Can we find our place in the sun?

Not if we keep to our instincts and turn tribal.

And it is a challenge we can’t seem to accept and commit to overcome and control.

In other words, how do we learn and develop a “hardy mindset” when rank has its privileges – in our caste system?

Translation: We can’t figure out the “common good” because we value hierarchy and paternalism, which we interpret as Christian charity.

On the other hand, look at how our neighbors – and they don’t parade around with Christian charity – deliver the common good, expressed in their poverty rates (2019) against ours: Philippines = 16.7%; Thailand = 9.9%; Vietnam = 6.7%; Malaysia = 5.6%; Indonesia = 9.4%.

And Philippine poverty rate remains the worst despite the tens of millions we borrow for the 4Ps. Yet, we like to invoke Christian charity to overcome poverty – and how insane is that? Does Einstein come to mind?

But then we turn around and look at the misery of others as in “misery” loves company? We have no control over the fate of others; we can control only ourselves; see above, the “hardy mindset.”

In fairness, a Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman, explains our predicament: We’re stuck in “reflex” mode and can’t shift to “reflection” mode, and they are the two operating systems of the brain.

Should we pause and ponder? Can we entertain something foreign in the Philippine elite and chattering classes, given our parochial and insular bias?

The good news is we are not alone if we wonder what’s happening to America, i.e., we like to mix apples and oranges.

They have forgotten the American dream – as in the “common good” – and turned tribal. That’s like sending our species back to living in caves.

Recall the character of the creation story and this universe, i.e., dynamism and interdependence. And that is why humankind possesses the hierarchy of needs – else they can’t survive, much less thrive in this universe. For example, humanity crossed oceans and continents when Africa turned uninhabitable following a set of climate phenomena. 

In other words, a finite milieu generates finite minds and finite thinking. And that goes against the grain of [humankind’s] reality. And George Gorospe, SJ, from the Ateneo de Manila built on the body of knowledge, i.e., “reality” is too dynamic to be captured by any human experience or system.

But then again, that is consistent with Franciscan theology that explains why Christ battled with the scribes and Pharisees — and tyranny. Christ can’t be a heretic, yet he embraced the sinners and declared, he who is first is last, and he who is last is first. He focused on the “common good” – as in love of neighbors, not personal failings. We can’t stress that he fought tyranny. Unsurprisingly, Rizal called us out: he who submits to tyranny loves it.

Christ also educated Christians with the “parable of the talents.” And if we translate that to contemporary times, he understood the multiplier effect of investment.

Consider: Is our poverty rate a reflection of our failure to heed the parable of the talents? And so, despite borrowing tens of millions, Juan de la Cruz suffers from abject poverty?

What’s happening in America?

While America took over the Brits in advancing the industrial age following the war years, it is now in its post-industrial era, with services accounting for 80% of the economy and industry down to less than 20%. And that is the challenge they face. But that is not surprising given the dynamism of this universe. It is interdependent too, and why America can’t turn inward.

And they can’t if they allow Trump to lead them. The guy was born with a silver spoon – or in American lingo, in third base. He didn’t have to figure much out as con people – “selling snake oil,” and why the authorities shut down his charity fund – and why the ghostwriter of his book now disowns him. He was no exceptional person.

And while Detroit once represented the heyday of industrial America – as in “what’s good for General Motors is good for America” because it mirrored middle-class America – today, that is no longer the case. For example, in the wealthier metropolitan areas, the average Joe has been banished. “I can’t afford to live in my city.”

Enter Trump and Kushner: They were not interested in making housing affordable to the average Joe; they were in bed with foreign oligarchs to invest in these unaffordable apartments. But Trump speaks from both sides of the mouth as a matter of course.

Unsurprisingly, there is a contest between the left and the right to identify with populist sentiments, hypocrisy be damned. And The Economist calls it “Ivy League populism.” And, unsurprisingly, it has reinforced the tribalism of American politics.

“A visitor from Mars might find Mr. Glenn Youngkin’s [the newly elected Virginia governor] populist scare tactics at odds with his record of elite institutions (Rice, Harvard, McKinsey, the Carlyle Group) and immense wealth. The Martian should find an up-and-coming Republican with a much humbler résumé. Populist leaders, from Peron to Orban, are more often elite figures than working-class heroes, so it is in the Republican Party. The anti-elitism fervor that has captured the right is essentially a creation of rich Ivy Leaguers.

“Donald Trump, a billionaire alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, won in 2016 with help from Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner (both of Harvard). His media cheerleaders included Ann Coulter (Cornell), Kayleigh McEnany (Oxford and Harvard), Tucker Carlson (Trinity College), Steve Hilton (Oxford), and Laura Ingraham (Dartmouth College). His chief imitators include Ron DeSantis (Yale and Harvard), Ted Cruz (Princeton and Harvard), Josh Hawley (Stanford and Yale) and Tom Cotton, Mike Pompeo, and Elise Stefanik (all Harvard). A working-class movement, this is not.

“To some extent, it reflects Ivy Leaguers’ dominance of politics and the media generally. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the first presidential duo not to have attended an elite institution for 36 years. And the closure of local newsrooms has seen the Ivies emerge as the main source of journalistic talent. A recent study of 150 interns at leading newspapers found that 65% studied at the country’s most selective universities. Yet, in a way, that makes the hollowness of the MAGA crowd’s populist credentials even more striking. American politics is not witnessing a revolt against the elite so much as a power struggle within it.” [“Glenn Youngkin and Ivy League populism,” The Economist, 6th Nov 2021]

But let’s get back to the Philippines.

“As in all national elections, everyone’s distracted by it. Trolling, black propaganda, partisan mudslinging, backstabbing, and all the negatives of self-serving politics are overpowering the nation’s consciousness. Once again, it will be about winnability at all costs. Voters will be entertained and pandered to; lots of money will flow to buy the vote and the count. Substantive generational and nation-building issues skimmed through; no depth, no breadth, no effective plan to deal with it. We keep electing the unworthy, yet, foolishly expecting different results.

“Self-interest continues ahead of the national interest, and it suits our short-cut mentality. Self-interest is naturally divisive, which explains our fractured state. On the other hand, protecting the national interest requires unity of common purpose despite our socio-cultural diversity.

“If we were real patriots (at least a critical mass of, say, a third of the population), we won’t be tolerating the repeated inefficiency, crime, corruption, treachery, and negligence that’s defined us through decades without learning its lessons, as only an idiot nation can.

“Let’s tackle a crucial matter: the absolute necessity for us to think long-term; a firm vision of what we want to be; how we’re going to go about it; and the kind of people we need to have in places of command and control beyond the term of one administration to sustain the journey to the next level.” [“Is our slide to the bottom irreversible (?),” Rafael M. Alunan III, MAP Insights, BusinessWorld, 15th Nov 2021]

See above; the 3C’s of a “hardy mindset.” But how do we learn and develop a “hardy mindset “when rank has its privileges – in our caste system?

What about invoking Christian charity?

“I maintain that the large domestic market of the Philippines, based on a population growing towards 150 million people in the next two decades, will be the main engine of growth of the economy. We have to export only to the extent of having to supplement the foreign exchange earnings that we receive from the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the BPO-IT (which is part of Industry 4.0), and the up-and-coming tourism sector, which, despite digitalization, will continue to be labor-intensive. We can’t digitize the warm smiles and soft skills of the Filipinos and Filipinas.

“To refocus our attention towards the human person in planning the economy of the future, it would be useful to borrow some basic principles about the essence of human work from Catholic social doctrine. The one who wrote extensively on the philosophy and theology of work was St. John Paul II. In his encyclical letter entitled “Laborem Exercens” (On Human Work), St. John Paul II defines work: “any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that is work, amid all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by humanity itself.” [“Human-centered approach to work,” Bernardo M. Villegas, The Human Side Of Economics, BusinessWorld, 16th Nov 2021]

Before we address the above article, here’s what Bernie Villegas wrote back in 2013: “How Competitive is the Philippines?”

“If the Philippines ranks low in global competitiveness, the fault lies in the poor working environment at either the macro level or the firm level, not the individual weaknesses and limitations of the workers.

“I have already written extensively about the very positive contributions made by the foreign chambers of commerce in coming out with the document called Arangkada Philippines, a regular feedback mechanism on how the Government is meeting its targets in key result areas of governance. 

“Global rating surveys abound with ever-expanding coverage, stimulated by the globalization of investment, trade, and information. Until recently, the Philippines lagged most neighbors in too many measures of competitiveness. Indonesia and Vietnam, ranked lower in the past, were overtaking the country. 

“During the last decade, the Philippines was on a downward trajectory in international competitiveness rankings, especially for corruption, governance, and infrastructure.

“Ten lessons summarized the recommendations of the National Competitiveness Council: These ten lessons are: (1) Transparency leads to competitiveness; (2) “Work in progress” is not good enough; (3)  Execution and delivery matter; (4) Teamwork is important; (5) We need to work on multiple fronts; (6) The competition never sleeps; (7) The bar always rises; (8) “Speed to reform” is important; (9) Maintaining momentum is important; (10) We need to institutionalize change.”

That was back in 2013. And here’s today: “I maintain that the large domestic market of the Philippines, based on a population growing towards 150 million people in the next two decades, will be the main engine of growth of the economy. We have to export only to supplement the foreign exchange earnings that we receive from the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the BPO-IT (which is part of Industry 4.0), and the up-and-coming tourism sector; which, despite digitalization, will continue to be labor-intensive.”

Whatever happened to the need to institutionalize change – when we want to stay with the status quo?

Should we pause and figure that out?

See above; our poverty rate against that of our neighbors.

And our poverty is best explained by where we stand in national income or GDP per capita (2020) in USD: Philippines = 8,000; Thailand = 17,300; Vietnam = 8,200; Malaysia = 26,400; Indonesia = 11,400.

And that is not surprising given how we lag in industrialization (2017) efforts, and why Arangkada is a must: Philippines = 30.6%; Thailand = 36.2%; Vietnam = 33.3%; Malaysia = 37.6%

In other words, we cannot stick to the status quo if we want to respect the humanity of Juan de la Cruz.

“The fault lies in the poor working environment at the macro-level or firm level, not in the individual weaknesses and limitations of the workers.”

Consider: Our eight top companies can’t match the revenues of one Vietnam enterprise, Samsung Vietnam.

Let’s hold it right there. 

These companies are our heaviest hitters, and collectively, they don’t have the firepower against one behemoth. And we expect supplemental exports to be the answer?

How do we square that circle? 

“We have to export only to supplement the foreign exchange earnings that we receive from the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), the BPO-IT (which is part of Industry 4.0), and the up-and-coming tourism sector, which, despite digitalization, will continue to be labor-intensive.”

We are back to square one. 

In other words, OFW remittances plus the call centers and our top companies are, granted, the bulk of the economy that can grow 6%-7%, which we like to celebrate. 

But we now know Vietnam still overtook us, and worse, they keep stepping on the gas. And are breathing down the necks of Singapore — wanting to grab even more significant FDIs.

Unsurprisingly, in 2013, we read this: “Considering the deficient level of FDIs in the Philippines, as compared with our peers like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, charter change should be tops in the agenda of the Government.” [Villegas, op. cit.]

See above; How competitive is the Philippines: We need to work on multiple fronts; The competition never sleeps; The bar always rises; “Speed to reform” is important; We need to institutionalize change.

That is not a cakewalk. 

Consider: Finite milieus — as in a caste system — generate finite minds and finite thinking — aka the status quo.

Let’s bring that down to earth and recall (a) how the pandemic tanked the Philippine economy more than our neighbors and had to borrow the most from the World Bank — i.e., it exposed our fragile economy, stuck as a service economy, given our failure to industrialize; (b) the world had to come together to develop the vaccine against Covid-19 rapidly; (c) we are scratching our heads because of China’s adventurism in the WPS; (d) the world needs to come together even more to combat climate change.

Conversely, both Putin and Xi aren’t hiding their true colors. Hasn’t the world seen this movie before that authoritarianism undermines the world order to preserve power and self-interest? 

In other words, to seek the “common good” may be a struggle in freedom-loving nations, but it is at the mercy of one person — fallible as we are — in an autocracy.

It’s called check-and-balance if we remember our civics lesson. Or have we internalized it? Is that why Rizal called out our love for tyranny?

Do we wonder why the postings often speak to the character of the creation story and this universe, i.e., dynamism and interdependence? 

Or why is benchmarking picking best-practice models?

Our neighbors demonstrated to the world how to become economic miracles that awed the West and called them Asian Tigers. And Japan started the trend, and Lee and Mahathir were smart enough to figure it out. They saw how the West helped Japan recover from WWII. Beg for Western money and technology; they told Deng — if China is to lift its people from poverty.

Why are we dissecting the competitiveness of the Philippines? Because our supposed respect for the humanity of Juan de la Cruz is mere lip service if we can’t lift him from poverty. See above; our poverty rate against our neighbors.

In other words, the “common good” is for the Philippines to traverse poverty to prosperity rapidly. 

How rapidly? We must leapfrog the economic output of our neighbors. And the metric of a 6%-7% GDP growth rate has not delivered that.

Do we still wonder why the blog raised the challenge of rapidly driving GDP by an incremental $200 billion? 

We must get out of our finite thinking to thrive beyond surviving in this universe.

For example, we must figure out which ones will leapfrog economic output beyond doing scores of industry road maps. The operative word is leapfrog. And that is not rocket science, and that is how Vietnam is doing it, and the Asian Tigers and China before them.

It’s sickening to hear what Lee and Mahathir said to Deng, to beg for Western money and technology. And I lived through that when a small Guangzhou enterprise came to my old MNC-company because we were the global market leader in the industry. And in the process, we invested in two businesses in rapid succession.

We may have 81 provinces in the Philippines, and that is not a walk in the park. On the other hand, global enterprises can have over 200 countries and territories as their market. They’re predisposed to invest and transfer technology.

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.

Can we find our place in the sun?

Not if we keep to our instincts and turn tribal.

And it is a challenge we can’t seem to accept and commit to overcome and control.

In other words, how do we learn and develop a “hardy mindset” when rank has its privileges – in our caste system?

Translation: We can’t figure out the “common good” because we value hierarchy and paternalism, which we interpret as Christian charity. Padre Damaso, anyone?

Gising bayan!