A lesson from COVID: how to move a nation forward
What a beautiful street this could be. If . . . [Photo source: spot.ph]
By Joe America
There are many lessons to be learned from COVID. Mine is peculiar, I admit, a realization that the nation, to get out of the grip of a virus, needs to focus almost all energies and budgets on the effort. When we get substantially out, say in early 2022, it will be a magnificent feeling of relief, and accomplishment.
It seems to me this offers insight into why previous governments, as well intended as they might have been, have been so swarmed over with problems that they never got to demonstrate big accomplishments that would show to citizens, yes, we are on the move.
I say, change the model!
The Philippines has so many needs. Every year, government tries to address them all. And fails to demonstrate progress. People don’t “feel” it, the moving forward.
I suggest a new model, let’s call it “The Giant Step” model where every year has a primary goal, a major accomplishment in this area or that. The total nation works on it. Budgets are put behind it. Dirt is flying. Red tape is legislated away. It is a determined effort to remake the Philippines, one giant step per year.
I’d suggest the first year be electrical sophistication and self-sufficiency. A mighty effort would be made to bring wind, solar, hydro, nuclear (small-scale), and thermal power into the grid. The grid itself would be strengthened, dissolving the current rat’s nest of conflicting authorities to streamline investments and decisions. Burying cables in urban areas, cleaning up the city. Armies building and digging and rewiring the nation. A month to plan, a month to legislate, a month to staff up, and 9 months to build.
- Year two might be technology, the automation of everything.
- Year three might be military strength.
- Year four might be roads, bikeways, and pedestrian paths.
- Year five might be natural resources, parks, land use, mining, and sea management.
- Year six might be health care.
- Year seven might be education.
- Year eight might be . . .
Every year would produce tangible progress, a new look, new ways of working and getting about. The “Giant Step” model would generate a strong sense of a nation on the move, regenerated every year.
Jobs would be created, and opportunities, and hope.
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[…] Joe america […]
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
One giant step at a time.
As long as it is not like this:
Haha! Yep!
KarlG, there is now one giant pandemic step our people are required to do: don face mask kahit sa luob ng kotse at kahit mag-family members sila. ayaw ni grace poe ang face mask sa luob ng kotse at ayaw din po ng karamihan.
kaso, we are now dealing with covid variants which are 50-70 per cent more infectious than the old covid and just as deadly as the old covid, so dapat face mask na sa luob ng kotse lalo na if car windows are open and cars going to places that could well be highly infectious.
want to minimize catching the variant? wear face mask kahit nasa luob ng kotse, as ordered.
Me conspiracy interview na kumalalat na sabi bg expert kuno na bioweapon daw covid at walang mask na makapipihil dito.
Daming defence expert ewan ko kung kuno na pinasingulangalingan ito
countries like new zealand successfully suppressed the covid variant because the kiwis (new zealanders) observed and adhered to health laws and regulations as well as going into hard lockdown, quarantining and isolation. there are flare ups, but new zealand’s health protocol is holding firm and community transmission among the kiwis is very negligible, often zero infection for months. their contact tracing is also very aggressive.
each time there is flare up, the kiwis routinely resorted to known health protocols as wearing facemask. and like our country, new zealand has yet to receive their quota of the vaccines.
same with the top ten countries with best covid response, they have not the vaccines but keep their people safe by resorting to known and proven health protocols and regulations as wearing facemask.
sa atin po, our 1st line of defence vs covid and its variants is our humble facemask, coupled with face shield, use of hand sanitizers and social distancing.
gayahin natin ang response ng top ten countries: wear facemasks, use hand sanitizers and social distance. better be safe than sorry, bioweapon or not.
Vietnam which was also able to manage last year is not as lucky ad NZ.
As for NZ this the latest.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/06/new-zealand-another-covid-case-linked-to-pullman-hotel
maldistribution of vaccines vs saving lives, I think, dr dans lost the plot. what will he do with social justice when people are dead? how can dr dans insist on equal distribution of vaccines when more people are infected in thickly populated cities than in sparsely populated barrios? covid situations in cities are dire and still no vaccines in the offing. dr dans is better off getting the vaccine paperwork satisfactorily finished, stalling and too much talk cannot make covid vaccines magically appear.
the earlier our people get vaccinated, the sooner we can get back to normal. and if dr dans really wants to help, he ought to ensure there is extra supply of hypodermic needles in cities and towns, ready when the vaccines come.
it will be terrible if we run out of needles, the type that can extract all vaccines off the vials; extract lahat at walang matitira, walang masasayang.
Good points
But still top 3 in COVID performance
https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN29W311
thanks for the links.
Welcome
I’ve just heard na muslim groups in marawi ay gustong matiyak na halal ang covid vaccines. I think, the group ought to cast their vision farther out and look at indonesia, the most populous muslim country, has already vaccinated it’s people. its president joko widodo was vaccinated in public as seen on t.v.
as well, middle eastern countries like saudi arabia, united arab emirates, etc, have got their supplies of vaccines and vaccinating their citizens.
to the muslim group in marawi, pls look at other muslims in other muslim countries and see what they’re doing as regards covid.
Emirates have vaccinated almost half of their population now including a lot of Filipinos living there..
Tama
thanks, guys. malaysia has said thier covid vaccines dont need to be certified halal. and astrazeneca said their vaccines have no pork components.
one of the silliest covid response I’ve heard from our very own dr tony dans of hpaac, health professional alliance against covid, as regards the zubiri authored senate bill allowing lgus to directly procure covid vaccines. dr dans sabi the bill will only benefit richer lgus, access kuno to vaccines should not be on ability to pay but on one’s needs. that health care workers be prioritized, the elderly and the the immunocompromised.
dr dans mayhap did not think that there are health care workers among the rich, there are also elderly as well as immunocompromised among the rich and the very rich.
mayhap again dr dans wants to deny the rich getting vaccinated soonest just because they’re rich can buy their own vaccines instead of just waiting for the govt, lol!
Speaking of the rich the pfizer ceo said he does nit want to cut corners or cut in line when asked if he already got the shots.
Bill Gates allegedly would not want his kids to be vaccinated but that got fact checked as fake news
Here the so called missionary places where only missionaries visit (figuratively) will have a hard time as usual as if they are not isolated.
ops, sorry, my comment jumped up, above.
here’s a copy:
maldistribution of vaccines vs saving lives, I think, dr dans lost the plot. what will he do with social justice when people are dead? how can dr dans insist on equal distribution of vaccines when more people are infected in thickly populated cities than in sparsely populated barrios? covid situations in cities are dire and still no vaccines in the offing. dr dans is better off getting the vaccine paperwork satisfactorily finished, stalling and too much talk cannot make covid vaccines magically appear.
the earlier our people get vaccinated, the sooner we can get back to normal. and if dr dans really wants to help, he ought to ensure there is extra supply of hypodermic needles in cities and towns, ready when the vaccines come.
it will be terrible if we run out of needles, the type that can extract all vaccines off the vials; extract lahat at walang matitira, walang masasayang.
Oo mahirap mawalan ng needles din
Hmm.. maybe. But maybe give more latitude to Regional Offices of Departments in how they get the job done, with provinces doing the follow-up of work done. Plus of course some folks to go around doing spot checks and taking pictures of visible results. Though reviving ABS-CBN especially Regional Channels and TV Patrol would do half the job in that aspect. I have seen how BUB money, in principle a good program, took two years from filing to approval and then a year more – just to improve a small barangay hall in Albay. That is way too bureaucratic, I suspect there are ways to streamline that in the digital age without compromising some degree of fraud control that is needed.
A comment on Twitter which is re the article but also fits my comment:
“Great inputs sir and if i may add.
I think ,it would be ideal if all agencies will create one master plan that will create sub projects for every agencies .The goal is to give each agencies a clearer direction and it will also force each agencies to accomplish more.”
Excellent suggestion.
I dont know where to sabit ang comment kong ito, joeam, if inappropriate, pls delete.
here’s my offending thought:
I think, filipinos ought to follow australia’s example and ask that facebook pay for publishing filipino reporters and journalists’ digital news content. our journalists and reporters work hard to bring those news and often under threats of death, suspension and libel, also often working to very tight deadlines. in our country, it’s risky to be journalists and news reporters. they got ambushed, kidnapped, flooded, shoved and paid pittance.
for years, facebook has gotten our news contents for free, it’s about time facebook pay up.
in australia, facebook behaved like a chinese bully and for asking to be paid, australia was immediately given the blackout.
in our shores, pogos dont want to pay tax, china paid nothing and usurped our territory sa west phil sea, got our premium fishes for free too as well as killing our giants clams.
earning trillions of money year in and year out, facebook publishes our factual and hard fought news report for free and paid not a cent to stressed and hard working journalists and reporters.
haha, it’s not surprising that facebook ceo’s wife is chinese! if she reports to president xi and let china into most coveted databases and whatnots available in facebook – it’s everyone’s problem. thier lives are lived in facebook.
facebook should open its chequebook and pay up to compensate journalists and news reporters. equal compensation for their equal efforts.
“…it would be ideal if all agencies will create one master plan that will create sub projects for every agencies…”
There are already such plans. NEDA’s Philippine Development Plans. There are also plans on a regional level—Regional Development Plans, formulated by regional NEDA branches in conjunction with Regional Development Councils (RDCs) which essentially consist of key LGU heads (provincial governors, mayors of capital cities, presidents of provincial mayoral leagues and mayors of municipalities deemed regional centers) + government line agencies + private sector and civil society.
We should not be asking ourselves if there are plans. There are. We should be asking ourselves how the Philippines can better implement plans.
Joe’s proposal is frankly good—reminds me of Mazucatto’s “Mission-Oriented Capitalism” concept. Get the public sector and private sector to work on big, measurable projects together. Build up the capacities of both public and private sectors in the process.
However, I think it would be too ambitious to do one “Giant Step” every year—maybe, given our weak state, having one or two major visible projects would suffice.
Right now, I think the greater focus should be on “building up the muscles” of the Filipino State to be capable of implementing the plans it already has and (in the future) ambitious initiatives such as what’s being proposed in this blog.
In the past couple of months, I’ve come to the conclusion that “building up the muscles” of the Filipino State means recognizing two things.
—————————————————–
1. Decentralization in the Philippines lacks scale.
Click to access pidsdps1729.pdf
I suggest reading the link above (Romulo 2017) if one has time. It changed my mind on federalism and charter change. I think that some form of charter change will be necessary to transform the way the Philippines decentralizes—with federalism as one but not the only option. Why?
Dirty statist that I am, I do not support federalism out of some resentment for “Imperial Manila.” No, I think it is actually more productive to see federalism as not “complete decentralization” but rather “full decentralization on the national level, but centralization on the sub-national/regional level.
What do I mean by this?
Section 10, Article X of the 1987 Constitution: “No province, city, municipality, or barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the local government code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected.”
This is an important provision that we will be revisiting a lot of times. For now, let us understand that this means that the Filipino Constitution only recognizes four broad kinds of LGUs: province, city, municipality and barangay.
(Note how “region” is not mentioned there. That’s very important.)
What Sec. 10, Art. X also implies is that the “largest” or “first-tier” LGU unit is the “province.” If we were to divide the Philippines into the largest units constitutionally possible, we would get the “province.” Note though that not all “first-tier” LGU units are provinces. Some are highly urbanized cities who are functionally separate from the provinces they reside in.
Roughly speaking, the US state (in a vastly different system i.e. federal system) is a “first-tier” LGU unit.
The Philippines’ problem is that it has far too much “first-tier” LGU units. Quoting the paper (p. 44) above:
“Highly fragmented subnational/local governments. Another challenge to
decentralization in the Philippines is that the huge number of subnational/local government units can lead to highly fragmented service delivery, which is inefficient and produces a sub‐optimal mix of services. The Philippines has the highest number and the smallest sizes of first tier subnational governments in East Asia (Table 10). The first tier subnational government in the Philippines, consisting of provinces and highly urbanized and independent cities, number
149 and correspond to an average population of 500,000. Indonesia, which is much larger and more populated than the Philippines, has only 32 first tier subnational governments, corresponding to an average population of 7 million…”
What is that first-tier LGU units do? They serve “as the link between the national and the lower
subnational government levels” and “consolidate the requirements of smaller, lower level governments, and forward them for consideration of the national government.”
What then explains the existence of the “National Capital Region” or “Region I, II, III…etc.?” These are bureaucratic fictions meant to improve the planning and implementing policy, as well to better reflect the conditions of reality on the ground.
For instance, if one skims through the economics plans in the Philippine Development Plan or the government’s ambitious “Manufacturing Resurgence Program” (started by PNoy, continued by the Duterte administration) and the Duterte administration’s own i3 or “Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy” program—you will notice that they prioritize specific industries for specific regions.
This makes logical sense. Economists have found that regional clustering of industries is key to industrial success. I’m no expert at economics, but I think NEDA’s planning implies something: the only local unit large enough to genuinely interact with the global economy is the “region.” Only “regions” can provide the economies of scale necessary to integrate well with the global economy.
But the Philippines has no “regions.” There are no “regional” governments (except ARMM) since the highest level is only the province.
What the Philippines has instead are Regional Development Councils (RDCs). These can never truly replace a true regional government, for following reasons which the paper cites:
– Absence of meaningful spatial‐based planning in the regions. = “…no regional budget prepared…The mandate of the RDC is limited to reviewing and endorsing the budget proposals of the regional offices of national government agencies for the approval of agency central offices.”
– Unsynchronized budget execution and misaligned budget allocations.
– Inadequate RDC power = “RDCs are mandated to set the direction for and
coordinate all economic and social development efforts in the region. However, RDCs can only provide inputs and do not have control or power over regional budgets, raising doubts on the usefulness of the regional development and investment programming exercise that they are tasked to coordinate. The central offices of national government agencies retain the
stronger, or the only, influence in the prioritization, allocation, and fund releases relevant to regional projects. Projects for implementation in the regions reflect the preferences and priorities of these central offices, rather than those of the localities in the region..RDCs do not have a line of authority over their members. RDC actions are not binding on its members, and on the ground, many RDC meetings are not attended by key local government officials who can make decisions on program and project prioritization. Overall, under the current setup, no entity can be held directly accountable for the development of the region.”
It is easy to see why regional development is so hard. Not only does no one know where the buck truly stops—even if the buck did stopped somewhere, that someone would still be virtually powerless. No one knows who’s in charge and the ones closest to being in charge aren’t actually in charge at all.
How can you implement plans, much less do innovative policy experimentation under such conditions.
“But Francis…,” you might ask, “Can’t we just fuse the many provinces we have into fewer ones.”
We go back to Sec. 10, Art. X:
“No province, city, municipality, or barangay may be created, divided, merged, abolished, or its boundary substantially altered, except in accordance with the criteria established in the local government code and subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast in a plebiscite in the political units directly affected.”
From what little I’ve learned so far in law school, it is unconstitutional to create actual regional governments (within the system, without Charter Change) and utterly PAINSTAKINGLY DIFFICULT to merge provinces into fewer, more consolidated provinces within the limits of the constitution.
It is unconstitutional to create regional governments because it is simply not provided for in the Constitution. I will be really pleased if an actual lawyer points out that I’m wrong here—but the point is, the judiciary cannot allow granting more powers other than what is provided. There is no leeway here.
It is PAINSTAKINGLY DIFFICULT to merge provinces. PDP-Laban’s proposal, for example, suggests the creation of 11 regional governments.
Given Sec. 10, Art. X and the LGU Code that is 11 separate bills passed through Congress, approved by the President, with referendums to boot! It will take a long, long time to merge provinces into “true region-like” provinces piecemeal by piecemeal—not to mention the uncertainty that will generate for investors!
Charter Change is necessary. If not to do “federalism” but rather to create regions as the true first-tier units of governance for the Philippines.
As I’ve told a friend while discussing this—because my friend pointed out that “policy experimentation” anyway happens at the barangay, city, provincial level.
What I replied to him was that, yes I agree with you. Policy experimentation can and does happen at the barangay, city and provincial levels. LGUs and their heads at these levels (e.g. mayors, governors) have tried out innovative policies that benefited their communities.
However, I would contend that policy experimentation at these levels is mainly palliative. Genuinely transformative policy experimentation requires economies of scale where one ..can formulate policies to actively link up with the global economy. There is a reason why the broad outlines of NEDA’s plans focus on regions—because that’s where you get the economies of scale to support certain industries that can link up to global markets.
…
2. The national bureaucracy in the Philippines is weak.
Click to access 851741401.pdf
I’m sure many were already somewhat familiar with #1 as federalism is one of the popular “big” reform ideas floating around with respect to the Philippines. However, I think one vastly underrated—very, very, very, very underrated—reform which I’ve become an extremely strong proponent of is placing restrictions on the Filipino President’s appointing power.
Simply put, the Filipino President appoints too many damned people. For instance, UP political scientists have recommended measures to resolve this exact problem:
“The appointive powers of the President should be limited to at least undersecretary level to enhance careerism in the bureaucracy. This would limit the ability of the chief executive to appoint so many executive officials and, therefore, prevent patronage and the consolidation of too much power in one branch of government.” (p. 30, “Constitutional Performance Assessment of the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” UP CIDS).
(Irineo—I think you will find this very strange, living in Germany. Japan and Germany are distinct for having politically bureaucracies where promotion is done via a system of internal promotion, with political appointees only serving at the very topmost layer.)
I would again also strongly recommend reading the paper above—chock full of details—if one has the time.
For example, a detail worth mentioning is the fact that the President literally appoints thousands. A 2011 PMS estimate cited by the paper puts the number of presidential appointees “upward of 13,169.”
Another damning detail also to note is that “in 2010, non-eligibles comprised about 59 percent of occupied CES positions.” This is an “improvement” from 83% in 1994 and a “deterioration” from 51% in 200.
CES stands for Career Executive Service. These guys are the middle management and top leadership of the Philippine bureaucracy. If the Philippine bureaucracy were an army, these guys would be the colonels and generals.
The paper itself admits (p. 13) that: “The rule in law (P.D. 1) is that only eligibles are to be appointed to CES positions and only in ‘exceptional cases’ can the President appoint a non-eligible, who is then required to undertake the processes in order to obtain eligibility. Without eligibility, the appointment is, effectively, temporary, with a maximum tenure of 12 months [CBD 2010].”
But goes on to note: “In practice however, because appointments to the 3rd level are issued by the President, these have not been submitted to the CSC for attestation and the OP has gone on to interpret a non-CES eligible occupying a CES position as “a political appointee who serves at the pleasure of the President”, without the need for a reappointment [if beyond 12 months].”
Half of our “colonels and generals” in the civilian bureaucracy aren’t even qualified! And we wonder why the Filipino bureaucracy seems to not do anything right!
There’s also the issue that if the President can’t get “his guy” in a position, he’ll create an entirely new office for “his guy.” Hence, the proliferation of undersecretaries. If you can’t make someone Undersecretary of X, why not just invent the Office of Undersecretary for Y for him!
I think some here are aware about the murmurs coming from Congress (e.g. Senator Sotto) to “reorganize” the Filipino bureaucracy. This is really funny to me. There are have been many, many attempts to “reorganize” the Filipino bureaucracy—dating back as far as “My Guy” Magsaysay.
It will fail, so long as you fix this one.
“Reorganizing” the Filipino bureaucracy without limiting the president’s power to appoint so many damned people is like trimming weeds on the lawn and getting angry about it growing back (even though you did nothing to remove the roots).
minor grammatical errors:
“Japan and Germany are distinct for having politically-insulated bureaucracies…”
“It will fail, so long as you DON’T fix this one.”
—————————————————————
What I forgot to mention in #2 is the alternative to having the president appoint virtually everyone is to have appointments undersecretary and below done through “internal promotion.” Let the bureaucrats promote their leadership (save for the topmost office e.g. Secretary/Minister) internally. This is the general practice in Japanese and German bureaucracies—and the advantage that this brings is policy stability and relative insulation from politicization.
I am aware though that adopting a total scheme of internal promotion throughout the entire Filipino bureaucracy is not politically feasible (giving jobs to people is a pretty important thing for presidents and legislators) nor even desirable (some really corrupt and incompetent bureaucracies—like DepEd—certainly need lots and lots of reform before trusting them with autonomy/independence).
I would propose adopting a more limited scheme of adopting internal promotion/restricting presidential appointments in key agencies of the government concerned with the economy (DOF, DTI, DOE, DOST) to build credibility with the private sector and investors and assure them of policy stability. As cynical as this sounds—leave the rest of the agencies to be open to whatever political horse-trading must be done. However, if there’s political capital or opportunity present, expand the scheme.
That’s what Park Chung Hee—the military strongman who oversaw South Korea’s miraculous industrialization—did. He personally oversaw the most important economic bureaucracies of South Korea (EPB/Economic Planning Board, Ministry of Finance, etc.) and stocked them with the most qualified talent South Korean bureaucracy had to offer—while leaving less important bureaucracies to be overseen by friendly generals.
This is also one of the reasons why Thailand managed a far more successful industrialization than the Philippines, despite both being “late-late industrializers.” Thailand had a “firewall” between core economic agencies and politicians. The Philippines did not. Thailand was able to industrialize better because having a relatively insulated bureaucracy that was somewhat immune from politicization allowed for there to be policy stability. Industrialization requires policy stability because industrialization requires a heavy degree of capital investment which is inherently long term.
Thankfully, having this scheme of internal promotion is probably feasible through national legislation. No need for Cha-Cha.
————————————————————————
To sum up everything I’ve been saying so far—for a nation to do “big things” I’ve realized that a government must be able to handle two essentially contradictory things:
– Policy stability
– Policy innovation
Having “true” regional governments will allow us to really have “competition” and “experimentation” between regions that can lead to policy innovation—while having someone accountable for Regional Development Plans will help promote policy stability. Having a more autonomous/insulated national bureaucracy (via internal promotion) will allow us to have more policy stability.
I’m sure there are many more things to “beef up” the muscles of the Filipino state—but these seem to me the “big” ways to do so.
Hi Francis, many thanks for the two articles that are long reads but I will check them out. Some quick reacts as I am out and about today, just in nature of course in conformity with lockdown, but carpe diem:
1) very enlightening stuff about RDCs and all. Federalism a la Germany might be more than the Philippines can handle today but Regional like Italy might be an option. Asking someone who knows for comment.
2) career bureaucracy. Yes. ACK re Germany. Japanese system and AFAIK Korean too (Sokor) was patterned after Prussia (the basis of the German system) in the 19th century reform period. That Siam has a career bureaucracy is something I heard to, probably thanks to 19th century reformist Mongkut, the one shown in King and I. Possibly British model like SG, MAL and India?
(the US system is most highly politicized BTW is my impression, only the strong patriotism of Americans usually keeps it from being like the Philippines – recent exceptions show how it could be if more acted biased like Pinoys)
More later or I guess tomorrow when I have skimmed at least the articles.
“… the US system is most highly politicized BTW is my impression, only the strong patriotism of Americans usually keeps it from being like the Philippines …”
I think the size of a federation of 50 states calls for a little bit more parsing of the statement. Considering this scale, the cracks in the American socio-political-economic continuum that are seen in the media begs for a lot thought. As an immigrant the earlier one pays attention to this scale the better off he/she can manage one’s navigation.for survival and viability. As usual this a majority opinion of one. 😦
‘… for a lot of thought …’
I’m not really familiar with Chicago, sonny, but I just recently watched a documentary about Percy Julian hailing from Oak Park, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.
Also where Frank Lloyd Wright’s from.
And I below mentioned Liloan, I’m sure there’s small successful LGUs as well in the Philippines, which all relate to Oak Park township. Small community which still retains its smallness, will attract successful, thus consistent tax base.
Multiply this by a lot in the Philippines, you’ll have the beginnings of progress.
2005 proposal to reengineer the bureacracy
here,
The only set of appointees that may have lasting effects re the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
It would be ideal if we profesddonalize our bureacracy more by having more career civil servants the USEC level and below and leave the Asec and secretaries to the president.
Here’s the city of Santa Monica and the city of Vernon, both adjacent (though opposite corners) of LA city.
Click to access Vernon_General_Plan.pdf
If you look at their zoning layout, there’s a corner of SMC set aside for industry, but not really factories more like warehouses; now Vernon is like 90% industry, the trains and trucks bring stuff in, and they bring stuff out to go to the rest of the USA.
Santa Monica has always been upscale; whilst Vernon not so, the poor souls that re actual residents there get cancer, etc. But lately because of gentrification in downtown LA which Vernon is now also enjoying by virtue of proximity, commercial building s are turned to artist lofts or condos. Eventually Vernon will be like Santa Monica but for yuppies.
My point here is that LGUs can compete amongst each other, like Santa Monica they can retain, like Vernon they can pivot depending on where the trends lead. Again two opposite sides of LA city, Santa Monica enjoys the fresh air of the ocean; Vernon historically the carcinogens, but now because of gentrification, those 90% industrial/commercial tenants of Vernon will be priced out
and will have to move out. And the cycle continues because there’ll be other towns/cities wanting those commercial/industrial tenants, look into the city of El Segundo too; and Culver city, to get a feel of how LGUs can comparatively take advantage of each others local govt policies.
The state of California has nothing to very little to do with said processes, Francis. Nor the county. Incorporated cities/towns (your LGUs) will compete with each other.
Ireneo, i believe in Germany especially where the Wild Horses roam, is where the bulk of industry is generated, while the brown coal dug up in the opposite side of Germany. In national scale the USA does this too, why the Rust Belt is called the rust belt. Comparative advantage need not be planned to death, it can
be organic.
Germany indeed has the lignite areas that start South and East of Cologne, strip mining, entire villages relocated, the dinosaur-sized giant excavators come in, get out the brown coal, the area is sealed and sometimes they rebuild a village and clear the relocated area for the next strip mine.
Lower Saxony state which has a horse on its flag, yes horse country, has Volkswagen and Salzgitter among others. Volkswagen is partly state-owned, not by the Federation but by Lower Saxony. Salzgitter builds the steel that is pressed into car bodies, or special steel used for electrical windmills – lots of them over there as Lower Saxony (capital Hannover) is flat and windswept.
Along the Ruhr river is where they used to mine coal deeper and deeper, starting in the southern part and going northwards, the steel plants close by. The Ruhr area was Germany’s Rust Belt, lots of smog there in the 1980s.
Baden-Württemberg in the Southwest is engineer and inventor country. Daimler and Benz invented the car there. Mercedes and Porsche factories in the state capital Stuttgart. More recently SAP which is in the big league of international software companies, started by 5 IBM engineers with an idea IBM didn’t want to realize in the early 1970s. First office in Mannheim, near Heidelberg, then moved to Walldorf (the NY millionaire Astor came from there, every Astor from his native village I was told gets a free night in the Waldorf-Astoria) into an industrial zone in the middle of asparagus fields and junk shops.
Bavaria is the latecomer, nearly agricultural until the 1920s when the first industries settled Northwest of Munich. Took off after the war as Siemens moved from Berlin – electrical stuff, big-time – then the defense industry, then Microsoft early 1990s I think, then an IT boom with the likes of Irineo coming in, biotech area since the early 2000s – though the BioNTech company which created the Pfizer vaccine is in Baden-Württemberg.
So yes, over here states competing are the main drivers, it already was like that here in the 19th century before unification in 1871. Frankfurt central station for instance has three wings as Hesse state then was three kingdoms with a king each and every king wanted his lines to stop in autonomous Frankfurt etc etc
One note especially to Francis: German federalism is more like regional becaude unlike in the USA, states cannot make their own penal laws.
Subsidiarity is very strictly defined here. Noise protection laws for instance are a state matter, strictly, shop opening laws as well. Thus there is Berlin where shops can theoretically be open 24 hrs or Bavaria where shops close at eight.
Health and education are state matters as well, only subject to coordination with the Federation. In times of Covid that is a mixed bag. Tomorrow Merkel will be trying to get 16 kings, I mean state PMs and their health and education ministers to agree on a common approach to further lockdown. As always there will be a common denominator and some states will go stricter like Bavaria and some will make exceptions. Hope not too much as the UK and South Africa variants of Covid are here. Austria is running wild with them BTW.
How much power states have over cities and counties varies here as well. Bavaria can override local by declaring a state of catastrophe which it has done twice now during Covid, control municipal clinics, move frontliners and move patients to places where ICUs have space. The city-state of Berlin is doing a better job in vaccinating people than Bavaria it seems, don’t quite know why. Priorities in vaccination are still set centrally in Berlin, how states do it is their business, a governance version of German military Auftragstaktik in a way.
Judiciary and police are also state matters. Federal police deal with bigger matters like transportation safety, border guard, coast guard, combating organized crime and terrorism. Day-to-day peace and order and regular criminal investigation is left to state authorities, not the Feds. Municipal level can have security forces – Munich does, unarmed patrols with stab proof gloves and vests to take care of hotspots like the main train station or the area around it.
Ireneo,
over here, there are still dry counties, counties where no liquor is sold– though mostly in the South and mid-west. I’m trying to think of weird county laws in California, but pretty much California penal codes are enforced state-wide, though municipal codes can differ usually in vice matter i noticed (ie., no strip clubs, etc.) ,or vagrancy laws can differ city to city, but unincorporated areas usually follow county laws, which means state laws.
small correction USEC and SEC.
Asec are lower in the heirarcy than USECs
Yes thanks
Most intriguing approach. There are five distinct regions now. 1. Northern Luzon with Subic-Clark as the civic hub. 2. Metro Manila. 3. Southern Luzon and nearby islands to the west, without an urban center now. 4. The Visayas anchored by Cebu and including Palawan, and 5. Mindanao anchored by Davao.
If I may, Francis’ examples doesn’t factor into the BPO industry and the fact that said industry has also given birth to Filipinos simply working form homes.
Thus only a fast reliable internet connection really, and not more of these tax havens/economic zones are necessary. Yes, S. Korea, China, Thailand have all risen up because of this strategy, but is it consistent with what we know about the Philippines???
Sure, needing outside industries is still the same; but expanding on what the BPO industry has set up seem more doable. Less dependent.
Again all you need is internet. Right now, Filipinos are doing paper work, customer service, tech support, can you imagine if individual Filipinos can start selling what they make to the rest of the world.
I’m saying home to world, no need for industrial zones.
Even this there’s already also infrastructure, though it goes the opposite direction right now, the Balikbayan box trade, one way, so
if internet is up, Filipinos themselves can start sending Balikbayan boxes to the world. Just flip the direction.
This can be along side industrial /economic zones too, but just give the regular Filpino a chance, by simply giving him better internet. thus access to the world; the same way rich Filipino kids get to visit Las Vegas or go to school in the USA, or start wanna Starbucks chains there after hanging out in several here.
Right now the gate keepers are the rich Filipinos; with internet there will be no more gatekeepers. Direct is the name of the game, Joe.
“Right now the gate keepers are the rich Filipinos; with internet there will be no more gatekeepers.”
Aye! There’s the rub. Ironic, this state of limbo between destitution and opulence turns to be a unique agent of survival. The osmosis in Philippine society is somehow working in counterintuitive ways. If I use the word resilience I will kick myself. Thus I offer the term the “entry point” to self-determination?
But…
Verily, the creation of an entirely new local government unit through a division or a merger of existing local government units is recognized under the Constitution, provided that such merger or division shall comply with the requirements prescribed by the Code.
—-
https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2001/oct2001/gr_146319_2001.html
Francis’ premise that too many LGUs equals a weaker national gov’t just doesn’t seem correct to me, no matter how I study it, karl. And sure maybe consolidation is good.
But over here, say L.A. county below
L.A. county is comprised of a myriad of local gov’t from big cities like L.A. (that red above, is L.A. city), Glendale, Pasadena, etc. to smaller towns. Imagine a bunch of other counties in the state and thru out the USA, sure many counties are stand alones, but this L.A. county example
illustrates perfectly how a bunch of local gov’ts can still work. If you notice there’s cities within L.A. city, that’s San Fernando , Beverly Hills, Culver City, etc. it’s a mosaic of LGUs, and that’s just in one county.
But LA County is ultimately part of a state—the State of California.
It’s not a matter of too many LGUs. I’m not saying we should merge cities, barangays, municipalities. The LGU Code, in its defense, does a good job of decentralizing power to these “little guys.” We’ve come a long way from President Quezon’s era—where municipalities and cities were legally beholden to the national government/the President.
What I think we have too much of are the “first-tier” LGUs—the “middle guys” if you will—that link up the “big guy” i.e. national government to the “small guys” i.e. the cities, municipalities and barangays.
Rephrased in American terms—my problem is that the Philippines has too many “states.” The “middle guys” (“provinces” in the Philippines) are too many and too small, too much like the “small guys.” Governance is unsurprisingly fragmented as a result.
President Quezon’s era.. yes in those days a President could simply fire a governor or mayor by EO. Even public school principals – there is an entry in Francis Burton Harrison’s diary, posted online in Philippine Diary Project which is run by MLQ3 – of Quezon and Harrison traveling across the country by ship and Quezon dismissing a school principal in Legazpi City “en passant”.
Tony La Viña of Ateneo de Davao – a legal luminary and Constitutionalist – said the even now enormous executive powers of the Philippine President are a legacy of the powers of Spanish governors and American governors after them.
Reading older sources recently, I found out the governors of the Philippines in Spanish times needed that latitude to be able to govern a colony three months away by ship from Mexico where there boss, the Viceroy of New Spain, resided.
Laws from Mexico only went into force it seems when the governor signed them with “cumplo”.
I wonder if a Philippine President before could endlessly delay signing a law like the Spanish governors of yore, and if the lapsing into law of today is one of the things that came after or with 1987, which heavily curtailed executive powers.
LCPL_X, from a Continental European perspective (here everything is extremely ordered from the metric system thru national IDs to codified law as opposed to a jumble of precedent-based bills) both UK (as George Mikes the Hungarian immigrant wrote in How to be an Alien, Continentals are systematic, British like to muddle through, witness Brexit negotiations as proof of those differences) and US systems are too hopelessly patchy to ever work but somehow they do.
The question is whether Filipinos work better with the highly systematized Spanish legacy or the more freewheeling US legacy – see the mix of codified law like Penal, Civil and Family Codes there vs. RAs, PDs and EOs of all kinds, the PDs from Marcos era valid still unless explicitly repealed.
But then again India works with the UK legacy and inspite of the look of total chaos seen from the outside it has an inner logic to it and is able to conduct manual elections for over a billion people, vaccinate efficiently and send satellites into space (10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0… Plus 1, plus 2.. is how they count over there) so maybe the Philippines could pull stuff like that off too.
“…and US systems are too hopelessly patchy to ever work but somehow they do.”
Ireneo, I totally agree with this. And the water laws of California is great example of this.
But Francis is onto something, I thought he was pointing out LGUs, but if its the provincial government system, Wiki say 81 provinces, then that kinda makes sense. Though i still think the mortar not the bricks need tweeking.
Again I submit the Ecleo case, that family terrorized their own province to such extent their case had to be moved to Cebu province, and there too they were able to terrorize, case let go. There’s similar political family based in Dapitan (yup Rizal’s property is there, he won via lottery), that goes around raping young beautiful women, then sweep under rug. I’m sure its every where.
My point here , if you can’t even get simple criminal matters under control, what happens when big multi nationals come to screw things up.
This is where that patchwork comes to play, Ireneo, for example Liloan has plenty of ex-pats, from Europe, North America, even East Asia. Mactan has a bunch of Koreans. I believe Naga or maybe San Fernando is where electricity is generated. Carcar is kinda like their Vigan, but smaller, there less well kept. Provincial capitol is in Cebu, that’s Francis’ “middle guy” (i think from what he wrote).
But Liloan works perfectly, again my assumption is because of all the expats, so I agree with you that culture is the mortar, doesn’t really matter if you have standard sized bricks, clay or concrete blocks, or doing a beautiful mosaic. The mortar has to hold. What holds Carcar together isn’t really ex-pats but historical families, many of whom have gone to other countries, then re-inject back to their “ancestral homes”, city.
With your India analogy, I agree, the Philippines doesn’t need to retool gov’t units, just retool its people to participate. Like Liloan and Carcar. What the US has given, like UK to India, is good enough, just people to take part. And people won’t partake if you still have Ecleo-type families.
First order of business isn’t to retool bureaucracy, but to sic said bureaucracy upon Ecleo-type families and annihilate them, they are what hinders, IMHO not the bureaucracy per se.
“…maybe the Philippines could pull stuff like that off too.”
I agree totally. Over here there is participation; in India as well. Indians from india buy homes here using cash, then turn around and bring the profit re-inject back to india. Indians born here Indian-Americans (not Native-Americans) go back to India as well. All those things happen too with rich Filipinos and Filipino-Americans. just unable to scale it up in the Philippines, i guess.
The biggest hindrance are the established rich Filipinos there. thus lack of participation, and when Filipinos do participate they do so in elections and tend to pick the least qualified (but more entertaining) candidates. If Wowowillie runs for Presidency i’m sure he’ll win.
IMHO, just figure out how to create more Liloans. By doing so marginalize the Ecleos of the Philippines.
Its like the story of the surfboard that travelled to the Philippines and some Filipino guy found it.
The surfboard is the system of governance there, sure its from far away, but it floats, maybe be battered , but it floats; just need to learn how to surf now. Americans were able to do it after leaving the UK; the Indians too after the UK, i don’t really see how the Philippines cannot.
It all goes back to White Tiger, servants must slay their masters.
More eloquently, sonny’s:
“The osmosis in Philippine society is somehow working in counterintuitive ways. If I use the word resilience I will kick myself. Thus I offer the term the “entry point” to self-determination?”
During the early days of the FM era cronyism was rampant in many forms and complexities. The obvious dynamic was: 1) win the ear of FM then, 2) be ready with your plan/scheme 3) be ready to present the “salting” mechanism that will ensure an ROI for FM’s interest and yours 4) repeat once; 5) if successful, iterate 6) goto 1 with new enterprise 7) repeat cycle.This paradigm was either good or bad depending on the beneficiaries. Looks familiar?
Sadly, I don’t think this solves the issue.
The argument of the petitioner in Cawaling v. COMELEC is essentially that the creation of the City of Sorsogon is unconstitutional because it violates the “one subject-one bill” rule (a law should only be about one subject) since it allegedly has two subjects i.e. (1) the abolition of two municipalities and (2) the creation of a new LGU—Sorsogon City.
However, the Court ruled that this was a too narrow interpretation of the “one subject-one bill” rule and that anyway if one looks at the spirit of the law, the bill actually followed the “one subject-one bill” rule and in actuality has one subject which is the creation of Sorsogon City—the abolition of the municipalities are merely a means towards the creation of that new LGU.
The “one subject-one bill” rule is important though. I forgot to mention it in my lengthy comment, but the “one subject-one bill” rule is why it is so hard within the confines of the 1987 Constitution to “merge” provinces into more consolidated provinces (that can serve as de-facto regions).
I said in my comment:
“Given Sec. 10, Art. X and the LGU Code that is 11 separate bills [to merge provinces and create 11 separate “regions”] passed through Congress, approved by the President, with referendums to boot! It will take a long, long time to merge provinces into “true region-like” provinces piecemeal by piecemeal—not to mention the uncertainty that will generate for investors!”
The question one might ask is—can’t you merge all these 11 separate bills into one omnibus bill that merges all the provinces into larger provinces all at once? I am not an expert at all (I just started law school hahaha) but I have a feeling that would be unconstitutional due to the “one subject-one bill” rule.
Of course—in the course of writing this reply—I realised that one can reasonably argue that merging provinces into larger provinces nation-wide can be loosely interpreted as “one subject” (nationwide consolidation of provinces?) but I feel that is still iffy. Most legislation creating new LGUs just deal with creating a single LGU = a single subject.
I don’t know. Ultimately the constitutionality of such a bill rests with the Supreme Court, so who knows?
Many thanks Francis!
But we do have a gerrymandering problem, be they be additional barangays, additional congressional districts or additional provinces through division.
Francis,
I remember two lawyers (or maybe a law school student as well) answered here a while back in blogs,
one was involved in the Jennifer Laude case, and explained the difference in US and Philippine criminal justice nuance in murder cases;
then there was another one I forget which blog now was her answer on a question i’ve always had about the sex industry in the Philippines, and her law school answer was that gov’t couldn’t get involved in commerce so long as nothing criminal was transpiring, hence the sex industry there.
Which I thought was a funny answer, both really. And both related. I forget now the details of the interactions, maybe karl remembers and can link, but murder and commerce were the issues,
but I thought, having read your comment Francis, that interpretation, ie. spirit of the law is what’s maybe lacking in how Filipinos are taught law there.
1. Laude wasn’t murder per se but more like manslaughter, but as explained Philippine law has no manslaughter provision. Again i forget the details of the interaction, and I believe she was a Filipina lawyer assigned to help out the US Marine. i forget.
2. Sex industry, over here towns and counties keep all the sex stuff at bay by simply putting up municipal, local gov’t codes, hence why surrounding towns around Socal don’t have strip clubs. Though Asian massage parlours are tricky because less obvious to codify, but
and this is where spirit of the law comes to play, if the local officials sense there is protest from the community (there’s only apathy in big cities), they’ll get these businesses for rent violations, to health code violations, or simply harrass customers. thus driving away business.
I would like to see more spirit of the law stuff from the Philippines. So far only the rich and powerful can pull off these stunts, not the poor or powerless in the Philippines. I’m curious about the subject of law and how its taught in the Philippines, thus just my observation, Francis.
if you can, please describe more this issue, spirit of the law and law school in the Philippines. How its taught.
I wrote this 5 years ago, if you can comment here in the current blog, that would be swell: https://joeam.com/2015/05/21/a-filipino-aclu-and-lawyering-in-the-philippines/
Do you guys study Oposa doctrine? the most significant thing that came out of the Philippines in legal thought, and its not even popular (like Filipino martial arts, the best thing to come out of the Philippines, having saved centuries of martial movements and techniques loss else where, and you’d be lucky if Filipinos have even heard of it).
Absolutely. LGU’s would play a huge role, too.
my point above, is simply
is there any other plans available that will be more direct to regular Filipinos. Or are most plans out there, dependent on other nations, dependent on gov’t, etc.
I know i’ve been talking crap about the BPO industry before, and I’m not agreeing with said industry now, just that the BPO industry has created an infrastructure that links regular Filipinos (with no name connection, no powerful patrons, etc) to the world.
So why not focus on that direct connection which BPO has opened up Filipinos to? build all bigger plans around this simply fact.
“… maybe give more latitude to Regional Offices of Departments in how they get the job done, with provinces doing the follow-up of work done. Plus of course some folks to go around doing spot checks and taking pictures of visible results.”
Solidarity Subsidiarity in practice … leadership from national, regional, provincial leadership thru to humblest barangay….
This makes logical sense. Economists have found that regional clustering of industries is key to industrial success. I’m no expert at economics, but I think NEDA’s planning implies something: the only local unit large enough to genuinely interact with the global economy is the “region.” Only “regions” can provide the economies of scale necessary to integrate well with the global economy.
I dunno about economics of all this clustering, Francis, but from the perspective of civil engineers and electricity /energy folks easier to set up infrastructure when clustered, and specific to electrical process, its a lot more practical to put these “clusters” (and there should be less not more) to where electricity is produced, if no as close to main lines (high tension) as possible as to save electricity. Also efficiency.
But connected to the sex industry over there vs. over here, most of the sex/strip joints here are actively pushed towards our industrial areas (which usually are not close to main lines or sources of electricity, the issue above), but the reason for this is to keep hidden the dark parts of human commerce. some states do this better than others. but again, here counties and small towns have a lot of say.
The problem in prioritizing are those that feel left behind and cry : what about us?
In short – inpatience
They need to be enrolled to help. Also, basic services in all areas will continue. No one should feel left behind if it is done right.
Whatever the plans & objectives, whenever the timetables & schedules, however the means employed, whomever the scales of actions benefit, these must be triangulated against the sustained presence of:
– law & order
– security to life & limb for the weakest and strongest citizenry
– food, shelter & clothing for both elite and disadvantaged of society
– aid & succour for the incapacitated
Yes, important basics.
Agree.
Carpe diem, I would say. Because Covid has effected universal contraction across the board, we do as Special Olympics participants – we can wait for everyone to get to cross the finish line.
Hahaha… re Special Olympics, sonny. I just need to make another point related to the CA exodus to other states below. First off, I’m not leaving CA, I’m Californian (whatever that means). But there is a culture that is “Californian”.
That’s why the end destination of this great CA exodus, states where Californians have moved whether Washington, Oregon, or Texas, etc. they are screaming leave your “California”-ness behind. Hahaha, I have no idea what that even means.
But whatever that cultural nuance is, others are scared of it. And its not taxation, hell that’s why folks leaving from California are leaving. So what’s got other states scared? I tend to think Californians think the world is one big Special Olympics, where everyone gets medals.
Where you see homeless spread eagle on the sidewalk, Californians like the Special Olympics, will say let’s move around him, let him be, he’s Special. That cultural nuance and over taxation are directly related, of course.
So yeah, those other states have something real to fear.
But relevant to the Philippines, with mobility (and competition, or the lack thereof), comes new ideas and norms, and those things are scary. Say an Ecleo who rules an island or town, new folks come in, don’t know that a certain heritage political family of power resides there, don’t know that they are suppose to allow said family members to rape as they please,
well those newcomers un-emcumbered by historic status quo of that area, will shake things up. Just as CA is doing to the rest of the West of USA. Sure, the CA exodus may be a loss for California gov’t, but this CALIFORNIA-ness is set to spread in the West. Everyone’s special.
kinda like this,
LC, Alvin Toeffler in his book FUTURE SHOCK singled out Calif, Florida & I think NYC, as the places to watch if one has to look for indicators and trends of American culture. It seems that these 3 places are again the the carriers of trends of American life during this Covid times. (I do recall the CA exodus of which you speak) …
I’ll need to look into that book, sonny.
I know folks from Texas, but honestly culturally I don’t see them spreading anything really.
They ‘re proud of having been they’re own country for awhile (but so was California), and having been a confederate state and being into states right. but like i said nothing really significant as far as future contributions.
So once a bunch of Californians move there, that cultural vaccuum will be filled and Texas will inevitably move closer to California than backwards.
entertainment which means more homosexual and equality stuff being churned out; tech meaning the same re equality; education meaning more social science and ethnic studies stuff (education that doesn’t really encourage making creating things, just a whole lot of whining).
the irony is if you follow the beach access politics here in CA is that Californians tend to have the appetite for wider wealth gaps, so in this regard will be more like NY, as evidence by Long Island seashore and northeast areas as well.
Over here in CA middle class are bailing out and jumping ship (tech companies, even none tech). I remember the Economist like 12 years ago they had this issue on the cover, who’s economic model is best CA or TX, since most are leaving CA for states like WA and OR, and the rockies states, as well as TX, i’d say the overwhelming reason is taxation (because proximity seem still
to play a role).
I don’t know anything about Philippine tax codes, but I do know about mobility.
So I’d add, Joe, that infrastructure such as roads and ships, which I think is already there, then just the ability to just leave, like creative destruction, if Manila and Cebu vie for talent and funds, and also inter island rivalry, ie. it sucks here in (say Bohol) I wanna set up shop in Souther Negroes now, boom eazy peezy, you’ll have healthy competition.
Because now CA will have to re-think its tax laws, because with only billionaires and millionaires left, who don’t pay taxes but hide their money in front companies in Delaware or the Caribbean or Panama, whose left will be the homeless.
So my point, encourage mobility in society, and as for gov’t local and national, compete. Mobility and Competition. These are the lessons from Snake…(below)
Added side-effect is you’ll finally get your national awareness, more people inter-mingling tend to do this. IMHO. i fear there might be t00 much stress on what government can do for Filipinos, and not what Filipinos can do for themselves, in said blog.
Palantir is a great example of California tech moved outwards to the rest of America.
But blockchain, and not AI, rather it is more really California mindset,
from Quora,
Let’s first look at blockchain.
Blockchain has the potential to change the world around us. Its decentralized approach is new and solves problems that industries are going through. The key features that make blockchain so amazing include transparency, immutability, and efficiency. So, does this make it a good career option?
Well, we need to take a look at what’s happening in the blockchain market. Until now, blockchain is not widely accepted as a solution due to its age. But, in 2020, things are changing fast for blockchain. Many market leaders say that 2020 is the year where blockchain finally matures. With multiple companies, foundations, and organizations working towards making blockchain global, it is finally seen as the technology that has found its footing.
Big corporations and governments are interested in the capabilities of blockchain. Infact, the Dubai government wants to be the first government to adopt blockchain all across their processes.
There is also a surge in blockchain developer demand as more companies are on a hiring spree and looking to get the best talent to work for them.
Now, let’s take a look at artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence(AI) has always been at the center of technological innovation in the past decade. If you are fascinated by the fact of self-driving cars, automation, and Robot Process Automation(RPA), then AI is for you. Just like blockchain, AI also took quite some time to mature as a technology. But we can easily say that it is completely mature and is a stable ground to experiment with your career on.
Big companies are also actively working on technology and ensuring its growth. Apart from self-driving cars, you also get to work on some exciting tech that the major companies are working on.
The demand for AI professionals is also there as it still falls under the growing market.
In short, I suggest you pick a trade that you find more exciting and can relate to in the long run. If you love your work, it feels more like play than work!
One more thing, I suggest taking up certification courses if you want to showcase your expertise to your potential employees and gain an advantage in the market. This is true for both blockchain and artificial intelligence.
______________________________________________________
LCPL_X, have you seen any of this stuff over there in LA?
Yeah, both that and protesters holding signs saying vaccines are the mark of the beast. LOL!
Efficiency is the name of the game, and shortage makes useful these two groups i suppose.
In Oregon, health workers administering vaccines were on their way back to their clinics (after vaccinating folks) got stuck in the snow, so they had an impromptu vaccination event on the roadway filled with snow injecting other motorists.
My fear, is when eventually they’ll forced injecting folks just for fun. But that’s still maybe a year away. i think. that’s when the fun will start. for sure. Then make is for profit like flu shots.
dispersal of covid vaccines has to be documented po, who gets vaccinated, when and by whom, and vaccinees need to be observed for adverse reaction, told to contact their doctors if they have further questions.
health authorities are notorious record keepers and hungry for data. they have to know where the vaccines go, (not sold in the black market). and if they need consignment of follow up doses, their paper work must be in order. vaccine expenses must be justified, data filed and collected.
as regards profit, drug manufacturers need to recoup their expenses and have their drugs registered and patented. drugs exclusively on patent are under the sole control of the manufacturers and can regulate or dictate their own price. in some cases, when drugs are on high demand and there’s no equivalent drugs in the market, manufacturers pay fee and apply for extension of their patent.
when drugs are out of patent, any manufacturer can replicate the drugs (generic) and since patent is no longer an issue, drugs are sold cheaply.
For sure the owners of the big pharma will fall from the windfall
My comment about Small Modular Reactors.
https://joeam.com/2020/10/26/why-the-philippines-should-add-nuclear-power-to-its-energy-portfolio/#comment-393671
That fleet of small reactors is exactly what the Philippines needs. One for Cebu, Luzon, Mindanao, and Palawan. It’s possible to locate them out of population centers, downwind. Each island an aircraft carrier, I suppose.
That would be great.
All of these are doable.
Only slightly related – Duterte’s 15 points he promised in 2015/6:
None of it is accomplished of course as none of it was realistic, unlike the year by year approach which concentrates on tangible stuff.
Though judicial reform is an important part of that program.
That and administrative reform are highly important but hard to do so I guess they can only be done parallel to the year by year programs, step by step.
Crime and poverty reduction – also mentioned – go hand in hand and should be a benefit that eventually accrues from the year by year programs.
waited and much anticipated, every year po duterte delivers state of the nation address, SONA, reporting on his govt’s achievements and accomplishments, and every year his SONA deflates the hope of the nation, its people, its economy and outlook.
people walk ‘sideways’ like crab, trying to avoid his unpleasantness.
What achievements??? Yung dpwh nga sinali covid center sa achievement nila.
Number of people in the matrix.
Achievement ba yun?
13 T debt from 7 T b4 he sat
Achievement? San napunta?
Clap clap clap
duterte has another sona coming in june 2021, god knows what he’ll be reporting on. his immediate psg given preferential covid vaccines, that maybe that was all the vaccines china could give? that covid no longer concerns him dahil he’s already protected, his psg all been vaccinated? that he ought to thank lgus for doing their best to vaccinate themselves in the event china wont deliver anymore vaccines? that the loans he tried to obtain from world banks to cover covid expenses have been diverted as election expenses for his own party? ah, call me maybe, lol!
13T debt, duterte must be following certain thought that says, credit is good! and he is good, he has credit everywhere.
clap clap clap din po ako, the sort of clap nancy pelosi had for donald trump.
Apologies for this OT but if you want a hearty laugh the events recounted in this article is pure gold comedy :
https://www.axios.com/trump-oval-office-meeting-sidney-powell-a8e1e466-2e42-42d0-9cf1-26eb267f8723.html
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/in-depth/duterte-rant-smartmatic-puts-comelec-under-scrutiny
thanks, Micha. now i gotta better feel of this Smartmatic stuff, look s like the Philippines has history with them for awhile now.
Sidney Powell had affidavits.
That instantly reminded me of a regular commenter here who goes by the name of Renato Pacifico Falaypay who hated affidavits as a legal tool to prosecute a case to the deepest marrow of his bones.
And then there’s Rudy.
A man with crab fingers who went to Manila and lectured President Noynoy on how to handle our homegrown Muslim terrorists.
Months later, Mamasapano happened.
I don’t understand the connection to Mamasapano, Micha. January 2015. Which means it was under Obama’s watch. Or are you talking about a different Rudy?
Same Rudy.
https://www.smartmatic.com/ph/media/toutes-les-etudes-de-cas/52/
thanks, karl. I figured it was the same Rudy.
Micha’s trying to connect 2 very far off things, though still smartmatic is related to both (not to Mamasapano, but to GMA election). Just an aside there’s a difference between Ontology and Epistemology, and i’d like Micha if she wants to connect her “hunch” (again i’m a fan of hunches here) to notions of Ontology (Spinoza’s 3rd—and 4th– knowledge) and Epistemology (Plato’s Socratic dialogue below).
Plato’s Theaetetus dialogue:
THEAETETUS: Tell me; what were you going to say just now, when you asked the question?
SOCRATES: If, my boy, the argument, in speaking of adding the definition, had used the word to ‘know,’ and not merely ‘have an opinion’ of the difference, this which is the most promising of all the definitions of knowledge would have come to a pretty end, for to know is surely to acquire knowledge.
THEAETETUS: True.
SOCRATES: And so, when the question is asked, What is knowledge? this fair argument will answer ‘Right opinion with knowledge,’—knowledge, that is, of difference, for this, as the said argument maintains, is adding the definition.
THEAETETUS: That seems to be true.
SOCRATES: But how utterly foolish, when we are asking what is knowledge, that the reply should only be, right opinion with knowledge of difference or of anything! And so, Theaetetus, knowledge is neither sensation nor true opinion, nor yet definition and explanation accompanying and added to true opinion?
THEAETETUS: I suppose not.
SOCRATES: And are you still in labour and travail, my dear friend, or have you brought all that you have to say about knowledge to the birth?
THEAETETUS: I am sure, Socrates, that you have elicited from me a good deal more than ever was in me.
SOCRATES: And does not my art show that you have brought forth wind, and that the offspring of your brain are not worth bringing up?
Come on! Just imagine me getting confused with you connecting everything. But17sharp is more confusing.
🙂
karl,
Since Micha’s not yet commented, here’s my take.
Micha’s overinflating Rudy’s influence and power. Sure he was a US attorney then Mayor of NYC, but only until Trumps reign did he amount some actual int’l power.
Thus 2015 of January or prior to that, Rudy would’ve been like a eunuch. But like Manafort and Stone who had the Marcoses and other 3rd world leaders at their disposal, sure Rudy would’ve had some leverage in the 3rd world,
but i don’t think in the realm of Counter terrorism, karl, Thus I think Micha’s wrong in her hunch, but hey she could have further info which I’m not yet seeing. Plus Rudy isn’t a counter terrorism guy, he’s more the dude that introduces this fella to that fella.
So I’m saying I’m more the epistemological guy here, where Micha’s proposal is more ontological, ie. what is the essence of Rudy. Micha’s not really looking at this epistemologically.
Micha’s assuming Rudy’s just powerful by nature.
Which brings us to Spinoza’s 1st and 2nd knowledge, by virtue of ontological approach Micha’s hunch only falls under 1st knowledge, if she can she can elevate said hunch of Rudy to 2nd knowledge.
but unrelated to all this is Spinoza’s 3rd knowledge which is the providence of the Buddhists, Catholic mystics, sufis, shamans, psychedelicists, etc.
1 is opinion, feeling, imagination (the passive kind).
1 + 1 = 2 2nd knowledge
1 + 2 = 3 3rd knowledge,
what’s interesting is Spinoza’s Ethics is actually about 4th knowledge which Spinoza labels 6th, because 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 , thus 6th. what it is i dunno.
i7sharp just leaves riddles, i can explain and explain til Joe bans me again, hahahahaha…
Sorry corporal, I’m not in the mood for philosophical musings here; I’m just really having a grand time at the clownish exploits of Mayor Rudy and the rest of the lunatic fringe who seem to have totally taken over the GOP. Marjorie Greene is of course the latest addition but the lunacy seemed to have been started by folks like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and the rest of frothing at the mouth babble-heads over at Fox News.
I recommend you read the Axios article above because the meeting it recounted is really SNL grade comedy presided over by the now private citizen but still gets intelligence briefing clown-in-chief.
Rudy and Trump are from NYC,
yes Rush, and Beck (whose a Mormon) were fringe element pre -Trump. Ultra conservatives.
Alex Jones, QAnon are more the same, these guys and not FOX, Rush and Beck (not even Steve Bannon), et al. are the ones that greatly profited. If you notice all except for Hannity (who may or may not get the boot) have been taken off air.
You’re missing the point if FOX News (and other conservative media) was the bulk lifting of what floated Trump, Micha. QAnon is more like the Reddit stuff with Gamestop, and QAnon which I think was a legit leaker has now evolved into something akin to AI or blockchain. I recipe the secret sauce if you will is to leak in riddles and parable, very much like i7sharp. and hope the masses will go off with it.
Very similar to teachers not needing vaccines. The strategy is the throw up anything and hope something sticks.
I’ve read the Axios article but the only new thing you’ve pointed out was the Rudy and Mamasapano connection, which I was really curious of because Smarmatic (along w/ Dominion) in the Philippines is very relevant right now (from GMA to DU30 elections).
You don’t have to get philosophical, thats not the point here, but rather elevate your conspiracy theories. For example, QAnon i think was talking about Epstein, thus not children but high school girls. Which still is reprehensible. I’m still surprised ole Ghislain didn’t get severe COVID19, Micha! hence , why QAnon originally was legit someone(s) in the know.
Now anyone with a cryptic message that fits the agenda or evil gov’t will do perfect, why China and Russia and pretty much anyone can play. just like Reddit.
I think you have a valid hunch, what was Rudy doing in the Philippines?!!! but Mamasapano IMHO wasn’t the point of that visit, Micha. just go with your hunch. I’m just saying use the above philosophical methods to weigh it out. you have huge blindspots when talking outside the economy and MMT, micha.
Specifically , in the regular folks and their motives arena. Just saying.
* The recipe…
Oh my gawd corporal, you’re manufacturing an argument where there is none. I said I was merely amused at the foolishness and clownish exploits of Rudy G. He started with being the front man for totally unfounded voter fraud claims peddled by Sidney Powell, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity and all the rest of their ilk. And then he had that conference at the back entrance of Four Seasons Landscaping Services (not the hotel) in Philadelphia sandwiched between a funeral parlor and a sex toy shop.
In that crazy meeting at the White House, Rudy was patched on a telephone line listening to that raucous bickering between Herschmann and Flynn and at one point he interrupted to say that they should all calm down; to which one participant later quipped, “When Rudy’s the voice of reason, you know the meeting’s not going well.”
On Mamasapano…
I’m not saying Rudy G has any connection to that tragic event. I just recalled that he went on a speaking tour (don’t know the exact date) in, I think, Tokyo, Manila, and Kuala Lumpur on the subject of anti-terrorism. He of course don’t have any credentials in that field other than the fact that he was mayor of NYC when the Twin Towers went down. Being a profligate opportunist, he just cashed in on his political capital.
That Mamasapano happened months later is a testament to how he doesn’t have a clue on what he’s talking about and that nobody should, least of all the government, be taking his advice seriously.
He’s a natural clown like his boss and both of them don’t know it.
Which makes the whole shebang doubly hilarious.
Ah gotcha, Micha, jus t thought you’d have further.
He made big bucks from those speaking tours
“Giuliani’s biggest single source of income between January 2006 and February 2007 came from speaking engagements around the world. He grossed $11.4 million in speeches, which includes fees retained by the Washington Speakers Bureau. He typically charged $100,000 per speaking engagement and as much as $200,000 on occasion.”
Paging caliphman to sort out ontology & epistemology in aisle 6, Western philoosophy department 101! 🙂
We have an aspiring lawyer here in Francis.
Big amen to that also, Neph. Clear & insightful perspective.
KarlG, ibang topic po ito, about lawyers. I cross street just to avoid them, lol! topacio, gadon, estilito mendoza, solgen calida, dr acosta who’s our public defender, wiggere (aquirre) ex doj boss previously fired and now resurrected as napolcom chief. some lawyers.
there are good lawyers and bad to badder lawyers. and when they’re bad, they’re worst.
KB,
I already openned up here that Atty Aguirre helped me when I got in trouble and I learned that we are related. I think he is a third degree relative or anything closer than six degrees of separation.
I am glad that Sen De Lima got aquitted in one out of three and I would be hoping that she would totally be aquitted.
I only have god to help me when I get into trouble and a mouth bigger than others, I can roar!
I wish wiggere is as good to all as he is to you. else, I’d be roaring again! bisaya e.
joeam can always delete my comments.
Ok lang yan comment lang….
Wag ka lang mang-away hehehe.
LOL! i didn’t know there was a film of this. Socrates looks like Santa!
Vietnam as I stated above had a top notch covid management performance, and they beat the Philippines many aspects including FDIs.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/02/10/2076522/losing-vietnam
part 2 of Vietnam.
https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/02/12/2077071/vietnam-overtakes-us-part-2
vietnam is uber lucky, they dont have a duterte, lol! took him so long to sign vaccine indemnity papers that our govt promises to shoulder the cost and burden of adverse vaccine reaction. other countries have no problem signing indemnity papers, they have good health care system in place kasi, whereas sa atin . . . dyos na mahabagin, we have a universal health care na halos walang ipin.
may bad experience baga yan as regards indemnity. soldiers kasi maimed fighting vs communist rebels were indemnified hugely, big rehab bucks spent on them at may extra benefits added pa. tapos when they get well back to work agad and earning again. it’s no wonder terror law has huge budget.
now, if duterte’s govt has to indemnify vaccinees with bad reaction, I can imagine how many will fake the bad reaction and how much his govt will be spending again. man with bad economics and badly in need of money is going after america na, asking to be paid for visiting forces agreement, habang china is wantonly building structures in our reef, no fee paid.
Some soldiers who lived to tell or fight another battle had permanent disability like lost limb/s.
occupational hazard, soldiers are not the only ones. students, teachers, farmers, judges, lawyers, politicians, etc, got killed just for being themselves.
friendly fire, green on green, armed personnel killed by another armed personnel: in the south, polis killed soldiers on reconnaissance in the pursuit of communist rebels. soldat victims had to be indemnified too, terror law took wrong turn.
Erdogan utilized the police – from all it seems more loyal to him – against a military coup attempt on the Bosporus bridges of Istanbul 2016.
In Turkey the military has a “Protector of the Constitution” role ever since Atatürk, together with the judiciary which has often resisted Erdogan.
To me it looks like Dutz is also relying more strongly on PNP than on AFP, and the PET declaring VP Leni as winning is a tiny bit of judicial independence.
independence, resisted, keywords with plaudits. vp leni won indeed as we knew full well she did the 1st time votes were counted.
bong marcos is planning to run again in 2022. gotta keep those muscles from turning into mush, keep running, lol!
Key points.
“ Labor force – We have better managerial talent and better worker skills and the workforce sizes are comparable. Indeed, our managers are well regarded in Vietnam.
I visited a vast tourism complex of hotels, restaurants and a fleet of small cruise ships that take visitors on overnight trips around Halong Bay. Their top manager is a Filipino from Angeles City. A good number of their staff are Filipino too.
When Intel left their factory in Cavite to relocate to Vietnam, they took some of their Filipino managers and engineers to help run the new plant. There is a thriving community of OFWs who are managers and professionals in Vietnam.
In an Amcham Singapore survey in 2018, the Philippines beat Vietnam 74 to 49 percent in terms of a favorable rating for availability of trained manpower. But even this advantage is to no avail because of our highly politicized business climate. Our trained manpower ends up helping other economies grow instead.
This manpower advantage has also probably dissipated by now. Surveys now show Vietnamese students beat Filipino students in science and math. We still have some advantage for English proficiency, but probably not for long.
The Vietnamese government had been seriously training their people to supply the requirements of investors. We, on the other hand, only pretend to train our workers.
Governance – both countries have corruption; the Philippines should have less because open media is a check, while there is state censorship in Vietnam. But countering that is the weak rule of law in the Philippines.
In Vietnam like China, there are periodic anti-corruption campaigns, and the big guys are punished. Here the big guys – and gals – get away with their crimes.
Erap was the highest official found guilty of corruption by the Sandiganbayan. But he was quickly pardoned by former President Arroyo and was even able to run again for president the next election and almost won.
My source also pointed out that “Vietnam has the mandarin tradition where the native bureaucracy would govern responsibly with governance focused on popular welfare. The Philippines lacks this, even at a national level…
“Our politicians monopolize local businesses, indulge in patronage practices and buy votes if such patron-peasant assistance is not enough.”
Policy implementation – “Take agriculture. Why does Vietnam do so well with cashews, coffee, rice, fish, and more? It is not foreign investment in this sector. The government is better organized to assist the farmers to be productive.”
I have wondered about that too. Landers superstore is selling cashews from Vietnam. Why aren’t there cashews from Antipolo instead? How their government treats agriculture is probably the important advantage.
Our government has neglected our agricultural sector and even milked whatever meagre budget it gets for personal gains of officials. Remember the fertilizer scam scandal of the Arroyo administration?
We also do not have enough infrastructure to support agriculture from irrigation, credit facilities, to technical support for farmers….”
ah, national govt, apparently duterte knows what it takes to be president and what it takes to be his successor.
here are my takes:
1, successor must be able to make his/her own marawi and leave it in ruins too, for years.
2, must be capable of tanking the economy and making people’s lives miserable with many resorting to begging on the streets.
3, must be good in appointing best and brightest to top govt positions with barely credibility. their work ethics, what work ethics?
5, must be able to sleep soundly or prioritize sleep over attending days of national significance.
6, must be afraid of china and forever be enthralled of china.
7, must be willing to let china take over our vital installations and utter not a word of complaint.
8, must love terror law and promote it in full to the whole sambayanan.
9, must love trolls.
10, must surround self with ego boosting appointees, nangungusente sa kanya and laughing at his jokes. must laugh with him, not at him.
11, must be able to pervert the course of justice: jail, if they’re lucky; killed if unlucky, those that question his modus.
uhm, ‘ll have more ideas after a drink of suntory, lol!
Nice start. 🙂
Have you had your Suntory yet?
Waiting for the rest of the list. 🙂
what list? oh, that list. dyos ko, narco list came 1st to my mind before suntory hit me gullet. I nearly hit the floor too, trying to dodge a bullet, haha.
heto, continuation of me humble list of what it takes to be duterte’s successor:
12, must be insecure and sees communist rebels in schools, colleges and universities and send soldiers in battle gears, did not bring along heavy artillery like tanks for better effects. if they lack drivers, I’ll apply, haha. I know exactly where to run those tanks!
13, must have kalat na isip, try hard, die hard? try hard. from federal govt, revolutionary govt and now, chacha; all the while draining national treasury of assets, costly exercises, those.
14, must like riding quad bikes, not motorbikes. 4wheels rather than 2wheels, nahulog kasi and hurt his august person.
15, must be good in prolonging pandemic and stalling vaccines. has no love for accountability and indemnity. when cornered, saka na lang pinirmahan yong indemnity papers, if he’s thinking of rescinding them; too late, the papers have been forwarded, dated, sealed and signed.
16, sweet sixteen, here is where I stop.
👍
Paging LCX,
I asked Sonny about the attacking of Asian Americans and he said that for now it is mostly on the West Coast.
What say you?
I haven’t really looked into it, but yeah there’s news on it.
But I suspect its part of the larger picture of maskers vs. unmaskers, which tends to drive most negative public interactions these days. Example, when someone sneezed pre-Covid, and doesn’t cover mouth, it was seen as rude;
nowadays people will come to blows over a sneeze or a cough, so people are one edge.
I can see how it can be covered as racism, but West Coast is pretty Asian, so I don’t buy racism as the reason or Trump’s China virus, though this is how its being covered by media and reactives.
The biggest test to this is that schools are being re-opened now here, karl. So if its racisim kids will exhibit it; if not, then I bet ya its just assholery, people being scared and anxious vs. those who are insensitive and free (freedom to sneeze, cough, not wear mask).
If adults can’t even follow pandemic instructions how the hell do they expect kids to?
In the absence of pandemic-related certitude (re: virulence, transmission, prevention, recurrence) ideology will hide behind or under cover of recognizable socio-economic malfeasance. Petty crimes, personal assault on the vulnerable (more) will occur in the streets and market gatherings, IMO … (more)
Thanks
racism, west coast, I’ve gotta mention megan markle, now holed up in los angeles in montecito among the privileged and richer citizens. big on racism that girl and married royalty. and now she’s fronting oprah’s interview and maybe paid gazillions for it. common, tax man, flex your muscles. methink harry is not american citizen, his tax bill will be huge.
apparently, poor little megan was bullied/abused at school on account of her being – interracial? she did not go to school in england, and yet took the british and the monarchy to task. I dont know if the english are that racist as there are quite a number of blacks, asians and others races living comfortably in england. some are in high govt positions, also in entertainment. I like idris alba.
megan got serena willams as friend, oprah as well, then a black reverend sermon-ed on her wedding day. heard that she was not really member of the reverend’s church but he was invited to the wedding and bring along the whole pulpit with him complete with spiritual singers. the girl met oprah once and then invited her to the wedding too. does she has white friends? oh, what am I thinking, dont answer that please!
Matindi daw pinoy sa pintasan.
Bansot, pango, panot, baluga, egoy,kapre,etc
Dati asar ako sa sobeang political correctness, ngayon sa tingin ko dapat lang.
name calling, magaling ako dyan! tops talaga! I give as much as I receive. ayaw ko lang yong name calling becoming physical at may salpukan, shoving, kicking, punching, etc. kaming mga bisaya, we can fight dirty. I hate being christian, sometimes guilt bites me and I make amends and correct the wrongs I’ve done. very cathartic afterwards po, makes me go forward with less baggage and raring to fight again, lol!
San Diego police called it isolated.
But good that they arrested the attacker.
https://usa.inquirer.net/64051/arrest-made-in-unprovoked-attack-on-83-year-old-filipina-in-san-diego
attacker should pick someone his own age and size. 83yrs old filipina is barely a match for a 35yrs old man, fit and at the prime of his life.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9228805/Pennsylvania-couple-shot-dead-neighbor-snow-argument.html
karl, kas, et al.
that news above encapsulates the feeling right now, so not necessarily racism. as for old or asian being targeted, old and young tend to be easy targets (what terrorists call “soft” targets), and as for asian, I think most Asian tend to not show teeth hence “soft” target.
Most of these attacks upon some research (based on karl’s comment above) tend to be criminal or mental illness related, and if you look at non-old and non-young victims, Asians targeted seemed easy pickings.
I’ve walked in alleys around Ermita and or the area around the EDSA entertainment complex, karl (and other parts of cities there, and every where), and I’ve been accosted by drunk Filipino stand-by’s , but because I made it apparent and clear that I wasn’t going down without hurting one (or more ) of them,
they backed off, same same with other parts of the 3rd world, and yes, the 1st world too. There are victims and there are victimizers, prey/predator. Not necessarily “racism” operating, is my point, karl.
Add to “soft” profile, Asian victims hesitant to report incidents. Dunno know why except hesitation
to escalate. Asian activist groups are changing the profile, gathering victim data.
Don’t get me wrong , sonny. I do know that there is such a thing as hate against Asians, same same with against blacks, Hispanics, etc. right
after 9/11 it was anyone who looked Arab. So there’s a bit of complicity in the media here, in which certain news stories get hyped up in some positive-feed back loop.
I noticed Asian hate crimes is the media’s new story of late. When they the media were busy covering Trump or the virus, no story, when there’s a lull the media tends to focus on which ever story fits their agenda.
And this Asians = people of colour storyline seems like something the media has to cover, you know to remind Asians that they are not White but people of colour. But i’ve been Googling the hell out of this story, and the media’s not reporting
who exactly are attacking Asians… and wait for it,
it’s other peoples of colour, yup look at the videos and its blacks and Hispanics mostly are the ones attacking Asians. So the media needs to cover who’s attacking Asians, sonny.
From the looks of it, most of these stories with footage its blacks and Hispanics. I’m sure there’s whites as aggressors. But since most of these Asian hate crimes incidents are in big cities, makes sense that blacks and Hispanics are the aggressors.
So I suggest not just victim data but suspect data, sonny. Should be gathered.
Vaccine Char should apologize to the people and not just to Duterte who gave us false hopes time and again.
Link
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1397910/vaccine-czar-apologizes-duterte-gets-impatient