [“Fixed vs. Growth: The Two Basic Mindsets That Shape Our Lives,” Maria Popova; https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/carol-dweck-mindset/]
Recall how the blog has defined a fixed mindset – i.e., consider our instincts: We are parochial and insular. So, we value hierarchy and paternalism and rely on political patronage and oligarchy that our is a culture of impunity.
See above; believing that your qualities are static — the fixed mindset — creates an urgency to prove yourself repeatedly.
That’s why the blog never fails to call us out – us, in the Philippine elite class. Why will we not want rank and privilege to be permanent? Sadly, we get a little help from Juan de la Cruz because we value paternalism – i.e., is it what we get in return for our value of hierarchy?
Do we or don’t we hold the future of Juan de la Cruz in our hands?
Do we have to be 10,000 miles away before we see, recognize, and realize our reality? I have been 10,000 miles away for over three decades. Is that why I am at odds with everyone else?
Gising bayan!
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