Reinvent Juan de la Cruz or perish

Why did the blog choose “Philippine Economy: Reinventing Ourselves” as its header when it started in early 2009?

Those familiar with the blog may recall its genesis: “I started writing to engage columnists and newspaper editors at the end of a trip to the Philippines over Holy Week in 2008 – to echo the frustrations expressed by friends and relations that were much louder and more intense than previous trips. My first thought was: with so many talents and skills, how could the country be the basket case of Asia? Are we too nice as a people?”

And then recall why the postings spoke to “big data and analytics” often.

To a private-sector practitioner like me, it was apparent that Vietnam would leave us in the dust – as did the Asian Tigers much earlier. In other words, we can’t keep to a shortsighted bias and continue our downward slide.

Translation: In the private sector, there is a price to pay for “failure to deliver.” And that explains why the public sector looks at the private sector to benchmark against best-practice models. 

Sadly, in the Philippines, given our caste system, rank has its privileges. 

Then consider: Vietnam’s GDP in 2009 was only 60% of ours, although their exports were already roughly equal at 97%. What was glaring was that their FDI stood at 183% of PH.

And what has happened over the ten years – 2009-2019 – pre-pandemic period?

Unsurprisingly, we were celebrating our growth rate, and rightly so. Over that period, we grew GDP at a compounded rate (at constant $) of 8%; and GDP per capita at 6%.

And here’s the bad news, our poverty rate in 2019 stood at 16.7%.

Let’s not forget that OFW remittances and the call centers were driving our economy. In other words, despite all the hullabaloo, we failed to industrialize — neither the Aquino nor Duterte administration run with Arangkada.

What about Vietnam? They grew GDP at 9% and GDP per capita at 8% and brought poverty down to 6.7%.

But have we learned anything after a decade of celebration – even when we remain the regional laggard?

Why can’t we reinvent Juan de la Cruz?

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.

Then consider these articles: (1) “Third quarter surprise,” Cielito F. Habito, NO FREE LUNCH, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 23rd Nov 2021; (2) “The durable Digong Duterte,” Tony Lopez, VIRTUAL REALITY, manilastandard.net, 24th Nov 2021; (3) “Human-centered approach to work,” (Part 2), Bernardo M. Villegas, Human Side Of Economics, BusinessWorld, 23rd Nov 2021.

What’s the point? We are on the right track – and must continue to celebrate?

Why are we critical of the West? That they are not committed to an inclusive economy – while we are?

Should we instead revisit our “analyses” so that we learn to look outward and forward, not just inward? How inclusive could our economy be when neighbors keep leaving us behind?

Like the West that we criticize, our economy serves the “mainstream” – as in our caste system, i.e., we in the Philippine elite and chattering classes have it so good.

That is adding insult to injury. We are not driving the economy by doing the “heavy lifting” – or the pursuit of industrialization as an innovation- and a globally competitive economy.

And in the process, we don’t gain the development experience and why we lag in “cognitive development.” And that explains why we can’t move beyond “analyses” and into “analytics.” In other words, we’re much at the binary level and far from “relative thinking.”

Moreover, we are yet to investigate the “theory of change,” i.e., there is a body of knowledge to distinguish “outputs” from “outcomes.”

Or the more classical “force-field theory” to identify the forces that either drive or hinder change — to give us the confidence to exploit the ones we must or overcome.

For example, growing GDP at 8% – over ten years – represents “outputs” but not the “outcome” that will make ours an inclusive economy: rapidly traverse poverty to prosperity.

And the hurdle is so daunting that we can’t define our point A and point B – and how we will get there.

That’s why the blog introduced neuroscience such as the 3C’s of a hardy mindset: (1) Challenge; (2) Commitment; (3) Control.

And it presupposes recognizing, for example, the two operating systems of the brain: (1) “automatic” or “reflex” mode and (2) “conscious” or “reflection” mode.

And related to that is the character of the creation story and this universe, i.e., dynamism and interdependence.

In other words, to be parochial and insular goes against the grain of humankind’s reality.

Consider this McKinsey article, 23rd Nov 2021: “Author Talks, McKinsey's Leigh Weiss chats with Lisa Miller, professor in the clinical psychology program at Teachers College, Columbia University, and founder and director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute. In her latest book, The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life (Random House, August 2021), Miller reveals that we have the capacity for spirituality and that our brains become more resilient robust as a result of it.

“Very often in education, in professional circles, we are encouraged to use what I call ‘achieving awareness’ [in pursuit of an undertaking].

“That is a critical side of leadership – and functioning in a high-performance way in life. But, as we’ve seen with COVID-19, life often does not square with our plans.

“The best-laid plans with the most delicate details often completely collapse because the world is dynamic — the nature of the world in flux.

“When our plans fail — and that can include our multilayered, many-person, highly resourced plans — we need to shift gears and find a way of thinking that squares with the more profound nature of life, the inherent flux and volatility in the world.

“Awakened awareness involves a different set of circuits in the brain, it involves an entirely different host of feelings, and it leads to a different style of decision making.

“Achieving awareness is based on data that is historical from “this” moment backward, looking over our shoulder. But awakened awareness is a receptive form of knowing that perceives information with a value we have yet to realize – aka forward-looking.

“Achieving awareness alone is far too rigid – as in “reflex” mode; it doesn’t square with the dynamism of life – as in “reflection” mode.

“But awakened awareness alone is without implementation. To be inspired, we must integrate achieving and awakened awareness to have a “eureka,” and then discern how to implement or execute through achieving awareness.

“When we unify both forms of knowing, what we see in the MRI machine is that we pave the highways — there are myelinated (of nerve fiber) tracks between regions of the brain representing a more optimal, fuller realization of our human potential.

“There is in life power, a consciousness, a dynamism that is greater than human control. When we acknowledge that we are navigating the skies, sailing the high seas, and not controlling life, we make far more profitable, ethical, and sustainable decisions. We join the flux of life, listen to her words, and don’t pretend that we control the most important outcomes in our lives. [Think “quantum mechanics” beyond classical physics.]

“There is a seat of human perception that I can see in the MRI scan that is a quarter-inch under the surface, and it’s available to all of us.

“In fact, through twin studies, I can even tell you with certainty that this is heritable; you have this built into your genes. Yet, it wasn’t taught in K–12 or at university or in graduate school, and we must learn it now and tap our awakened brain.”

Consider: The world is moving at warp speed, and Juan de la Cruz lags, given our lack of experience in development – whether we stand next to Singapore or Vietnam.

And that means, even we in the Philippine elite and chattering classes must wake up to this reality.

Did we even imagine Vietnam leaving us in the dust? Will it be Cambodia next?

And it appears the upcoming presidential election won’t be our saving grace.

See above; we grew GDP at 8% over ten years, and we’re still back to square one.

The surprise appears to be Pacquiao.

But what he said is not even in our lexicon that a reporter had this to write: “Pacquiao said the government would have to strengthen non-tax revenue income, and he did not elaborate.”

Reading another article, this is what it says, “Boxing champion-turned-politician Senator Manny Pacquiao said he would use his global fame to bring foreign direct investments into the Philippines if elected president.

“Pacquiao said that he has at least ten international billionaire friends who have committed to investing their money into the country.”

In other words, even media people look entirely at “tax-revenue income.” We don’t appreciate the multiplier effect of investment, e.g., foreign and technology, on national income or GDP and its knock-on effect on tax-revenue income.

Consider: They explain why our neighbors turned us into the regional laggard – and why that must be what the presidential candidates must debate.

But then again, we need our economists and economic managers and think tanks to edify Juan de la Cruz beyond the focus on tax-revenue income.

Because luring foreign investment and technology must be well thought out. Recall that we worked on scores of industry road maps instead of prioritizing those that will leapfrog national income or GDP.

And we also have CREATE and SIPP. Yet, these efforts did not lift us to the league of our neighbors.

Nation-building is not a walk in the park and is beyond any particular discipline, and it takes a village.

For example, to a private-sector practitioner like me where the egalitarian ethos, not rank rules, it was apparent that Vietnam [back in 2009] would leave us in the dust – as did the Asian Tigers much earlier – with its smaller GDP but more significant FDI. In other words, we can’t keep to a shortsighted bias and continue our downward slide.

Why did the blog choose “Philippine Economy: Reinventing Ourselves” as its header when it started in early 2009?

Reinvent Juan de la Cruz or perish.

Gising bayan!