All roads lead to it
Written on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 am | by benign0Surprises! The Philippines ranks 71st in Time Magazine’s Global Competitiveness Report. This is waaaaay behind Indonesia (no. 54), Thailand (no. 28), Malaysia (no. 21), and — here’s a no-brainer — Singapore (no. 7). Now it’s one thing to be chronically kulelat (Pinoys should be accustomed to being perennially last by now after decades of world-class mediocrity), but to be last by a such a margin, well, kinda puts a bit of regional context around our habit of inward perspective.
On that note;
The President thinks corruption is not a problem or at least not the serious problem businessmen and other observers take it to be. Nothing, not even neutral surveys and studies, will change her mind. It would be pointless and futile to look up to her for a solution.
Now that’s what I call insight — Pinoy style!
Despite decades of obvious pointlessness to looking to Government for solutions, the Inq7.net editor thought that they’ve had an epiphany on the matter today. As Han Solo reminds C3PO whenever the charming droid dishes out its snippets of useful wisdom, “I’m glad you’re around to tell us these things”, given that…
(a) the decades-long trend of Pinoy progress has been generally in the negative for the last 50 years.
- and -
(b) there is no known correlation that exists that ties Pinoy fortunes with that of a sitting president;
… it is a bit amusing that by all current indications we are in for another typically Pinoy political exercise in the coming 18 to 24 months to establish our “fortunes” beyond 2010.
Indeed;
Insanity is expecting different results whilst doing the same thing again, and again, and again….
(said to have been said in general terms by the venerable Raquel Welch)
There is of course some merit in doing things the same way — which brings us to two words that have been used quite efficiently in responding to some “queries” on my assertions:
If there is one factor that underpins the success of four (and the prevention of complete degeneration of one) of the major ASEAN states in my brilliant illustration above I’d say it is Chinese culture.
Not that we should all be lining up to enroll ourselves in Chiang Kai Shek University; my point is, as always, that the ultimate fundamental underpinning of a society’s succes — or failure — is in its DNA; its culture. All roads lead to the “C” word folks.
The sooner we learn to handle this truth, the sooner we get on the road that will lead us to prosperity.
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but i thought this president is hardline in the fight against corruption and for good governance?
i’m missing something.
cmon jester..
we, both inside and outside the fence, all know that its just lip service..
deplorable? ive seen it plenty of times before..
For Fil-Chis
As I have said the richest guys are Sy and Tan.
Since you like examples of failed attempts of the pinoys,let me sight one example why Fil-hispanics and Fil-tsinoys don’t mix:
three letters WGA.
aside from other reasons,it started with cultural clashes.
Going back to Tan.
I know Mar Roxas was unusually silent during the typhoon that ravaged Panay island, he operated silently with the help of Lucio Tan,if that means that Roxas is the annointed one of the taipans or aat least el kapitan I do not know.
I am looking for that trust article of yours.
I remember you mentioned deals done with handshakes it is supposed to be a pinoy value passed with a spanish sound to it called:palabra de honor.
You also mentioned that japan has less lawyers and more engineers.
Going back to trust, I want to agree with the best of my ability, so I will cite examples which does not at all means defeatism.
we have to many levels of auditing,whether in the corporate world or the private sector.
Too many watch dogs, ends with to many post pissers or fence pissers(para pang tao)
It is counter productive because nothing happens,because of backlogs or shouting on deaf ears or deaf ears as a result of shouting.
Those are some examples I can think of why I agree on your trust concept.
Pero of all people, alam mo na na iba ang pinoy,maybe for now we may be on a league of our own,but all is not lost,unless you think otherwise.
Karl Garcia,
Your point being?
Benign0, your attributing economic success of our neighbors to ‘Chinese Culture’ is a superficial reading. In fact, early in his term, Lee Kuan Yew considered the Chinese family business-model a hindrance to development of Singapore as per his statement below…
LKY wanted to adopt a more Western Model as part of his development strategy.
You probably missed it because the above is pretty much every politicians’ tagline. It becomes a din and therefore becomes inaudible.
And then there is my more, ehem, systemic take on “corruption”.
cvj, Lee Kuan Yew had goals for 1950’s Singapore that were a bit more audacious than what Indonesia or the Philippines had. Maybe that “Chinese family business” model was not enough for Lee’s world-class vision for Singapore, but it certainly was relatively effective for the Philippines’ more mediocre goals of simply muddling along and surviving over the next 50 years.
Jon,
Ramblings that need to be outlined.
First:
one that we have the richest pinoys being fil chis means that we are on the mark instead of going on a down ward spiral,if his examples are countries that have a succesful chinese community.
Second:
for WGA
he always gives a template for our cultural problem;but it is not that simple,really.
We could follow his solution and have a failure like WGA. It was not just corporate culture clashes it has chinese and spanish cultural clashes. That is the only example, I can think of regrding the chinese factor.(the downside)
third:forget the lucio tan remark,it is purely politics
fourth:
he mentioned trust before,I know you have not missed that piece. I am against corruption,but I think fragmented watchdogs can be a problem instead of a solution,nagkanya kanya na.
I am not aginst civil society,as long as it get its act together,but it would be nice if we can accomplish something with just a simple handshake,for benign0 that is te solution,just to ignore corruption and move on,my bitching is yes to watchdogs and levels of auditing bureaucracy as long as its not complicated.
and lastly,
There is still hope for the Filipinos.
on his downward chart.
People,get down,but what people hate is when someone rubs it in. That is not pinoy,that is human nature pero talo pa din ang pikon.
I hope that is more organized Jon Limjap.
Don’t worry I have traces of chinese blood in my maternal side(MISA),bashing fil chi’s would be the last thing in my mind.
Our president and her apologists are idjots. Asan na ang ipinagmamalaki niyang economics educashen???
The solution is obvious: Our best approach to combating corruption lies in creating an environment where mutual trust can take root. And a good starting point is to create fair, simple, and transparent governance frameworks where accountability rules; not controls.
Indeed,
“Insanity is expecting different results whilst doing the same thing again, and again, and again…”
get it?
“Insanity is expecting different results whilst doing the same thing again, and again, and again…”
Benign0,
Because of that Raquel Welch quotation from tambay,it looks like I am going to take back what I said about keep em coming as long as it is presented differently.
Like before I questioned cvj for keep on bringing up,the midddle class thing,which you branded as cvjesque concepts.
sabhin na natin na huli ako sa mga nakapansin,dati sinabi ko para sa ibang tao na di pa nakatikim ng getrealism…….
Taking some brilliant insights from your treasure chest,is turning to be a broken record from a duke box.
I miss Max Soliven.
You wouldn’t mind Rodolfo Lozada becoming president then? of Lito Lapid?
Let’s say they did, then.
How would that be different from, say, a Mar Roxas presidency?
How exactly is that gonna change the course of Pinoy progress?
Karl,
Your points are quite fair and clear, thanks.
===
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m getting sick and tired of the insinuation that “the rich are necessarily evil because they are rich, and in a society of unequals every rich person must’ve become rich by leveraging on that inequality”.
Likewise, and I’m sure some of you don’t expect this, I’m not one to believe that “the poor are poor because they are incompetent and/or undeserving, or simply incapable”. While I believe that sheer brilliance can never be imprisoned by poverty for long, I do acknowledge that unequal access to opportunity plays a big role in preserving and/or prolonging a person’s suffering in poverty.
However, neither contention will change anything. The rich will remain rich, unless foolish arrogance, incompetence, or sheer bad luck allows them to abandon or mishandle whatever wealth vehicle they are riding, while the poor will remain poor unless they find ways to overcome the lack of opportunity, and/or attitude towards life, or (likewise) incompetence prevents them from accessing those wealth vehicles.
In the end this is just an issue of inertia: the rich are getting richer because they’re already moving that way. The poor are getting “poorer” because they can’t or aren’t moving. I do not and have never believed in the grand conspiracy that the rich are eternally seeking evil ways to take advantage of the poor which, in turn, is the real reason the status quo exists.
Within the rich there are good and bad eggs, but the situation is no different with the poor. It is utterly unfair that we continue to attempt to put the “bad egg” label on one side of the equation.
Ok Jon,Thanks as well.
btw well said!
In terms of having the victim mentality of people, maybe this is another point that I have to agree with you and benign0.
I know that is not the main premise of what you wrote,but I remember you mentioning it. I just grabbed the opportunity.
I agree 100%. This is where i’m coming from as well.
To further clarify where i agree with Jon, what he calls ‘Inertia’ (at 8:39 pm) is what i mean by ‘Path Dependence’ in my comment to Benign0 over at his entry last May.
(BTW, i think Benign0 jinxed Iceland. Since he wrote that entry, that country’s financial system collapsed. )
cvj,
I have to admit that I feel that in your efforts to debunk benign0’s (and some of my) arguments, you have been invoking the “the rich are not all that” mantra too much, of course not to absolve myself of speaking harshly against the poor myself as well.
Anyway, I’ll clarify my thoughts further later on.
Jon, in which case, it’s probably a matter of us highlighting different parts of the elephant. In any case, the last two paragraphs in your 8:39 pm comment is an area of commonality between our positions.
“that the ultimate fundamental underpinning of a society’s succes — or failure — is in its DNA; its culture. All roads lead to the “C” word folks.”
I don’t think it’s our culture alone. Culture has nothing to do with MANAGING our country. Culture is something we enjoy outside work. We don’t bring culture at the work place.
Since benigno is using the capital C. Let me apply that to real world of management- Four C’s. ( very basic)
Capacity: What is the ability of the person we elect in office. Is he/ she capable of turning things around? How and what would be hisher policies for reform?
Collateral= Are we experiencing full employment to leverage our debts from IMF and World Bank.
Capital:
Capital: what are our capital in terms of creating wealth. Where would they come from in terms of cash?
Character: Consider the character and integrity of the people who are managing our country. Are they capable of managing all these four C’s?
Culture? sure but I love being a pinay and that fundation didn’t stop me from becoming who I am today. I believe that everything is manageable and that requires skills, talent, education, ethics and love of country.
Tough Love Benigno. It’s like, I love you, You’re handsome.. NOW CHANGE. I don’t think that’s manageable.
or I hate Philippine culture, it’s vacuous. NOW Change…
it’s adding insult to an injury. In healthcare, injuries are treatable. Risk are manageable. I don’t believe that our Culture is the problem. Culture is constant.We should manage the risk surrounding it.
Maybe you meant deleverage our debts.
Continue please.
what is the fourth C,
Cancer?
You cannot eliminate culture,even in the workplace.
Napagpatuloy mo na pala leytenian
but still di mawawala ang culture,baon natin yan kahit san tayo pumunta.
leytenian,
When I refer to culture I don’t mean culture in the form of the arts alone. I refer to the all-encompassing collective character of a people.
And, yes, culture also has everything to do with managing — including the way we manage how we do our work (our work ethic is part of our culture). Check out this slide show which demonstrates the cultural aspect to of the quality of work in business organisations.
As to your quaint description of various “C”’s you picked up, it’s interesting how you end with this snippet of “wisdom”…
… which — given my culture-as-character assertion — demonstrates yet again that all roads lead back to the core of my “getrealist” thesis; i.e. culture.
It’s simple, really.
-
benign0
That slide show is GOLD, man, especially slides 13-16, e.g., Low Performance vs. Adaptive Cultures. Great resource!
[…] — in All Roads Lead to It, there was this […]
karl,
culture at the work place is the goal and mission of a corporation. For Philippines,it’s our Constitution. The goal and mission is to reverse benigno’s graphical chart. 50 years na raw.
benigno,
“our work ethics is part of our culture.”
true but do our leaders have work ethics? majority are corrupt. where’s Ethics and professionalism there. That should be the culture that our leaders must adhere. Leave our filipino culture at home with family. Work is work.