Been reading things about the Philippine history lately.
It's painfully funny when you re-encounter the fact that our economy, for a long time, at the early part of the 20th century, was 2nd only to Japan in Asia. I mean, we were even bigger than China. Bigger than South Korea. And yet those two nations, has already hosted the Olympics to date.
What happened?
Greed and corruption?
But greed and corruption is everywhere. Wall Street is going through a greed and corruption tele-novela right now but it is unthinkable that USA would lose its preeminent position as the number 1 economy anytime soon.
So, what gives?
Then, you ask - what were we doing "right" during those times that we were held in "esteem"?
The answer, America!
We were the primary westernization object of America at that time. She put in place industry, democracy, rule of law and free education. To give you a glimpse of what they were doing at that time, think what they are doing now in Iraq and in Afghanistan but scale it down a bit in terms of TV coverage, 24-hour cable news and talking heads :- )
When America was running the show here, we have to understand that we did not have any flourishing industry. Business was not the strong suit of the Spanish Conquistadores. They are into kings and queens. So, how come we were 2nd in terms of economic size?
Simple answer - most of our lush forest was exported by the Americans in the Philippines to Americans in the United States of America! This would explain why during this time the foreign exchange was $1:PhP1 to $1:PhP2. The Americans in America must give the Americans in the Philippines a reason to stay in the Philippines to "build the country". Meaning, the earnings of Philippine-based Americans would not depreciate if these earnings would be brought to the United States.
As time rolled on towards the 60s and the 70s, what begun as an economic adventure during the start of the 20th century has turned into a proof of concept exercise. The Americans wanted to prove, and has already proven around this time, to the whole world that democracy, as a "product", can be exported to the Far East and thrive.
Simply put, the Philippines were the living testimonies to the Asian monarchies and the two, then, powerful Communist regimes (remember USSR aka Russia and Red China) that there is another way to govern people.
Remember, we were the ones who elected all our Presidents after Emilio Aguinaldo including the 20-year President. Coincidentally, around President Marcos' ascent to Malacanang, our forest and mineral resources, the primary engine of our economic growth for the past decades, is showing its limits. (This is, for me, the start of the end of an American Adventure to the Far East. A new chapter is being written. More on this on the next blog.)
And as the Asian region embraces democracy and communism's powers waned, America's hold on the Philippines relaxed.
This is why the Philippines has been esteemed by its Asian neighbors during 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. We were a very big social experiment. A very huge commitment. A statement. An example of what the United States of America can do! We were the result of a strategy to promote and to sell that democracy is the way of the future to and for the Far East.
And being a testimony to the wonders of democracy, it is but natural that we, the Philippines, will be a country under the scrutiny of the microscope. That's why you hear stories and read emails stating that the South Koreans were envious of the "progressive" Philippines back in the 60s. But my plea is this - please, my fellow Filipinos, do not stop at "they were envious of us" because they were not simply envious. They were doing homework!
My point, we fell from 2nd place because our economy, for the longest time was base on natural resources, forest and minerals. And by now, we have exported almost 80% of it, compared to early 20th century numbers, across the globe. Now that we do not have much anymore to sustain our ever growing population, 90 million and counting, what's next?
Well, we are, apparently, a messed up race. Our psyche is one of a pampered and spoiled brat! We want results now, that we are exporting our next natural resources - our people, and selling our lands to foreigners!
Though we can do reforestation for we already have a science for that. And thank God, we are aware that we have to enforce the law. But I think, it is far more challenging to "reforest" the soul of our people.
And the challenge starts with knowing what really happened to us, as a country, minus the finger-pointing and the impatience of a hormonally fired up teenager! We have to accept that it takes time to change! We have to accept that our past economic success up to the 1960s is an off shoot of the fact that we were a big and "successful" sales pitch for democracy to the Far East!
We have to know this. We have to accept this fact! We have to accept that we, the Philippines, had a role to play for democracy to spread in Asia, not that we wanted it or we were even aware of it during those times :- )
But we have to know it and accept it now so that we can start to write a new chapter.
This will not be the first time a country looks back to the past to get better. All that we know of the Great Roman Empire, was written 300-400 years after the start of Roman Empire. This written history was the writer's way to understand why they are where they are so that they can propagate Pax Romana even further. Another example is actually the story of United States of America. They looked to the past and transported an idea from the Romans which we now called - democracy!
To end, as our Asian neighbors studied us in the past decades, its time for us to study them now for they have progressed so much. Now, it is our turn to stay up late and burn the midnight oil. Now we know how the South Koreans and Singaporeans felt during the 1960s :- )
Lord, I will be still and know that You are God! You are in control! You have a plan for us, Filipinos!
Tuesday
Thursday
meaningful 34 and counting
I was born on 25 September 1974. The "middle child" in a brood of three boys: Elisalde, Elisier and Ellis.
Nanay told me, she started to feel contractions at home around 1am. As any non-native Manileno in the 70s, it is usually your parientes, parientes in our situation for we are Ilonggos, who accompanied you to the hospital. Nang Nellie and Lola Ping were there to give support and assistance.
They rode a cab that passed by Divisoria. But at 1am, Divisoria is filled with very strong and unfriendly odors. Divisoria afterall is one amazonian wet market.
As Nanay recalled, she pushed me out into the world around 5am in the morning at Far Eastern University Hospital in what the doctors called "a painless childbirth" :- ) Only to know afterward that the whole "painless childbirth" process was with side effects like nervousness and chills :- )
By the way, Tatay was never physically present during all of our childbirths. Nasa viaje sya. And I say that not as a put down. I say that with utmost love and respect to the man who gave himself totally to us, his family. I knew about sacrificial love from Tatay. If there's one legacy he has given me, that would be it.
Everything I am, I owe to him and Nanay. I thank God for He has put me in a family that never made me feel incomplete or that there was something lacking even though our home was in Tondo, Manila. And in the 70s, that address meant something else. Actually, up to now, Tondo still carries a sting, a toned one though.
This 34th birthday is very significant to me.
For one my father got married at the age of 34. Ever since, he has told his boys to get married at the age of 34. That would probably explain why I was never in the hurry to get married during my 20s. And this belief of marrying "late" was also bolstered when only 3 of my 12 high school friends married during their late 20s. Not that we are commitment-phobic or anything. I really believe that we, the Kaka, this is what we call ourselves, take marriage and beginning a family as one of the top 3 most serious and noble privilege given to man.
I spent the first half of the day in bed. Praying. Very meaningful tears trickled down. Mouth wide open as I silent scream my gratefulness and my prayers to Him. And He spoke and led me to Elijah. That name alone speaks to me in a lot of different ways. But the one thing that specially spoke to me was the time when Elijah said to his servant (1 Kings 18:43-45),
"Go up now, look toward the sea." And he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again seven times." And at the seventh time he said, "Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising out of the sea." And he said, "Go up to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.'" And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.
It spoke to me because Elijah asked the servant to go seven times and it all started with a cloud like a man's hand rising and ended with a great downpour! Very dramatic. Actually, very Hollywood :- )
Reminds me that God is very dramatic God. Drama and the theatrics is intimately entwined in my soul. It calls out the warrior in me :- )
... and the drama begins anew at age 34!
Nanay told me, she started to feel contractions at home around 1am. As any non-native Manileno in the 70s, it is usually your parientes, parientes in our situation for we are Ilonggos, who accompanied you to the hospital. Nang Nellie and Lola Ping were there to give support and assistance.
They rode a cab that passed by Divisoria. But at 1am, Divisoria is filled with very strong and unfriendly odors. Divisoria afterall is one amazonian wet market.
As Nanay recalled, she pushed me out into the world around 5am in the morning at Far Eastern University Hospital in what the doctors called "a painless childbirth" :- ) Only to know afterward that the whole "painless childbirth" process was with side effects like nervousness and chills :- )
By the way, Tatay was never physically present during all of our childbirths. Nasa viaje sya. And I say that not as a put down. I say that with utmost love and respect to the man who gave himself totally to us, his family. I knew about sacrificial love from Tatay. If there's one legacy he has given me, that would be it.
Everything I am, I owe to him and Nanay. I thank God for He has put me in a family that never made me feel incomplete or that there was something lacking even though our home was in Tondo, Manila. And in the 70s, that address meant something else. Actually, up to now, Tondo still carries a sting, a toned one though.
This 34th birthday is very significant to me.
For one my father got married at the age of 34. Ever since, he has told his boys to get married at the age of 34. That would probably explain why I was never in the hurry to get married during my 20s. And this belief of marrying "late" was also bolstered when only 3 of my 12 high school friends married during their late 20s. Not that we are commitment-phobic or anything. I really believe that we, the Kaka, this is what we call ourselves, take marriage and beginning a family as one of the top 3 most serious and noble privilege given to man.
I spent the first half of the day in bed. Praying. Very meaningful tears trickled down. Mouth wide open as I silent scream my gratefulness and my prayers to Him. And He spoke and led me to Elijah. That name alone speaks to me in a lot of different ways. But the one thing that specially spoke to me was the time when Elijah said to his servant (1 Kings 18:43-45),
"Go up now, look toward the sea." And he went up and looked, and said, "There is nothing." And he said, "Go again seven times." And at the seventh time he said, "Behold, a little cloud like a man's hand is rising out of the sea." And he said, "Go up to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.'" And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.
It spoke to me because Elijah asked the servant to go seven times and it all started with a cloud like a man's hand rising and ended with a great downpour! Very dramatic. Actually, very Hollywood :- )
Reminds me that God is very dramatic God. Drama and the theatrics is intimately entwined in my soul. It calls out the warrior in me :- )
... and the drama begins anew at age 34!
Tuesday
not the same
The teaching process is different from the learning process. That much I know. When we taught it does not mean they have learned squat.
Would it be better if we care to know the answer to the question of, "How do we learn?" so that we are better equipped to teach?
This is after all is the century of reverse engineering. If we do that, how would the schools look like? Hmmm, I see a new revenue stream :- )
Would it be better if we care to know the answer to the question of, "How do we learn?" so that we are better equipped to teach?
This is after all is the century of reverse engineering. If we do that, how would the schools look like? Hmmm, I see a new revenue stream :- )
i was. now, i am not
i was.
now,
i am not.
can't you
not see?
can't you
feel?
i was.
now,
i am not.
do not
let
who
i was
haunt
do not
dig the dead
...it is dead
dead.
do
not let
who i
was
haunt
the
beautiful
and pristine
future...
can't you not see
how our tears
made my being
alive?
vibrant?
a neruda poem?
i was.
now,
i am not.
i am we.
i am us.
now,
i am not.
can't you
not see?
can't you
feel?
i was.
now,
i am not.
do not
let
who
i was
haunt
do not
dig the dead
...it is dead
dead.
do
not let
who i
was
haunt
the
beautiful
and pristine
future...
can't you not see
how our tears
made my being
alive?
vibrant?
a neruda poem?
i was.
now,
i am not.
i am we.
i am us.
Monday
Saturday
Tondo's view on Lehman's, AIG and Merrill Lynch
They have been hogging the limelight for the past few days. It really makes you worry. Not that worrying helps.
Maybe worrying helps if you are the Federal Reserve Chairman or the Secretary of Treasury of United States of America :- )
Some "worry facts" from CNN: US dollar reserves now is less than the dollar reserves of Poland and of Brazil. It also does not help that what we have now is something similar during the Great Depression of late 1920s to early 1930s.
Hmmm, what does that mean to me?
Well, the economic system that we all subscribe to and embrace centers on the ability of people to consume. If we can not consume anymore (out of fear or worry, like what we have now) or we are stopped to consume (like in a case of a terrorist attack), then we are into trouble. Recessions and depressions abound.
This is a Tondo boy's take on this matter. The technical stuff maybe a bit off but the soul will be spot on. So here goes,
Someone needed the money to build something. They needed a loan, a mortgage. The agencies that needed to decide who suppose to get these financial services (e.g. loans and mortgages) relaxed their controls a bit. They saw something in the economy that justifies relaxing those controls. (Mind you these are "really smart people" who listened to their "bias" and who got found out just now!)
Thus, people who were supposed to be disapproved for loans got approved. Thus, the seed for a crisis was planted.
And when the world view of those "really smart people" came crushing down because it is really a "groinial bias", the system that came "alive" from that bias obviously came crushing down, too. Thus, the headline news. It also does not help that the system we are talking about grew that big and that wide, thanks to globalization.
Common wealth, common poverty ;- )
Actually, 1st world wealth, global trouble :- )
Now, the Fed and US Treasury are busy in the ICU trying to stabilize the "patient", the global economy. Doing a Dr. House on us. In monetary terms, around $700 billion. But do not be overwhelmed by the number. In the long run, the US will make money out of this "blip". That's the beauty of our present day economics.
They, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve, need to stabilize us, the whole world, because if they are in the ICU longer, the whole world starts to not consume thus we spiral into the dreaded economic comma. They need to stabilize us so that we can consume so that the global economy continues to roll and the benefits distributed. Equitably, hopefully.
And what has this got to do with Filipinos? Well, the United States of America is really the primary engine of the whole economic system. And the USA is the major trading partner of the Philippines. Most of our exports find its way to US. If that engine bogs down, the US economy, longer than it should be, then our economy also goes into the emergency room, operating room or even the ICU. If the US is in trouble, Europe will be in trouble. Japan will also be in trouble as well as India and China. Why? Because the US is the major trading partner of the whole world :- )
But here's the silver-lining on all of these, the prices of oil will go down because right now the number one consumer of oil, that's the US, does not have the appetite for it. As simple economics states, when supply remains constant and demand decreases, prices goes down. Thus, the Philippine transport sector should applaud this Lehman-AIG-Merrill Lynch news. They will now have more money on their pockets, thus a Merrier Christmas to them! :- )
My point, not all bad news is bad news. It could be bad news for some but it good also be good news for some. Think it through. Do not ever take what the talking heads say as fact. Think. Gokongwei started to build his empire during World War II :- )
And times like these, makes the jobs of teachers easier. Students are suddenly made aware of something other than texts, facebook accounts, multiply and friendster. Something like, the world economy and how it affects our lives.
Lastly, I love what a CNN anchorwoman ask the writer of Rogue Economics, "Can we regulate greed?"
Greed is good. It is good because it is logical.
Love of money is the root of all evil.
Maybe worrying helps if you are the Federal Reserve Chairman or the Secretary of Treasury of United States of America :- )
Some "worry facts" from CNN: US dollar reserves now is less than the dollar reserves of Poland and of Brazil. It also does not help that what we have now is something similar during the Great Depression of late 1920s to early 1930s.
Hmmm, what does that mean to me?
Well, the economic system that we all subscribe to and embrace centers on the ability of people to consume. If we can not consume anymore (out of fear or worry, like what we have now) or we are stopped to consume (like in a case of a terrorist attack), then we are into trouble. Recessions and depressions abound.
This is a Tondo boy's take on this matter. The technical stuff maybe a bit off but the soul will be spot on. So here goes,
Someone needed the money to build something. They needed a loan, a mortgage. The agencies that needed to decide who suppose to get these financial services (e.g. loans and mortgages) relaxed their controls a bit. They saw something in the economy that justifies relaxing those controls. (Mind you these are "really smart people" who listened to their "bias" and who got found out just now!)
Thus, people who were supposed to be disapproved for loans got approved. Thus, the seed for a crisis was planted.
And when the world view of those "really smart people" came crushing down because it is really a "groinial bias", the system that came "alive" from that bias obviously came crushing down, too. Thus, the headline news. It also does not help that the system we are talking about grew that big and that wide, thanks to globalization.
Common wealth, common poverty ;- )
Actually, 1st world wealth, global trouble :- )
Now, the Fed and US Treasury are busy in the ICU trying to stabilize the "patient", the global economy. Doing a Dr. House on us. In monetary terms, around $700 billion. But do not be overwhelmed by the number. In the long run, the US will make money out of this "blip". That's the beauty of our present day economics.
They, the US Treasury and Federal Reserve, need to stabilize us, the whole world, because if they are in the ICU longer, the whole world starts to not consume thus we spiral into the dreaded economic comma. They need to stabilize us so that we can consume so that the global economy continues to roll and the benefits distributed. Equitably, hopefully.
And what has this got to do with Filipinos? Well, the United States of America is really the primary engine of the whole economic system. And the USA is the major trading partner of the Philippines. Most of our exports find its way to US. If that engine bogs down, the US economy, longer than it should be, then our economy also goes into the emergency room, operating room or even the ICU. If the US is in trouble, Europe will be in trouble. Japan will also be in trouble as well as India and China. Why? Because the US is the major trading partner of the whole world :- )
But here's the silver-lining on all of these, the prices of oil will go down because right now the number one consumer of oil, that's the US, does not have the appetite for it. As simple economics states, when supply remains constant and demand decreases, prices goes down. Thus, the Philippine transport sector should applaud this Lehman-AIG-Merrill Lynch news. They will now have more money on their pockets, thus a Merrier Christmas to them! :- )
My point, not all bad news is bad news. It could be bad news for some but it good also be good news for some. Think it through. Do not ever take what the talking heads say as fact. Think. Gokongwei started to build his empire during World War II :- )
And times like these, makes the jobs of teachers easier. Students are suddenly made aware of something other than texts, facebook accounts, multiply and friendster. Something like, the world economy and how it affects our lives.
Lastly, I love what a CNN anchorwoman ask the writer of Rogue Economics, "Can we regulate greed?"
Greed is good. It is good because it is logical.
Love of money is the root of all evil.
Friday
the idea that's Philippines
I heard both speeches.
Obama's. McCain's.
Beautiful.
I love the whole democratic exercise across the Pacific. They have a publicized process of choosing candidates. They argue about issues and not about the personalities. And they actually put forward a solution on how to address those issues. More on substance. Minimal on rhetoric.
Beautiful.
America. How could you do it? Produce leaders with passion and abilities?
Maybe it's because they have a narrative, a story. I mean, America at the very beginning is simply an idea. An idea that was brought about by the suppression of an expression of faith from the across the Atlantic. And what a beautiful story it is!
Maybe, that's what we, Filipinos, lack. We don't have a story. We don't have a narrative.
Maybe it's time for Philippines version 2.0.
Maybe the idea has come, the idea of Philippines.
Obama's. McCain's.
Beautiful.
I love the whole democratic exercise across the Pacific. They have a publicized process of choosing candidates. They argue about issues and not about the personalities. And they actually put forward a solution on how to address those issues. More on substance. Minimal on rhetoric.
Beautiful.
America. How could you do it? Produce leaders with passion and abilities?
Maybe it's because they have a narrative, a story. I mean, America at the very beginning is simply an idea. An idea that was brought about by the suppression of an expression of faith from the across the Atlantic. And what a beautiful story it is!
Maybe, that's what we, Filipinos, lack. We don't have a story. We don't have a narrative.
Maybe it's time for Philippines version 2.0.
Maybe the idea has come, the idea of Philippines.
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