Running like a headless chicken

Are we or aren’t we?

Until we can define our point A and point B – and figure out how we will get there, we can’t help but run like one.

Do we wonder why the blog keeps raising 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 it is not apparent yet, the blog has attempted to establish our point A by synthesizing who and what Juan de la Cruz is. Because if we cannot look in the mirror, we have zero chance to define our point A.

The blog also attempted to synthesize our point B – and how we will get there: Rapidly traverse poverty to prosperity.

Sadly, given that we are “sabog” – which also explains our crab mentality – it appears we can’t come to terms with our point A.

It is not surprising that even America suffers a similar affliction, reflected in the great divide between the Red and the Blue.

And it comes back to the science of “thinking.”

Humankind progressed by relying on logical yet linear and incremental thinking, although we owe visionaries for accelerating the march to the 21st century. In other words, the one-percent phenomenon. And they are represented by the likes of Einstein and Jobs, to name just two.

But how come we became the regional laggard when most of humanity isn’t Einstein-like?

Consider: We value hierarchy and paternalism and can’t reconcile that we have gone against the grain of humankind’s reality.

And that comes from the finite world we embraced. Still, our elders took the pains of calling us out, i.e., the folly of Juan Tamad and Bondying.

Humankind’s reality appears way out of reach to Juan de la Cruz. And why the reminder that “capitalism is a strong force for development, but we aren’t harnessing it enough.” [“Capitalism and Philippine development,” Calixto V. Chikiamco, Introspective, BusinessWorld, 21st Nov 2021]

“I’m not referring to the crony capitalism and the rent-seeking capitalism that’s dominant in the Philippines today. Crony capitalism is the kind you see in the Pharmally scandal; an unfit company awarded billions by the government in contracts without bidding because of its political connections. No capital is at risk, just “laway” or saliva.

“Rent-seeking capitalism, on the other hand, is the pursuit of guaranteed profit. It’s guaranteed because a franchise, a tariff, or, in the case of the telco and transport industries, Constitutional restrictions to foreign competition virtually guarantee their monopoly profits without fear of competition. It’s like a company that somehow owns all the air and charges people for breathing it.

“Yes, that’s also the pursuit of profit, but society doesn’t benefit from it, and that’s not true capitalism but rent-seeking capitalism.

“We have established that capitalism is a powerful force, but we aren’t using it enough. We aren’t using it to solve our problems in agriculture, education, forestry, and many other industries.”

Consider: We look at America as the bogeyman of capitalism and with whom we have a love-hate relationship.

And we go as far as wanting to toss capitalism in favor of socialism. Even to the extent of getting out of bed with America and getting into bed with China or Russia?

In other words, do we see America as a bad guy, worse than China or Russia?

Can’t we still internalize the distinctions between democracy and autocracy – because of our value of hierarchy and paternalism? And why do we submit to tyranny?

These distinctions don’t make one or the other perfect. And even the Vatican isn’t. If America has an imperialist past, the Roman Church has the crusades and inquisitions. How did they overcome those demons; they rode humanity’s march forward as in cognitive development? One is today a hegemon, and the other pursues ecumenism.

Aren’t we running like a headless chicken? 

Did Duterte not brag about tossing America and embracing China? And his minions chanted amen – and for us to embrace Russia too? Why is Duterte then complaining about China? 

Are we surprised that the blog keeps raising the character of the creation story and this universe, i.e., dynamism and interdependence?

It is not an either/or – as in binary thinking. And why the blog introduced cognitive development. Juan Tamad and Bondying are very much at the binary level and far from “relative thinking.” But then again, that is a function of our lack of development experience.

Let’s pause right there.

We may represent the Philippine elite and chattering classes, but we cannot pretend to have the development experience to put us ahead of our neighbors. We must accept the reality that they left us in cognitive development.

Those familiar with the blog may recall that Singapore fascinated me in my early 20’s and took my first foreign trip to that city-state. British troops were then leaving Singapore in their final days. And to my surprise, there was Lee Kuan Yew personally looking over the development of the Singapore Zoo.

And along Orchard Road, workers were hurriedly planting trees. Every time I am in Singapore, I can’t help marvel at how they transformed themselves, literally and figuratively. Unsurprisingly, as a regional manager at my old MNC-company, it was my favorite meeting place.

Then consider: “Singapore is one of the United States’ most vital bilateral partners in Southeast Asia and plays an indispensable role in supporting the region’s security and economic framework. The United States cooperates with Singapore on the full range of security issues, including border security, maritime security, military preparedness, counter-proliferation, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism.

“The access, basing, and overflight privileges granted by Singapore advance US government and partner efforts to bolster a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. Singapore was the first Southeast Asian country to join the Global Coalition. The Singapore Armed Forces have deployed imagery analysis teams, KC-135 aircraft refueling tankers, and medical units to the D-ISIS campaign. Singapore has also played a critical role in our counterpiracy efforts.

“The United States has $8.5 billion in active government-to-government sales cases with Singapore under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. 

“Since 2016, the United States has also authorized the permanent export of over $37.6 billion in defense articles to Singapore via Direct Commercial Sales (DCS). The top categories of DCS to Singapore include aircraft parts and components, gas turbine engines, and military electronics.

“More than 1,000 Singaporean military personnel participate in training, exercises, and Professional Military Education in the United States in places like Luke Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, Arizona National Guard Silverbell Heliport, and Mountain Home AFB, Idaho, where Singaporean F-16, AH64-D, and F-15SG pilots train alongside their US counterparts. Singapore has operated advanced fighter jet detachments in the continental United States for the past 27 years.

“The US Navy maintains a logistical command unit, Logistics Group Western Pacific, in Singapore and conducts ongoing rotational deployments of Littoral Combat Ships and P-8 Poseidon aircraft. These deployments have facilitated patrols in the South China Sea, multilateral naval exercises, and responses to natural disasters.

“The United States and Singapore have the following agreements: Agreement relating to the establishment of a United States Air Force management training assistance team in Singapore (1977), Agreement Regarding the Exchange of Military Personnel of 2009, and the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements (ACSA) of 2011.” [https://www.state.gov/u-s-security-cooperation-with-singapore/]

Is Singapore as fickle as we are in its relationship with America? And look, who is wealthier: Singapore GDP per capita = $93,400; US = $60,200. That explains why the US exports – they’re not freebies – defense articles to Singapore. 

For reference, our GDP per capita is $8,000. 

To add insult to injury, are we again in the celebratory mode because the third quarter surprised us when GDP grew by 7.1%? Are we again forgetting that with $60 billion from OFW remittances and the call centers, we have registered a GDP growth rate of 6%-7% for several years? Yet, we remain the regional laggard with Juan de la Cruz suffering from abject poverty, with PH stuck as a service-consumption economy.

We can’t keep our heads buried in the sand.

“I am here at the Alexandra Park Connector near Dawson. This area used to be kampongs and swamps. This neighborhood includes homes, shops, and restaurants, beautifully integrated with nature, running water, and green spaces. Dawson is an example of how we are upgrading Singapore year by year. We work together to improve our lives, build a better home, and hand our children a better Singapore than we inherited. That was the spirit of our pioneers. They worked hard to take Singapore from Third World to First, and they worked together. Thanks to them, we have today’s Singapore.”

That was Lee Hsien Loong in 2014, speaking at the Singapore National Day.

And recall why the blog never tires of raising what Lee and Mahathir said to Deng, “Beg for Western money and technology.” And to Juan de la Cruz, Mahathir reinforced it by saying: “We don’t have to love our former colonizers. But we are poor nations; we cannot go it alone, and we need their money and their technology.”

What is so difficult about that? That we lack the experience in development?

See above; the GDPs per capita of Singapore, the US, and the Philippines.

Sadly, it was us, the Philippine elite class, not Juan de la Cruz, that pushed the US military away.

“PHILIPPINE SENATE VOTES TO REJECT US BASE RENEWAL,” The New York Times, 16th Sep 1991.

“Mrs. Aquino, aware of opinion polls showing that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos support the treaty, is refusing to acquiesce in the Senate’s rejection of it. The Philippine military also strongly favors the treaty.

“At stake are the jobs of tens of thousands of Filipinos who work at the base or in related “jobs,” as well as hundreds of millions of dollars that the Subic Bay installation injects into the strapped Philippine economy each year.

And here’s what Google says following the departure of the US military: “China has established numerous military installations in the South China Sea, primarily in the Spratly and Paracel Islands. In the Spratlys, China has built airfields at Subi, Mischief, and Fiery Cross and potential missile, radar, and helicopter infrastructure at several smaller formations. In the Paracels, China has established a significant military installation at Woody Island and radar and helicopter facilities in several other areas. China continues construction across the region, meaning that it may expand its military presence in the future. The larger bases (Subi, Mischief, Fiery Cross, and Woody Island) have the infrastructure necessary to manage military aircraft, including fighters and large patrol craft. These missiles, radars, and aircraft extend the lethal reach of China's military across the breadth of the South China Sea.”

Are we wondering why the blog addresses us in the Philippine elite and chattering classes? We are responsible for the Philippines becoming the regional laggard by (a) crafting a constitution restrictive of foreign investment and (b) exposing the nation to foreign adventurism as in the WPS.

Who rejects foreign investment yet embraces them (Indonesian interests) for self-interest? For example, aren’t the Vietnamese more brilliant for embracing Samsung and Apple? Simply put, these Indonesian interests, combined with our top companies, cannot match the firepower of Samsung Vietnam.

Consequently, Vietnam put poverty in the rearview mirror, while we can’t overcome poverty – our insidious and nagging challenge.

Pacquiao promising to bring in his billionaire foreign friends is a breath of fresh air. But as the blog had spoken to VP Robredo and raised that I am yet to figure out how forward-thinking she is and how much lateral thinking she employs, Pacquiao too must demonstrate how he would decide which foreign investment and technology to prioritize and lure.

As we say it in the vernacular, “ang ayaw matuto, hind matututo.” Why? Rank has its privileges.

Consider these two articles: (1) “Is our slide to the bottom irreversible (?),” Rafael M. Alunan III, MAP Insights, BusinessWorld, 15th Nov 2021; (2) “The reasons and way forward for unlivable Metro Manila,” Andrew J. Masigan, Numbers Don’t Lie. BusinessWorld, 21st Nov 2021.

“Geopolitical debates almost always boil down to who's pro-American or pro-China. Nowhere in sight is our national interest, and if at all, a passing mention without understanding what it is and what it takes to protect and advance it.

“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. But then again, patriotism is just another word of mouth to sound good.” [Alunan, op. cit.]

“Why is Metro Manila bereft of open spaces? Greed is the culprit. Metro Manila’s Local Government Units decided to abandon Metro Manila’s zoning ordinance ratified in the 1990s. That allowed the mayors to sell public spaces to private entities to build gated communities and commercial developments – even in seismic fault lines and flood catchments. By disregarding the zoning ordinance, the rich and powerful subsumed the interest and safety of the more significant majority.

“Gated communities are another problem. They consume large chunks of land yet provide residence to only a select few. They emphasize income inequality in this regard. Traffic is a consequence of gated communities.

“Gated communities are a two-edged sword that debases the quality of life of our non-elite countrymen. They raise land prices to a point where housing becomes unaffordable for medium to low-income families and push the working class to live in far-flung areas.

“As one can tell, a lot of the problems of Metro Manila stem from the decision of the mayors to override the zoning ordinance of Metro Manila and the fact that the interest of the rich and powerful always subverts the common good.” [Masigan, op. cit.]

Do we wonder why the blog keeps raising the 3C’s of a hardy mindset? (1) Challenge; (2) Commitment; (3) Control.

How come despite our proud Christian heritage, we can’t reconcile democracy with Christianity – that democracy is the mirror image of Christianity, as in the pursuit of the “common good,” and how the Great Commandment came about?

In other words, in democracy, the challenge is personal responsibility, while in Christianity, it is free will – as in God helps those who help themselves.

If we push the theology envelope, our attachment or value of hierarchy and paternalism is an addiction. And the way to free ourselves from addiction is to help ourselves. That’s the AA 12-steps in broad terms.

Sadly, our value of hierarchy and paternalism is something we can’t toss even when it is a failing, not a virtue.

Isn’t it why we can’t figure out what dynamism and interdependence – the character of the creation story and this universe – entail?

If we push the theology more, Juan de la Cruz is in the image and likeness of the Creator, and he is not an object of charity. Else, we create a Juan Tamad or a Bondying. 

Here’s a hypothesis: Given what the blog has argued (for more than a dozen years), if I was born and raised elsewhere, we in the Philippine elite and chattering classes won’t offer me citizenship. See above; our value of hierarchy and paternalism.

Then consider: Why would two nations do it — one the epitome of freedom and personal responsibility and the other, people born and raised as socialists under Soviet rule? In other words, whatever they knew about me came from my worldview and principles that they digested. And in between these two nations were a host of countries and cultures and people.

And I did not solely dispense and pursue efforts that they would readily take but included putting businesses and careers at risk in several cases. Why? Because in the free market system, accountability is inherent, i.e., there is a price to pay.

They understood the object of continually seeking the “common good.” And they had to buy into the character of the creation story and this universe, i.e., dynamism and interdependence – because human endeavors are subsets of more significant sets – all the way to the universe itself. Because the challenge is: “reality” is too dynamic to be captured by any human experience or system.

Recall what I said to my Eastern European friends at the outset: Freedom and the free market are not about rules but principles.

And they were “outraged” because they expected me to dish out the “how-to” and not have to rack their brains in defining their point A and point B – and how to get there. And in the process, they realized they “owned” the undertaking, not imposed on them.

Consider: They were an MSME and were a losing proposition for eight years, and here I was, putting the challenge of the imperative to be a $100-million enterprise. They could not even sell their products at a healthy margin. How much work do you think they had to put in to figure out what would comprise their portfolio – to get to that point B?

In the end, they needed seven state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. They had to borrow tons of money from Western banks because local banks wouldn’t believe what they called their dream.

And recall the first question they asked, “Do you think we can even compete against the best in the West?” That’s why they had to understand, accept, and internalize what innovation is. “You must invest to understand the hierarchy of human needs because that is what innovation is. Every product must raise one’s well-being.”

But I will be with you until you get there. Freedom and the free market are not about rules but principles. And you must commit to transparency, or I am out the door.

Three years later, they made their first profit and never looked back. The EU Competition Commission took notice and vetted their efforts against over 15,000 big and small companies across the EU. Surprise, surprise, they were a model. And even sweeter, they blew past the $100-million mark several years ago.

And their most significant challenge today is their investment in the US, the most competitive market they can find. But they are already a profitable enterprise in Western Europe. This universe is dynamic and interdependent, and they have to partner with different peoples and cultures as they navigate the unknowns.

In the meantime, I have been WFH since the pandemic. They don’t need my paternalism, although they can use my guidance. And it is easy because they now have the tools like AI. I can be anywhere, and I can still guide them.

But let’s get back to the Philippines.

We want to be respected but then 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.

We may represent the Philippine elite and chattering classes, but we cannot pretend to have the development experience to put us ahead of our neighbors. We must accept the reality that they left us in cognitive development.

Are we, or aren’t we running like a headless chicken?

Gising bayan!