Problem Solving the Philippines: Education facts
by Giancarlo Angulo
I will try to up my involvement in writing about the Philippines. Before we can start to problem solve we have to first gather the facts. As a follow up to joe’s post
As Ireneo routinely tells me that the people that should be most concerned are the people here like me, joe, and karl. The people who are living here and whose lives or love ones are directly affected.
Sorry if my personal biases shine through.
But the Philippines has been overtaken by bureaucrats and this is also probably because of how we educate our children and what they see present in our society.
Some links share by JP are linked below:
https://thediplomat.com/2023/02/the-philippines-basic-education-crisis/
What all of these analysis have in common is that they are working within the constraints of our current thinking but also working beyond the constraints of our current resources.
What do I mean. We will never have enough resources and doing the simple computation of 30 students per teacher ratio would never make sense unless our population is no longer growing at a healthy rate. And if it is no longer growing then we are already dying as a nation so we do not want degrowth.
We do not have the option of throwing money at the problem. We need creativity. We need targeted spending.
But before we can target let us see the resources we are currently giving this problem.
DepEd Annual Audit Report 2022 Highlights
These are 2022 figures from the COA Annual Audit report on the Department of Education as the 2023 audit report is still not uploaded in the main site if it is already available.
Start with the DepEd structure is composed of Central Offices and Field Offices
What about the profile of the education department?
How does the department rate itself based on targets it set?
What are the financial highlights based on the audit of COA?
Budget 101
The budgets of Government Agencies has 3 main components. These are CO, MOOE, and PS.
Capital Outlay (CO) is investment and is usually composed of buildings and equipment procured by the government agency.
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) cover operating expenses of the agency that is not related to salaries of Plantilla personnel. This includes utilities, cleaning agency services, security agency services,
Personnel Services (PS) cover the benefits and salaries of Plantilla Personnel.
An explainer for the budgeting for the Philippine government can be found here: Philippine budget process: Everything you need to know (rappler.com)
What are ways we can think about these numbers?
These are simple measures that give us an idea how we can think about these figures.
- If we divide the number of teaching personnel with the number of learners we get the figure around 27.
- From this website (https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/class-size-and-student-teacher-ratios.html) the OECD average is 15 students to 1 teacher. Studying in a science highschool the class sizes we had ranged from 24 to 32 if I remember correctly as we had around 224 students for 8 sections.
- Comparing against ASEAN countries for 2019 data from this report (https://www.aseanstats.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ASEAN_Key_Figures_2019_Rev1.pdf)
- By percentage PS at 81 percent, MOOE at 16 percent, and CO at 3 percent.
- Based on the two simple computations above we can say that operationally to excluding the infrastructure needed we need to double the budget of PS and MOOE to be in line with OECD averages and even ASEAN 6 averages (around below 20).
- Based on the 2022 yearend Basic Education Report (https://www.deped.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/Major-Programs-Projects-and-Activities-Status-of-Implementation-FY-2022.pdf)
- From the DepEd Basic Education Report
- With average occupancy of 15 per classroom at half day which means 30 per day.
- 15.6 B divide by 6379 classrooms means 2.445M per classroom. Assumption is this includes furniture and other fixtures.
- This is from the speech of VP Sara as DepEd Secretary:
This is the Basic Education Report 2023. [School Facilities and Learning Resources] The lack of school infrastructure and resources to support the ideal teaching process is the most pressing issue pounding the Philippine basic education. The Department is not blind to the reality that there is a need to build, repair, and maintain school infrastructures to accommodate the growing number of learners all over the Philippines. Today, there are over 28 million Filipino learners studying in public schools all over the Philippines. Our latest inventory shows we have 327,851 school buildings in the country. Out of these school buildings, only 104,536 are in good condition.
Due to various reasons, there are also 100,072 school buildings that need minor repairs; 89,252 require major repairs, and 21,727 are set for condemnation. Our schools are not calamity-proof. Among the significant roadblocks to our education infrastructure program are earthquakes, typhoons, landslides, flooding, and even armed conflicts.
https://www.ovp.gov.ph/post/basic-education-report-2023-speech
- Classroom shortage from this article is pegged at 167,901 classrooms requiring 420B.
Using the 2.45 M figure above what we get is around 411 billion. The figures are not that far from each other so we need about half a trillion if we factor in inflation and others.
To summarize:
- If we target a decent 15:1 Student Teacher Ratio, we would need to double MOOE and PS of the department which would mean a 1.14 Trillion budget for MOOE and PS. This is about 190M MOOE and 950 M for PS. The MOOE doubling is very conservative as additional classrooms would mean additional MOOE expense.
- If we target that ratio the current deficit of classrooms would exacerbate. The current shortage is pegged at around 167,901 at the end of 2022. This would mean around 420B to 500B investment. At the current spend of 15B this would mean 28 to 33 years.
I will end this here as this posts has too many links already. Something I keep on telling Karl to minimize, I will have to take my own advice and write about some options we can try.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Wow, Giancarlo, the data hit like a sledge hammer, reality upside the head. A million teachers. 50,000 schools. 24 million kids. Building 12,000 new classrooms in a year. Goal of producing 8.6 million textbooks/materials but only putting out 1.8 million. I haven’t gotten to the financials yet and am already exhausted by the enormity of the challenge. My hat’s off to the DepEd administrators and teachers who work hard to get Filipino kids educated.
I’m more convinced that ever that education has to be restructured with the internet as the primary physical framework, and local classrooms as lab rooms. This cannot be done at once, but needs to be phased in assertively. Unfortunately, some school districts must lag others.
I also agree with your belief that schools should be decentralized to prevent the entire system from being slammed into hold by problems when they arise, as now happens. If the “unfairness” at least gives millions of kids a boost toward global standards, that is progress.
More later . . .
yes that is my plan for the next articles various solutions we should implement given the financial and physical constraints.
Terrific.
don’t really know much about budgets , but education is something i do think about often. and this whole article (when i see numbers my brain just shuts down) reminded me of this Sir Ken Robinson ted talk in this video converted into animated info graphic. about the assembly line nature of education, with batches of kids in the same age pushed thru consecutive grades while some PhDs decide what they should be learning along the way which many then forget. I remember reading short stories, novels and watching movies like the 1970s Catch-22 with Alan Arkin (the Hulu Catch-22 with George Clooney was better), then for math doing all sorts of equations. although I do remember some of the stories (the good ones) I now have forgotten everything that has to do with math. so I’m thinking instead of this sampling method of learning where youre learning this and that. why not just focus on one thing. that way the teachers can specialize and just master that material, and just have the students go onto Google or AI to get stuff that interests them. just focus on mastery. like pick one novel and turn that novel inside out for like a year. or in math, focus on one thing, master that for the whole year. same with technical and trade curriculum, just focus on 1 thing. also this 1 : 30 teacher student ratio. I never understood why just 1 teacher. feed back is really off with just the students. i know principals sit in to gauge teaching skill, ive seen that, but if there were two, like a master/padawan set up then theres constant feed back every day. there might be no funding for 2 : 30 teacher student ratio, so why not have teachers set up youtube channels where they can get said feed back, as well as creating content for students to then watch and rewatch. good article, gian. I hope you watch that video above.
I believe I was in the first 1000 views of this video. I’ve had it in my bookmark. Love the RSA format. That was the inspiration of this video I did (52) Developing the Philippines from the Bottom Up using LGUs – YouTube
good video. gian. thanks. reminds me of Wil’s non corrupt mayors org. I d just add again connect ’em all string ’em up and encourage travel to various of these localized schools. i’ve been reading up on museums, and how the founding fathers actually worshipped the 9 muses like for real believed in them which was in Neil Gaiman’s sandman Episode 11 where calliope was kidnapped and held captive, well the other work of Gaiman’s is American Gods where in he stressed road side attrations which are really like museums to entertain weary travellers. maybe learn a thing or two. so maybe have these local schools build museum/road side attractions where people and kids can travel and visit and learn stuff. it would also help local tourism.
I shall reveal unto you the deepest lore. Euterpe, the muse of song, was kidnapped by pirates and brought out to an Ocean the Greeks didn’t know of. When the pirates wanted to ravish her, she unleashed her powers, singing so loud that her father Zeus cast lightning bolts unto their ship, her uncle Poseidon made the sea storm and even Hades, the black sheep among her uncles, made volcanoes erupt. She impersonated thousands of singing voices to make the pirates go insane. As the ship broke and all fell into the sea, she whistled, calling upon dolphins to help her to shore and seagulls to pick out the eyes of the pirates still afloat. On an island, she sang to herself until a short, kind man in a boat arrived and took her to islands that reminded her of Greece. He patiently courted her until she knew she loved him. Her father Zeus told her you may marry the mortal, but you will lose your immortality. She sired daughters with the man, none of whom had all her powers, as this was not for mortals. When she died, she was cremated, with traces of her powers carried by her ashes to the reaches of the unknown archipelago. Her daughters had children too, yet only the adept know the lineage.
The muse of dance was also kidnapped but managed to crash her pirate kidnappers in Madeira. How her special capabilities reached the Carribean and how the goddess Calypso shown in Pirates of the Carribean is her descendant, a Cuban told me not to tell others.
wait, is Euterpe supposed to have died? or was she resurrected in another telling. as to Calypso, i had no idea there was a direct connection to the Greek goddess and the carribean. I’ve known there was Calypso music not didn’t realize they were connected. i ‘ll need to wiki this more. thanks. was talking to a Sufi about Skinwalker and Mt. Wilson ranches in utah and Nevada and he told me these things are real indeed and in fact types of jinns clearly categorized in the Quran and haddiths. so going back to the museum and road side attractions, create myths or revive folk lores of local attractions. just get Filipinos moving about. that itself is education. I don’t think there’ll ever be budget for devices and internet connections. but if you can focus on leadership and creating cohesion within groups. which cost next to nothing really. then when funding eventually catches up (hopefully from the USA and Japan, or even China) Filipinos get internet connection and devices then leadership and teamwork would’ve already been ingrained, fixing said crab mentality mentioned by JP below. just focus on the free stuff. fix the culture. to do that you don’t need high tech.
Revive Folk Lores? I would rather establish a Loresian religion of wisdom, put aspects of Buddhism, Sufism and Filipino folklore into it. I have been told by an oracle that in the future, the Dalai Lores, known historically as Edgar Lores, shall be worshipped by the post-apocalyptic people of Philippinipeg. Some of them will insist that the epic of Lam-Ang Probinsyano is the true source of wisdom, others shall worship Will Villanueva, Saint of Aldub Love. A small circle of believers shall recall the role of Joe the Baptist in initiating the Dalai Lores, whilst most will say no, Joe was from Babylon, not our Zion. The role of the prophet sonny who lived beyond the Great Sea in the Windy City now populated by Fallout mutants is known only to true scholars of The Society of Honor who have looked into the alleged printouts made before The Fall.
It shall be debatable whether Lance was the same as Longinus and whether he pierced the Dalai Lores with a spear, which made him say f.u., but later converted to the one true faith of the Society or Honor, or whether the islands of Zion where those were Bob Marley came from or those of the Philippians whom a mostly forgotten prophet named Paul preached to, or the Samaritan lands Magellan explored who was according to some a Phoenician, to others a Greek. The seer disappeared before I could ask more questions, so I don’t know more.
If am not mistaken this is a very INC retelling of the Jesus story. centering it in the Philippines, tweaking here and there where things fit. i love it. more of this. especially the freemasonry story of the Philippines.
I like that mythologizing. i would just add i7sharp as Gestas and karl as Dismas. chempo as Barabbas. JP of course is Mary of Magda. Micha as Veronica. kb is Mathias (post Edgar).
Question:
How are gargantuan tasks best tackled?
–——-
Note:
“ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.”
Anyways, GPT replied (after a few seconds):
(btw, my own input, fwiw, to follow in a day or two.)
x-
Tackling gargantuan tasks can seem overwhelming, but with the right approach, even the largest of tasks can be managed effectively. Let’s break down the process using an analogy and then dive into the technical strategies involved.
Analogy: Building a Castle from Bricks
Imagine you need to build a massive castle. If you think about constructing the entire castle all at once, it seems impossible. However, if you break it down into smaller steps, such as laying one brick at a time, the task becomes much more manageable. Here’s how you can approach this:
Blueprints and Planning: Analogy: Before building a castle, you need blueprints. Technical Strategy: Create a detailed plan. Outline the scope of the task, the resources needed, and the timeline. This is similar to project management frameworks like Agile or Waterfall, where the project is broken down into phases and tasks. Foundation First: Analogy: Start by laying a solid foundation for the castle. Technical Strategy: Identify and complete the fundamental tasks first. These are the essential steps that other tasks will build upon. For example, if you’re writing a book, start with the outline. Breaking Down the Task: Analogy: Divide the castle into sections (towers, walls, rooms) and build each section brick by brick. Technical Strategy: Break the gargantuan task into smaller, more manageable sub-tasks. This is often referred to as “chunking.” Each sub-task should be a standalone piece that can be completed relatively independently. Tools like Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) can be helpful here. Prioritization: Analogy: Prioritize building the main gate before the decorative turrets. Technical Strategy: Prioritize tasks based on their importance and dependencies. Use techniques like the Eisenhower Matrix (which categorizes tasks by urgency and importance) to decide what to tackle first. Setting Milestones: Analogy: Set milestones, such as completing the foundation, finishing the walls, etc. Technical Strategy: Establish clear milestones to track progress. Milestones act as checkpoints that help you stay on track and motivated. Project management tools like Gantt charts can be useful for visualizing milestones and timelines. Resource Allocation: Analogy: Allocate workers and resources efficiently to different parts of the castle. Technical Strategy: Ensure that resources (time, money, people) are allocated effectively. This involves budgeting and assigning the right people to the right tasks. Resource leveling techniques can help avoid overloading any single team member or resource. Monitoring and Adjusting: Analogy: Regularly inspect the construction to ensure everything is on track and make adjustments as needed. Technical Strategy: Continuously monitor progress and make adjustments as necessary. Use Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and regular progress reports to keep track of how things are going. Agile methodologies recommend regular stand-up meetings and iterative reviews. Collaboration and Communication: Analogy: Ensure all builders are communicating and working together effectively. Technical Strategy: Foster good communication and collaboration within the team. Use collaboration tools like Slack, Trello, or Asana, and hold regular meetings to ensure everyone is aligned and any issues are promptly addressed. Celebrating Achievements: Analogy: Celebrate when a section of the castle is completed to keep morale high. Technical Strategy: Celebrate milestones and achievements. Recognizing progress keeps the team motivated and reinforces a sense of accomplishment.Technical Prerequisites
To effectively tackle gargantuan tasks, it’s important to understand a few key concepts and techniques:
Project Management Principles (like Agile, Waterfall, Scrum) Time Management Techniques (like the Pomodoro Technique, Eisenhower Matrix) Resource Allocation and Budgeting Collaboration Tools (like Slack, Trello, Asana) Monitoring and Reporting (using KPIs, Gantt charts)Gauging Your Understanding
To ensure you have the necessary background knowledge to apply these strategies, let’s assess your familiarity with the following concepts:
Project Management: Are you familiar with methodologies like Agile or Waterfall? Time Management: Do you use any specific techniques for managing your time? Resource Allocation: Have you worked with budgeting and resource management before? Collaboration Tools: Are you experienced with tools like Slack, Trello, or Asana? Monitoring and Reporting: Do you know how to use KPIs or Gantt charts to track progress?Please let me know your level of familiarity with each of these areas so we can dive deeper into any that need further explanation.
-x
I think in terms of where the blog is headed, this comment is too lengthy and unclear as to relevance. You could summarize it in a few key bullets rather than present the whole thing so that readers don’t get turned away.
Understood, Joe. I cannot agree more.
That wordy response was from ChatGPT’s “Universal Primer” … which is AI, of course.
IMO, no matter how “good” AI can seem to be, it is still GIGO – garbage in, garbage out.
Henceforth, I will try using more of what I have called “ii” – inspired intelligence.
you should try anthropic too
Thank you, Giancarlo.
I have tried Claude (Anthropic) before, but being a slow learner, I could not get much out of it.
I find ChatGPT far easier to use.
Quite possible, I am just doing things amiss.
Wow!
Thanks for this enlightening (and daunting) big picture. I guess the elephant in the classroom is that the around 600B spent for education in 2022 is part of a 5T national budget if I remember correctly. It is already at the limit.
So the question is how to get more effective, since the ideal situation can only be reached by having a GDP and tax collections similar to Malaysia and Singapore, I guess. And as long as the educational system isn’t effective, the Philippines won’t reach even Thailand level – again, just guessing. The question is, how does Vietnam manage to be at a higher level with a GDP per capital that just recently reached the Philippine level, something like that.
No administrative experience, but DepEd doesn’t even look overstaffed at first glance. Hmm..
that is mysterious to my untrained eyes, deped doesnot look overstaffed but . . .
if the new deped sec angara is brave enough to order inventories of all current teachers and enrolled students in the country and updated regularly, he might just find out there are mayhap, not only ghost teachers but ghost students too. then it will be his head on the platter, haha.
there is apparently a habit of deped undersecs of hiring pricey consultants (some are kin and family members) to help them manage the seemingly mammoth and insurmountable task! so glib and good at explaining rationale, their bearing so professional after maybe having had numerous go on the subject that ultimately the non the wiser govt of the day got no choice but to go along and comply.
maybe if deped sec angara is brave, he will pull out and stop our students from competing at pisa. no need to bang our collective heads further against a cement wall. we already know the result like the result the year before and the year before that. save our hapless noggins! save us from shaming ourselves anew. manhid na. unprepared pa.
Vietnam’s education system gets by with its budget mainly due to cultural differences from Philippines. I’ll outline a few:
At times I am careful with how I discuss things with most Filipinos outside of a handful of Big Four buddies, since I do not wish to offend, but Joe has encouraged me to engage with the community here. I hope it will be fine to share constructive comments. I have a lot of fondness for Filipinos ever since my first visit with my high school best friend’s family over 25 years ago, and have had a chance to observe during my many subsequent extended visits.
How can I start? I have seen too many issues to count, but here are some I’ve observed among the working poor:
Outside of Manila, many of my Filipino friends are informal settlers as I met them while doing Catholic charity work. I’ve attempted to educate and open up their minds from time to time, but it’s a difficult task…
Thanks, Joey. I live in Germany, specifically in Munich and with family in Berlin, and the success of Vietnamese in both cities is striking even if where they usually come from is different. Munich has mostly those of refugee origin. Berlin usually has those whose parents or grandparents came to work in former East Germany as workers from “Socialist brother states.” The most visible success is Vietnamese restaurants in addition to Chinese and Thai ones. Weirdly, Filipino restaurants rarely have lasting success. I do believe mindset plays a role.
For one thing, there is a certain dislike for social mobility in parts of Philippine culture, even as the competitive honors system mentioned elsewhere in this discussion and stuff like bar exams and civil service exams make it look like a meritocracy, it actually isn’t. For instance, it used to be that the salutatorian and valedictorian of every public high school had an automatic scholarship with the University of the Philippines. Now that is gone, but children of professors at the University of the Philippines had or still have free tuition and usually grow up on campus.
Ambitious when used by Filipinos usually means something more like presumptuous. The school system established in American times still was good up to the 1950s. Many of those who embraced American rule in the early 20th century were those not already established. Seems to me that those who had a chance to move up have always tried to close the gate for those after them. This I have seen even in Filipino migrant communities, sad to say. Those at the bottom of the food chain tend towards resignation. The culture isn’t easy to change I fear.
Joe did mention you directly when he invited me to contribute in the comments here!
Yes, I’ve had a chance to meet some of those Vietnamese-Germans who had origins as guest workers in the former GDR. Culturally they are a bit different as they had already grown up under communist ideology compared to Vietnamese-Germans who came from RVN refugees after 1975. However, the changeover to communism in Vietnam didn’t change any social habits, including the virtues of education and hard work. Actually, I think most people in Vietnam don’t even have a care about communism; it’s just something they need to deal with since that’s the government.
On the segue to small businesses, during the pandemic I was stuck for the early lockdown in Lapu-Lapu, Cebu. Due to boredom, I suggested to friends we should sell street food. We did quite well when I was helping manage, but the business quickly failed after. The main problem I scolded my friends about is, the Filipino needs to value his/her labor more. Time is money as they say, and using self or family labor is not free after all in the end. People failed due to burnout or not being financially literate.
Yes, I’ve also observed the fake meritocracy even in the Big Four students nowadays. Most seemed quite smug, superior, when they’re actually just legacy enrollees because their father or grandfather graduated from there. They know their graduation and placement in a good job is all but guaranteed. This is how dynasties are sustained I guess. IMHO dynasties are the greatest evil in Philippines.
Some Filipinos, especially those who have been steeped in leftist-populist ideology, really hated my commentary about the American period, because I still believe that Filipinos should not have so quickly had the US leave. Until recent years, certain American accomplishments during the post-war rebuilding such as MacArthur Highway in Manila have not been improved upon. I’ve heard from older Filipinos that the US had helped establish many factories back in the day, which slowly fell into disrepair starting around the 1970s.
Hopefully one of these days we can have a lengthy discussion on the root causes of the “broken” Filipino culture when it pertains to society, corruption, lost of hope. In short, after studying Filipino history from the pre-Spanish times until modern day, my conclusion is that most Filipinos never let go of the rigid social hierarchy and ancient gift economy/exchange system prevalent in pre-contact societies.
I agree with most of your points here, Joey. and Welcome! especially digitization and internet, not gonna happen, just focus on people and culture for now, that needs fixing. leadership and cohesiveness is something you can do without budget really, much of it can be done thru story telling, after action reports, etc. i’ve been on here talking about the prevalence of shabu and incest over there. Filipinos felt like they needed DU30 due in part to said societal and familial problems. i think over here at least in California most Vietnamese Americans are Republicans then followed by Filipino Americans, so in that regard filipinos and vietnamese are similar and if am not mistaken and you can correct me here there are now more filipino-vietnames marriages especially in the San Joaquin valley. so the two cultures need more compare and contrasting for sure. like how Edward Lansdale supposedly curbed the Huks with nothing more than superstition who then went to Vietnam to do more of the same, yet no write ups on Vietnamese and the use of superstition to curb communism. which all returned to the Philippines in the form of Nick Rowe father of the SERE school, cuz he was killed in the Philippines having done POW time in Vietnam. i guess i’m trying to get at how Vietnamese have tamped down on colonial mentality. as a fan of banh mi and pan de sal in sandwich form (as well as Dim Sum), theres a lot to be unpacked in each cultures’ foods, like filipinos love to fry stuff easy cheap unhealthy, but Vietnames put a lot veggies work, yet the Chinese the most practical of peoples love labor intensive dim sum. all are good, i enjoy each. but theres a lot you can understand of each’s culture in their foods, so same with stories. and why Lansdale wasn’t prominent in Vietnam and why Nick Rowe was shot like a dog in the Philippines, the land of EJKs. I imagine the sparrow unit that killed Nick Rowe in the bigger scheme of things their labor wasn’t valued either. master vs. slave mentality. and why most Vietnamese and Chinese own their own businesses here and have a railroad now connecting the two countries now, whereas most Filipinos prefer the security of gov’t work, Uncle Sam’s umbrage. i can understand how first and 2nd generation Vietnamese and Chinese here would be Republicans; but for the life of me Filipinos who mostly work in gov’t and hospitals (especially county hospitals) vote Republican, like why. again back to your point of valuing their own labor, its like this… simply fry it, putting veggies healthy etc. or labor intensive yet meditative whilst making it, i guess that’s my connection to food and your labor valuing it commentary, Joey. hope that makes sense. i’ve not have breakfast it but already had 2 cups of coffee.
Hey thanks for the warm welcome!
I’m actually an American by the way! My family has been in and out of the US since my grandfathers’ time, going back before my parents were born. Which makes it appropriate for people in PH to yell “Hey Joe” to me too (was very confused the first time years ago since that’s my name).
I’ll be honest with you, the leadership and cohesiveness part is going to be really hard in PH without a total societal change. Various islands and provinces still bicker over respect of the local language vs imposition of Tagalog for example. Why couldn’t the Third Republic just mandate a neutral yet commonly used language such as English, elevate the main language groups (Tagalog, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Bisaya, Tausug, Ilonggo, etc.) to equal first-tier status and be done with it?
On Col. Lansdale and the Huk vs Northern Vietnamese Catholics comparison, I don’t think that would be a good comparison because Col. Lansdale himself said that the psyops campaign wasn’t that useful in North Vietnam due to the fact that Vietnamese Catholics were already extremely anti-communist and moved south willingly despite strong cultural reasons to stay on their land (In Vietnamese we call this concept “hue” or ancestral province). Northern Vietnamese Catholics moved south due to the fear that the CCP, who had just won in China, would join the war and slaughter all Catholics, who had until that point been the most effective anti-communist militias in the North.
On colonial mentality, the Vietnamese don’t really have an concept of that. After all Vietnam was “dominated” by various imperial Chinese regimes off and on for nearly 1,000 years. In Vietnamese culture there’s a strong sense of personal and national resilience to bide one’s time, to preserve the national identity and culture, until the right moment to strike back and knife the oppressor (e.g. Trung sisters, Lady Trieu, Battle of Bach Dang River, etc.). The Koreans have a similar culture (interesting aside is almost all Lee’s in Korea descended from a Vietnamese prince) and also resisted China for thousands of years. Heck only Japan, Vietnam, and Korea have the honor of being able to beat back the Mongol army (Vietnam did it twice).
From my reading of PH history, the unfortunate weakness that the Spanish originally took advantage of is the fact that pre-Spanish Filipino ethnic groups mostly followed a gift economy/exchange system, where the higher social status person/leader would give away valuables (money, property, slaves) in order to secure followers. That leader, the ancestor of today’s barangay captains, would raid the neighboring barangay to take those goods. As the societal ladder descends, people nearer to the bottom get less and less “stuff.” I’ve seen this habit reflected in many aspects of lower economic strata society in PH. An example would be the expectation of a vote bribe for party support, or a returning Filipino expected to bring gifts or money from overseas.
The other unfortunate aspect my historian buddies and I have discussed is that the vast majority of dynasties from national down to provincial, actually descended from the very chiefs/datu/lakan/etc. who collaborated with the Spanish, thus were elevated to hacienderos, who then became principalia, and so on, until the modern day where many of those ancient dynasties still controlled the barangay captainship their forebears originally controlled. The dynasties that amassed more money and resources would go on to control mayoralships, governorships, Congress/Senate seats, even the Presidency. Not to discount the handful of chinoy/tisoy dynasties who rose up through commerce, though.
Ah about American politics. Actually I don’t know many established Fil-Am families who are Republicans; most are Democrats. More recent arrivals, or families of old pre-1992 US Navy veteran families tend to be Republican though, though for differing reasons from what I’ve seen. As for Vietnamese-Americans, the older generation are mostly Republican due to Republicans traditionally being the more strongly anti-communist political party, and a misunderstanding of which American president to blame for them losing their country (they mostly incorrectly blamed Democrats and JFK/LBJ). However, in recent years the strongholds of Vietnamese-American voters have started to trend towards Democrats, even among the older folks.
On the topic of food, actually I like Filipino food and can cook Lola-approved dishes (even on a kahoy) representing all the major regions of PH. I like Kapampangan and Bisaya food the best though. It’s a shame Filipino food isn’t more popular here in the States, but I think with a bit of arrangement, adding color through veggies, and using a more traditional cooking method rather than relying on magic sarap or too much sugar/suka would help a lot.
No worries, I understood it all.
Your suggestion of a common language:
But, Joey, there is ONE common language which should be the most important one: The language of the LAW.
The law in the Philippines is written in English.
And the sad thing is that when I listen to the Senate or Congress, I hear Taglish, people pretending to quote the law and then have their preferential explanation in Taglish.
Well, going through all the laws I needed for the development of the Municipal 10-year Plan, I saw that not a single law was implemented. None. Laws from 1980 onward were fully ignored.
A funny engagement I had recently was with a community I never knew existed – hispanistas. That certainly was an interesting conversation (I’m fluent in Spanish). While I agree with them that it would be helpful to for the Philippines to have a neutral national language that does not offend every ethnic group aside from Tagalogs, Spanish is not that language.
While many people believe that the national language in the US is English, we actually don’t have a national language. English is the language of our laws and government, so has become the de facto common language. Even at the founding of the US, many languages and creole communities existed. By US law, and many state laws, the government has a responsibility to ensure citizens are able to engage with the government, so we have certified interpreters to assist any citizen and permanent resident when dealing with official matters.
On your observation while developing your municipal 10-year plan, two of the biggest weaknesses of the government in the Philippines is the weakness of the courts and the Congress. Either the courts are captured by outside interests, and the Supreme Court has very little power outside of being a bunch of erudite lawyers arguing among themselves. As for the Congress, it’s more of a club for failed dynastic scions, rich people, and more recently retired celebrities than a representative body that actually does any work. Without a Congress to hold to account, and a Court to appropriately interpret the law, the Executive can do whatever he/she wants with impunity, which in the end turns out to be most Presidents doing nothing at all to benefit the Filipino people.
“Seems to me that those who had a chance to move up have always tried to close the gate for those after them.” Crushing description of the opposite of meritocracy (mentioned by Joey re. Viet Nam) that characterizes the lack of emphasis on giving young people careers rather than jobs.
Hi, Joey! Welcome to TSH. Your insights on PH education are greatly appreciated.
Your contrast of prevailing Vietnamese and Filipino parents’ attitudes about education is enlightening. There was a time when most Filipino parents have the Vietnamese mindset. Ireneo tagged me as having the old school mindset partly because I was born and raised when PH education was still treasured and seen as the greatest equalizer and life in general, is good.
It takes a village to raise a smart, healthy and happy child. The whole community has to pitch in so the new breed of Filipinos could hold their own among their peers on the global stage. The change will not happen overnight but I am hopeful.
Hi J! Thanks for the welcome!
Actually I’m an American. My grandfathers immigrated back in the day, though most of our male family members went back to fight in the Vietnam War (father included), which is how he became a refugee until he was able to reach the American embassy in PH.
Growing up here in California, I’ve had an opportunity to meet many Fil-Ams from either the Tagalog educated class or Ilokano USN veterans. In general I’ve observed that Filipinos who are fortunate to have an education then immigrated definitely have a mindset that values education for their children. The recent arrivals consisting of extended family members who may have been poor in PH, or poor probinsyana wives of “AFAM” tend to have the same mindset as the lower economic strata I met/am friends with in the PH informal settler neighborhoods.
However, even in the educated middle/upper class there’s still vestiges of old habits. Namely, intense competition and showmanship between even “good friends” and neighbors. This is all very ironic to me because one of the first things I learned about Filipino culture is the high emphasis on the virtues of kababaang loob.
But a whole people can change their mindset while also keeping their culture. It’s been done in countless countries as they modernized. I’m thinking it’s going to take a bit more pain for PH to realize that and act though.
It will be hard due to two a number of factors. Let me share two articles first:
https://joeam.com/2021/03/16/half-a-millenium-after-magellan/ by me
https://www.quezon.ph/2021/03/19/10435/ by the grandson of Pres. Quezon
You are right that little, and much has changed since the Spanish conquest.
The basic local structures have changed little, though two things did initially.
1) Spanish rule made membership in the native ruling class hereditary. There was more of a chance of replacing incompetent chiefs in the old tribal system
2) Spanish rule cut off the local people from trade, which was given to Spanish provincial officials for cross-country trade, and Manila officials had cargo space in the galleons. Chinese were in what is now Binondo due to the galleon trade.
…..
Later on, around the time after the British invasion of Manila, Chinese were expelled, but Chinese mestizos could stay. Also, modern shipping made plantations lucrative not only in the Philippines but also in Indonesia. A class of businessmen and plantation owners grew.
Creole soldiers in the Philippines became restive after Latin America went independent.
The expulsion of the Jesuits had native priests filling in parishes, which the Spanish priests didn’t like. Finally, all these conflicts led to a Filipino national consciousness.
…..
But the revolution initiated by Bonifacio only named the Tagalogs. Visayans joined Aguinaldo’s Republic quite tentatively, and the Sultan of Sulu stayed distant.
America would be the first to bring the entire archipelago under full control.
Official languages of the 1935 Constitution were English and Spanish. Only those who could read and write in one of the two languages were allowed to vote.
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The Japanese and immediate postwar period sort of disrupted Quezon’s foundational work. The national language issue which Quezon had started by declaring Tagalog as the base for the national language Filipino led to discontent and I believe confused educational policies.
1965-1985 had two million middle-class Filipinos leave for the USA. A pull factor was Kennedy opening the USA for non-European migration. A push factor was Pres. Marcos Sr. – in a time with the Philippines having just half the population of now that was a major bloodletting.
From 1975 onwards, labor export was also made possible by more affordable jet travel AND was pushed by the Marcos Sr. administration to earn foreign currency for the country. Over time, families were split, and the old school Filipino values transmitted less and less.
…..
And even old school Filipinos were not as good in business as Vietnamese and Chinese. Could be the colonial era monopoly of business by Spanish officials at the start, taken over by Chinese mestizos later, mostly as the “natives” had lost their drive is the reason for this.
An East German friend of mine told me long ago a certain stubbornness of not wanting to learn new ways is always holding the Philippines back. I concur, and I could add commenter kb’s comment that they learn but decide not to apply it. Or even revert to old ways after a while.
There is a series of articles “Going Home” (see upper right hand corner) written by Karl Garcia and myself during the height of the pandemic which try to explain a lot of why and suggest a lot of what and how to improve things. But maybe, starting with quick wins at first is the way?
Thanks Irineo for sharing the articles. I’ve had the pleasure of reading MLQ III’s article previously.
One can make an argument that the Spanish insisted in placing incompetent chieftains into power, then making that local potentate’s dynasty hereditary, for the very reason of ease of control. If I’m not wrong, in the pre-Spanish chieftainships, the leader of the barangay was not hereditary, but rather, being the warrior who was able to capture the most loot to give in feasts/gifts thus overthrowing the old chieftain.
Sadly, not many know that under Spanish rule that the once great trading polities were reduced to a centralized “stopping point” for the galleon trade. Spanish Philippines hardly reaped any rewards from the trade, and little effort was exerted by the Spanish colonial authorities to improve livelihoods or infrastructure.
Another point of difference is the large disparity of Creole education and movements between New Spain proper in the Americas and New Spain administered Spanish Philippines. In New Spain, the Spanish and Spanish Creoles built universities, put down roots for institutions, so by the time the New Spain Creoles rebelled they had a strong proto-national identity. Whereas in my reading, the various ethnic groups of Spanish Philippines were still isolated and fractured. Interesting aside is just as Spain administered New Spain, New Spain was the direct administrator or Spanish Philippines.
I can’t help but come back to the fractured nature of Filipino history and society which enables old habits to die hard may be a large cause of most ills. I think MLQ III puts those points across quite nicely. Every nation needs to be organized around a national myth that is palatable to all groups. In most nations throughout history, this national myth is based on shared blood and culture. However in the case of Philippines, beyond the shared culture from the proto-Filipinos who originally migrated to the islands, each major ethnic group had developed their own culture and habits.
In the case of my own country, the United States, we are organized and founded around an idea, which I find to be more accepting of differences (and immigration). Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have also adopted similar ideas. Perhaps it’s hightime that in Philippines there is a reckoning with the fact that the cultures and contributions of each major ethnic group (and the minor ones too) can be the basis of a new Filipino identity?
Yes, the book Raiding, Trading and Feasting by Laura Lee Junkers gives details on precolonial culture. It was wealth either by trading or raiding, spent feasting.
Even chiefs among one another acted that way, thus the chiefs of powerful trading town like Maynila or Sugbu could become “Rajahs” respected by the neighbors, even as his power could be contested by neighboring chiefs.
So you have the precedents of vote buying and pork barrel even back then.
Spanish rule destroyed Manila’s status as a major hub in the trade from Malacca thru Brunei all the way to Japan AND Sulu’s role as an intermediary between the Spice Islands and China
Loss of trade meant Sulu etc. resorted to raiding the Visayas, which only became safe around 1849 when the Spanish navy introduced steamship gun boats.
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Re national myth: Indonesia had the fortune that Bahasa still existed as the trade lingua franca. The Philippines may have spoken Bahasa or another lingua franca as a trade language but if there was one it is lost.
Indonesia also had the old Bhinneka Tunggal Ika idea of unity in diversity dating back to Majapahit Imperial times.
So Indonesia is paradoxically better at maintaining unity even if the Javanese lead the country more than the Tagalogs ever dominated the Philippines. For instance: EVERY Indonesian President was Javanese, and only one was born outside Java.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhinneka_Tunggal_Ika
An interesting fact is that here in the US, there also used to exist a prevalence of pork barrel and vote buying, and patronage politics run by political machines (not an exact analogue of political dynasties, but the idea is the same). We got rid of that over 100 years ago, tough monied interests always push the edges of what is lawful even now to influence the narrative, as is seen in the current US elections. So a nation can stand up and say NO! to these behaviors.
Honestly, I’m not sure what can be done to truly unite the Philippines on a shared national myth. Many in non-Tagalog provinces still harbor a certain resentment and feel underappreciated on the national level. As I spend a lot of time in Visayas in the recent decade, the common reply I hear is they still support the Duterte clan despite every misgiving simply because he’s Bisaya. Certainly an incorrect way to vote, as one should vote according to personal and national interests rather than the “political shabu” of resentment sold by “political drug pushers.”
@Joey
Thanks for the keen observations
Holy Moly Joey,
Having lived for a while in both Hanoy as well as HCMC, I can only say that you hit the nail on the head.
Wow
I hope you enjoyed your time in Vietnam!
However, I’m American (with Vietnamese and French ancestry) and I actually have never visited Vietnam even though I’ve traveled widely in SEA and East Asia. My father and my family in general are wanted politically by the current government there. It’s a bit sad because I would like to visit one day and see where the haciendas owned by both of my grandfathers for generations used to be.
Vietnamese-Americans mostly have held onto our ancestor’s culture, while combining it with American culture. One of the greatest strengths of the US is how we are made up of so many immigrant groups since our founding, and almost all ethnic groups still value their ancestry in one way or another. I’m sad to say though, that quite a few Filipino-Americans try to adopt other cultures rather than being proud of their own.
Joe, Whatever it takes, please try to visit Vietnam as soon as you can (ofcourse, if you can do it safely). The vibes are incredibly. Enterprising people all around. Nothing is perfect, but the people kept trying to improve everything they touched. Every square inch of land in Hanoi and HCMC was used to produce veggies. And you know the food, but imagine it is all around you and fresh all the time…. Dalat especially blew my mind. But also in Industry, they better many Asian countries, they aim to deliver first class quality (and starting from scratch, this often fails, but the aim is there). There were a huge amount of foreigners teaching English at schools, the desire to become an international powerhouse is certainly all around.
I am not so sure about Filipinos trying to adopt their host culture rather than being proud of their own. When I visit the Filipino National Day parties, it is great to see how they all come together and celebrate their culture, dragging along their husbands/wives/children. I have the impression that the Filipinos try to adopt their host culture because they know that there is no way going back, they will probably lay their heads to rest in their host country eventually. Where their jobs are. Where their kids and grandchildren build up their future. The host country is (unlike the USA) not an amalgamation of cultures and languages, it generally is a ‘single’ culture and people try to adapt in order to fit in. Although, that is changing rapidly.
Also, Vietnamese people abroad (like yourself apparently) have family which had to leave Vietnam for a desperate reason and they will tend to bring their memories along. And probably a yearning to go back eventually. . More like the Dutch Boer in South Africa (Hugenots and all that).
Unlike the Filipino’s who generally aim to leave their country for greener pastures and therefore will be more willing to integrate fully into the host culture. Similar example: Dutch I met in Australia and New Zealand could not speak Dutch anymore, their kids could not even understand it and they would never identify themselves as Dutch-Aussie or Dutch-Kiwi, they would have been seriously offended if I would not have considered them as full Australian or NewZealanders.
I hope you will be able to visit Vietnam soon and I am sure you will be fascinated by this most interesting of all Asian countries.
.
That’s something I hope can be inspired. make people dream. Saw a great ad about manufacturing and I think we need something like that. Damaged culture that needs it’s groove back.
Pablo, it’s definitely on my bucket list to visit one day, although I don’t feel a pressing need since most of my family were already American or left after 1975. I grew up in an English-speaking household, so Vietnamese is a second language for me (I’m fluent). So I’m sadly no more Vietnamese beyond ancestry than a Japanese-American or Chinese-American who have been in the States for generations.
I’ve been watching Vietnam modernize though in the last 2 decades and I have to admit I’m surprised it’s been quite fast. It’s good that the Vietnamese government is taking a different, more pragmatic path than China that is more engaging to the West. Vietnam also has a history of commerce and trading as it was a regional trading hub with the Malay states, Thailand, India, up to Japan and Korea (the Lee surname in Korea descends from a Vietnamese prince who developed the military tactics necessary to defend against the Mongol invasions of Korea). There are even some historical evidence that the Japanese swords descended from Vietnamese trade during the time Japan was still a proto-feudal society.
Historically, Vietnam and Korea were the only two countries who successfully opposed Chinese imperial aggression for thousands of years while other small kingdoms and polities were absorbed into China’s control. I strongly suspect the hurry to modernize is a reaction to the renewed Chinese threat. Perhaps the Chinese destroyed their culture and history so thoroughly in the Cultural Revolution that they forgot why their emperors had a hands-off attitude, describing Vietnam as the “little dragon” to China’s “big dragon.”
The rapid industrialization and economic growth of Vietnam was facilitated by foreign investment, but also a large part to continuing investment by the Vietnamese diaspora who went back in the hundreds of thousands of businessmen and professionals to invest in their ancestral land. I can only see it accelerating now that Vietnam is becoming cautiously more friendly with the US, Australia, India, as they have been friendly with Taiwan, Japan, South Korea for decades. There’s also the the issue of the “friendly” competition after seeing South Korea’s success story, since in previous eras Vietnam and Korea had a rivalry.
Contrast that with the Filipino diaspora, which I haven’t seen many come back to invest, though I’ve seen some. Most seem to only invest by helping their family members open a sari-sari, internet cafe, or small shop. I have seen in recent years in Cebu that families are returning home and opening the new, trendy cafes and eateries though, but no big thinking ideas.
It’s such a shame because Filipino-Americans are have one of the highest family salaries of American ethnic groups, almost on the same level as educated Whites. I imagine it’s the same story in other Western countries that have a large Filipino diaspora. There are plenty of Filipino-American doctors, engineers, professors, business people, investors, other educated professionals. I know because I’ve met many and have gone to school with many! As a person who is able to easily gain Filipino citizenship or already had Filipino citizenship, it would be easy for them to start a business or invest in building real estate. At least easier than for me, who as an American trying to buy land and open a business in Cebu, I rudely found out that it wouldn’t be legal for me to own land hah!
“It’s such a shame because Filipino-Americans are have one of the highest family salaries of American ethnic groups, almost on the same level as educated Whites.” I think most have tried something big especially those in the medical field, maybe kb can chime in on this, but FilAms usually get screwed over by their Filipino counterparts whether it be family friend or professional. so the money doesn’t go there as smoothly. boils down to trust. and the penchant for Filipinos over there to skim and outright steal whatever intended investments going that way. maybe the best way to do this is thru churches, like churches from here Mormons, JWs, Lutherans, evangelicals etc. or even Filipino churches like INC but from here, lots of medical field INCs. gian, what programs in INC go from USA to the Philippines, in line with what you’re covering here? thanks.
That’s right LCpl, and goes with what I observed. The Philippine side of the family or business partner will ask for more investment than needed, spend that excess, let all their friends enjoy services and goods for free, then the business fails and they’ll make excuses. Doesn’t matter if it’s a sari-sari, shop, or something bigger. Hard to find trustworthy business partners when even family will screw your over.
But what I’m wondering about is the lack of many Fil-Am going back to start a business full-time rather than just being an investor with money. Basically do what the chinoys are doing, because it isn’t requirement to be Chinese to be successful at business. Just need some education, common sense, investment and hard work. But too often I’ve heard Filipinos back in PH just resign themselves to Chinese-Filipinos running all the businesses.
Oh, gotcha i think that part can be attributed to stability. like the reason chempo left was mostly or partly due to DU30 coming on line. so he read the tea leaves and said fuck this, i’m out. then just the fact that Filipinos mostly are in gov’t and hospitals. so more and more Filipinos are in Hollywood like creatives for Marvel Studios, so i’m thinking if anything it’ll be those folks headed to Philippines to start out businesses for music and movies, much like Korean-Americans left LA to go to South Korea. but i feel that business acumen is generational. hard to start on your own for the first time, kinda scary. and Filipinos prefer save, why most can’t swim. Chinese and Vietnamese already have this in their blood but then again I watched The Donut King documentary about how the Cambodians cornered the donut market in Socal, upending Winchells. and also Tippi Hedren and how she taught Vietnamese nails and they cornered that market, so maybe a leader that sees the big picture, maybe Tippi didn’t see it just thought it was an underserved market, but for sure the Donut King saw the big picture. and got everyone together. but then theres that issue of trust again. hard to pin down the hows, but gian’s insight into INC I’d think theres much to be mine there vis a vis education and opportunities.
Yes, you’re right that many Fil-Am work in health care or government, but a large number are businessmen, engineers, lawyers, teachers, and have reached the highest levels of US government and public life. For example attorney George Conway, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Bobby Murphy the founder of Snapchat, US 1st Army Commander Lt. Gen. Antonio Aguto to name a few.
A large number of these Fil-Am descended from the original major waves of Filipino immigration and have been able to build up wealth and position. That’s in contrast with other SEA groups that originated from the Vietnam war who were refugees with little more than the shirts on their backs. Indeed there are quite a few Vietnamese and Cambodians who were members of the intelligentsia or high ranking government officials were were left with nothing (my family included), so even former engineers and landowners had to make due with service jobs.
If some portion of the very talented and industrious Fil-Am went back to invest, it could probably transform the country.
The thing is that Fil-Ams often are either estranged from the old country as they no longer identify with it, while those who still do are often seen as strange by Filipinos in the Philippines. JPilipinas wrote an entire article advocating return, and BTW, a lot of Filipinos raised in the states, including Maria Ressa of Rappler, returned home in the time of PNoy. The anti-Western climate in the time from 2016-2022 included trolls attributing almost Illuminati like intrigues to Loida Nicolas-Lewis, the Bicolana widow of an African-American billionaire.
Nowadays, there is above YouTube channel trying to give Fil-Ams an idea of what Filipino identity is. The divisive spirit of Dutertismo is at least being countered. And it is significant that Prof. Xiao Chua who is from my father’s school of thought is in the project, as even my father at some point said only OFWs still belong to the “bayan”, migrants to Western countries don’t, and that “they are rich anyway over there.” That is part of the wind returnees have to face.
By the way Irineo, thank you for sharing this YouTube channel. It’s a fairly new channel so I haven’t noticed it before, but I watched through the content and it’s quite good. If the channel can also find a way to include other Filipino local languages, and how everyone ties together into the nation, even better.
Did your father have thoughts on how the national identity and cohesion can be improved?
A sad thing I often hear from Filipino-Americans who have been established for generations is that aside from being “pinoy,” they don’t have much to be proud about the Philippines. As the word “pinoy” originated within the earliest Fil-Am expats during the Insular Government period, there’s a sense to me that the word carries a different nuanced meaning for Fil-Ams vs Filipinos “back home” who adopted the term.
When they go to the Philippines to visit, they feel like they’re treated as alien, while other (white) foreigners are feted and respected. I myself have felt this tension as at times I’m mistaken to be Fil-Am or “half” Filipino as they say there.
Hmm.. my father is pretty much one of the advocates of Filipino/Tagalog only, with Prof. Chua is one of the few in his school of thought reaching out to those who speak English.. and my father sees mainly the Katipunan as the true source of national identity and is skeptical of Rizal even as he followed his path at some point by being in Europe.. Xiao Chua sees the contributions of both Rizal and Bonifacio but wants to see the latter as the first Filipino President. With his more showbiz friendly approach (even street vendors sometimes recognize Xiao) Prof. Chua is better at spreading certain messages to the people. At a book fair, SB19 Josh, a PPop star, thanked Xiao for teaching him about Austronesians while Xiao told Josh that he had convinced his girlfriend to join the S19 fandom. Probably a more effective approach than my father’s books, which even I hardly could read as the Tagalog he uses is old school and complex. The disunity among even thought leaders as to the founding concepts of nation of course means even the opinion leaders are disunity – and the street has other concerns..
Re Fil-Ams, Ez Mil rapped about the way they are seen some years ago, spitting his bars in English, Tagalog, and Ilokano. The Netflix drama Trese some years ago BTW was great, but some people kinda didn’t like it having been directed by Fil-Ams. It is and stays complicated.
Wouldn’t this circle back to the feeling of many non-Tagalogs that they don’t feel included in a Katipunanero-centric model of the modern Filipino nation?
One of the characteristics of the American Declaration of Independence and Constitution is that both documents are based on an identity of ideas rather than an identity of blood. This characteristic makes American ideas able to transcend race and time itself in my opinion.
Some years ago I listened to the old recording of Prof. Xiao Chua’s visitation and interview with your father at your father’s home, and your father’s Tagalog is very poetic and difficult to understand. Whereas even I as a person non-fluent in Tagalog can easily understand Prof. Xiao Chua.
Perhaps the issue of a unified nation was never resolved. For example the resentment by Cebuanos that their once proud culture is so regarded. Or in Zamboanga where the Republic of Zamboanga led their own independence movement under Gen. Vicente Álvarez independent of the Katipunan. As Chavacano is a Spanish creole with local Visayan words mixed in, I’ve had quite a few interesting conversations in Zamboanga with the dwindling population of speakers.
Trese was great and well liked by many Americans. If I recall, Filipino social media was buzzing with a mixture of pride for pinoy accomplishment, with complaints that the storyline wasn’t Filipino enough. Well, some people will always complain I guess.
that’s a good point. I think chempo’s the best source for the process of business ventures in the Philippines. all i know is that most Filipinos don’t trust other Filipinos. maybe its a class thing like how Ireneo talks about PhD and statused Filipinos in Europe when they come across maids and menial labor Filipinos. but I do know in business trust goes a long way. though i’m no business person. just that trust goes a long way. which Filipinos don’t seem to have in general when it comes to each other. so maybe gian’s insight into INC, or if there are Mormon or JW Filipinos around. but for sure Lutheran Filipinos seem to have things figured out. i don’t know if they answer direct to Europe or its the USA that reaches out to the Philippines. but seems like church groups would be the best place to start since theres fear of God. thus trust.
LCpl, I’ve only noticed this behavior with more first generation Filipino expats who ended up with some money or status.
Have you read Alex Tizon’s short story about his family’s kasambahay? It was deeply moving and highlights how an attitude of looking down upon and exploiting others of lesser class as utusan, katulong, kasambahay can happen, even among the educated people.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/
https://archive.ph/gP8vJ
While I think religious organizations can help play a role in improving society, the answer would need to be secular/non-religious, especially since more and more Filipinos identified as not strongly religious nowadays. Also, we must remember that the reason why SDA, JW, INC, Mormon communities in the Philippines are highly structured is because those communities are quite insular to themselves. I have quite a few experiences with the SDA and INC communities in Cebu and North Cotabato/South Cotabato, and they mostly keep to themselves, helping those within their own community.
I first was intrigued by INC cuz of their big church on Mango Ave. cebu. then all the comments here re INC. so every time I hear someone is part of it i get curious. especially the INC community over at Ridgecrest CA. but yeah i guess you’re right. i’ve not read this Atlantic article. thanks.
Hah, we may have walked in the same circles then LCpl since Cebu is my go-to.
Well to keep things short, I have my own opinions on SDA and INC (Manalo derived many ideas from SDA), and the opinions are not generous to their church structure and teachings. In general I dislike proselytizers of any faith though.
Thank you for engaging. Your points mirror what I’ve observed.
It has always been a mystery to me why as a percentage 2nd or 3rd generation Filipino Americans aren’t competing in spelling bees, can’t see them in math olympiads when we are 3rd or 4th largest Asian American contingent. Really shows how less geared towards education even those who got out are.
Teachers used to have a high status in provinces but I believe the issues of survival that beset the economic issues late and post Marcos created a situation that the need for survival made teachers do stuff that lowered their status.
late 80 public school teachers really did the whole selling to students foodstuffs because you never knew when the salary would come, and the salary was not keeping up with inflation.
I wonder how we can bring back the high status of teachers.
Thanks GC!
Filipino-Americans have the second highest median household income as of 2021 data, as well have the second lowest rate of poverty. On the next generations, since I’ve had the pleasure of growing up with many Fil-Am friends and have attended my share of weddings and debuts… It’s important to recognize that the US is a country of many ethnicities and cultures, but eventually everyone assimilates and become the national average, if not by the 3rd generation, then surely by the 4th.
I’ve had an opportunity to meet teachers and former teachers across the Philippines, it seems that good new teachers face disillusionment quite fast, then realize they can earn more money as an OFW or BPO. With the new national programs to provide free tuition for the Education course, there is a huge rush of students from the lower economic classes and provinces due to family pressure. I fear that the only result will be a new generation of teachers who will graduate in a few years, who will either leave quickly, or hate their career but stay due to the salary and become the classic maldito/maldita teacher.
Interesting data.But, is throwing money at the problem actually providing the solution??You indicated that it is a question of efficiency.
Let’s look at the data:Critical data hiding in plainTextbooks: 22% printedScience: Zero equipment delivered, only 22% “information” packages for ICTThis would be critical for delivering proper training, we can do with substandard classrooms, but not without books.
Let’s also look at missing data:
What is the success ratio?
From experience, I can state that in order to satisfy the figures provided to the district, hopeless kids get high scores. One of my ‘students’ got an 80% (17 years old) but could not read a book from my 5 year old grandchild. At that stage more than 50% of the kids in our municipality were ‘hopeless’ but they stayed at school (some of the time) because it meant that the parents could collect support.
What is the actual teacher presence?
I saw teachers getting days off to go shopping, go to family visits etc, resulting in about 15% time off. The classes then were ‘run’ by the other available teachers who just kept it ticking overm nothing was learned in those days.
What did this result in? Out of 5 classes (same year) in my Barangay, only ONE class got actual training, the rest was ticking over. It is actually amazing that some of those kids of the prime class did well and proceeded to get good results in university, but those were very, very few.
However, it is a worry that the majority of the students proceeded to teaching, law and business. Not science. But a few went to nursing and marine.
And that brings me to the next level: The students coming from university.It is clear that they entered university with a significant lack of curiosity, not able to question learning statements. This is mainly the result of a lack of training in the formative years.Science is suffering, as can be seen from the fact that foreign companies do not consider young Filipino’s anymore as their prime source of engineers and technicians.
IF, the schooling system in The Philippines needs to be improved, we need to start with:
Set clear standards for critical subjects, year-by-year.
Create tests where NO CHEATING is possible to get realistic picture of the status.
Make the individual districts responsible for the results, follow the practice of ISO-9000 with audits and ‘continual improvement’. No significant improvements: Get rid of the leadership and get people who are interested.
Set priorities. Books are essential, they can be re-used year on year, but now I see whole classes without any books. Those kids hardly have a chance.
Get rid of the bottom performing pupils 12 years and up. Use the resources being freed as a resource to train the better performing pupils.
Design a training system for “adults” who fell out of the system when they were young. These people should be motivated, the training should be rigorous, but there will only be a limited requirement for this training.
I dare make a very unpopular suggestion: Get rid of (most of) private teaching. Now, we increasingly get 2 layers in the population: Those with private (=’good’) education and those without sufficient education. A significant side benefit: There are schools which provide for selective sections of the population to be ‘special’ and stay out of the community and create their own communities (e.g. Chinese). It also forces the top layer of the Filipino society to pay attention to the schooling situation instead of sending their kids to Brent etc. and thereby live in an environment where the public schooling situation does not matter to them.
The sad situation of the Philippine school system is not (only) a matter of money, it is a matter of dedication, commitment and vision.
Significant improvement CAN be achieved, even with the current resources.
Why is it not?
More than a million voters (personnel) is happy in an environment where no questions are asked and accountability is absent. An easy life with options to get a bit on the side for the top when we are building.
24 million kids at school. They are off the street until the boys can work as labourer and the girls can get pregnant. And the parents can get their subsidies when they send the kids to school. (sidenote: The ‘pregnant’ statement is quite harsh, but sadly that seems to be the case in the rural area’s and not only there)
The private school system is a significant money earner. Why work as a teacher in the Barangay when you can earn double at the private school?? Why be a head teacher of the municipal school when you can get rich by starting your own exclusive school???Some politicians are partner in private schools, etc. etc.
19% of the population is happy to be able to send their kids to ethnically correct schools which train them in the values and language of the ‘home country’.
Sure, there are great successes. I have met several “self-starters” who read books, got themselves educated and then got some kind of training (often as a sailor or nurse) so they could go abroad. These studies are quite expensive and generally supported by family abroad, therefore excluding the poorer part of society.
And therefore, we have a seemingly unlimited supply of (almost) untrained personnel for cruise liners or housemaids for Saudi and other interesting countries where these people are treated as ‘disposable’ staff.
Maybe I am sarcastic, but a poor education is certainly beneficial for the feudal political system and the religious masters. Drastic improvements will certainly be torpedoed.
I agree that is why we need to start locally with enlightened mayors. There is no skin in the game and as you say there is no need to rock the boat.
“81.28% of the Department’s budget, or 513.48 B is allocated to Personnel Services (PS) to cover the payment of salaries and benefits of employees, both teaching and non- teaching positions. While, 15.50% of the budget or 97.92 B is allocated to Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE).”
There you have it.
I once pointed this out in Twitter to Budgetbabe, and her answer is like a surrendering “it is what it is”. ( paraphrased)
there are non govt organisation like the education foundation of the philippines et al that are registered and help boost kids education.
as well, our country received donations, study aids and materials from all over the world to foster education for children. while we cannot be reliant on donations, they come in handy and just when we need them. lalo na ngayon palagi tayong binabaha, our country is sinking and kid’s education is put on hold because of extreme weather.
Thanks for this KB.
Indeed aside from the Project Gilas I mentioned, there is still a digital divide, and that is where the NGOs and or interest groups come in.
On subsidies, one can say there is money it is only lost to corruption. Granted that is completely accurate, Giancarlo is correct that we can’t just throw money to extinguish the problem like extinguishing a fire.( My take added)
The 3 percent Capital Outlay
And the 15 percent MOOE
Even if Education has the largest peace in our National Budget Pie, philosophy percentages are not very encouraging.
Our National Budget also has Personnel Sevices dominating the allocations.
Automation and AI without must give personnel a way out of government.
But the reality is when you train people that is to retain and not for them move to greener pastures.
My sad experience is that all (ALL) promising kids I met were motivated by the prospect to work abroad. Only ONE bubbly girl wanted to work locally as a teacher. After working for 2 years, she is now studying to get a degree in English so she can work as a teacher in Korea. That makes 100% exiting the system. A feisty woman who worked for me, I introduced her to GIS and she went from zero to skilled in a matter of months, motivation: to get out.
over the past decades in The Philippines, I have seen kids considering moving abroad first as an option, now it is a sure target right from leaving highschool. Only sailors seem to keep the ties to The Philippines and most sailors I know will return and their aim seems to live a comfortable life eventually, living off the real estate they accumulated over time. The other professionals seems to plan to leave and stay abroad.
A but black-&-white, I know, there are many aspects to this issue, but looking at my point of view of somebody with close relations to a liberal university it is a fact that most of the Filipino intellect is living abroad.
How was it again? The top 15% decides the fate of the country. With the top living abroad, that leaves a country wide open to a take-over.
is this a trend which the (max.) 10% of the mayors can stop? I might sound like a grumpy old fart, but I think that we are on a slippery slope down, gaining speed. A Chinese contractor (3rd generation Filipino) told me, matter of fact tone, that the Chinese will take over because the Filipino’s can’t. With 19% Chinese in the country and maybe 10% good mayors, I am afraid the balance is heavily on the Chinese side.
One can say the same about the US, being on that slippery slope, or other nations as well. Most Filipinos are stuck with the nation they have, and I prefer to look at it as a path of some adventure, trauma, and discouragement, but there is no value to putting one’s head down and kicking the dog. Might as well try to put up a good fight. Against all odds.
Yeah, Joe, it is better to stay positive and keep up the fight.
But, 34 years later, many disappointments later, there is this point where you have to be realistic. So: No more grand idea’s (I hope I can manage to keep the idea’s back), let’s try to do what is feasible in the 15 (?) remaining years. So, I have one student who is very motivated (but not in The Philippines), one potential candidate we are checking out and I am the backup and mentor of a lovely girl who will be a Master in 3 years… No more plans for replacing corn with coffee, just my 16 coffee plants for own consumption. No more initiatives for planting mangroves in the municipality, just around our beach. No more making emergency plans for the municipality, just taking care that my radios, generator, stormshutters and motorbike are in good condition. You get the idea. I see the floods in the Luzon area and see all predictions coming true, more will follow soon, also in our area, probably during those 15 years, NAMRIA has beautiful disaster risk maps (ask your municipality, they are obliged to disclose the maps), but it’s about time my fellow municipal people take responsibility for what is about to happen, in schooling, in politics and in the environment.
But, like you said, the same can be said for the USA, Europe, Africa etc.
So, I hope I can keep my little crew safe and the rest needs to chose: The slippery slope OR get in action. I hope they will get the idea, but will not leave my SanMig standing waiting on it to happen.
Seems to me you are doing exactly what you should do. Best wishes. Me, I dispense words and ideas because influential people say it helps. When I lived on the beach, I picked up plastic from the sands and waters relentlessly. Futile for sure. But it was good for my soul not to be defeated and to persist in the smallest way.
Pablo, this is exactly why I worried about the Philippines being stuck in the same place for the forseable future. It’s like you took the thoughts out of my mind!
I’ll share a story about the only Filipina I ever dated. When I was still a young man in my early 20s, I had some good friends in Cebu, and one of the guys had a cousin who was infatuated with me during my visits to their shanty encampment next to Mactan airport. Being that at the time I was a university student, and she was a few years younger in SHS, I declined. Being the classic malditang Cebuana type, she swore in front of everyone that she would go to America.
I heard later that she had transferred to a private university on academic scholarship to finish SHS, then she announced she was accepted to an American university on academic scholarship. Here’s a person who lived in a shanty, not enough food to eat on most days, whose elderly father was disabled and couldn’t drive a tricycle anymore, selfish elder siblings who didn’t help support, but she learned fluent English on her own and found a way to raise herself up. She gained success for herself due to her own determination. In the end, we didn’t work out though, hah!
And I’ve seen the same story play out many times across the Philippines. It seems with every generation, a sizeable number of the best whose capabilities could be used to increase the nation left. From students who found ways to do sidelines to pay for their school supplies, to others who learned English, Japanese, or Korean on their own to work as virtual assistants, to those determined to have an education no matter what and took their studies seriously. Even those who couldn’t get an education, but were willing to work as laborers in Taiwanese, Japanese, South Korean factories, or as service workers in the Middle East are still a “cut above” the rest of their family who sits idly at home waiting for the GCash or Western Union. They eventually all left the Philippines and most never looked back during their working years.
One day, a good number do come back home, but just to build a big house or buy a house in a subdivision to retire where there are lower expenses. And that is admittedly helpful for the Philippine economy, but just imagine if the government put those people’s talents to good use during their working years, what can be accomplished.
“then she announced she was accepted to an American university on academic scholarship.” Joey, what program was this. and where did she end up going. There used to be a UC exchange program, UC students go there but it was Filipino professors that would do exchange teaching at UCs. so not really an exchange program. I’ve also heard about church exchange programs but not students but teachers. like Lutheran schools there have Filipino teachers then those Filipino teachers get to do exchange programs in EU and North America. have not heard of same program in Catholic schools though. Jehovah’s Wits also have similar program but as proselytizing not teaching. so Filipino student to America this is the first i’m hearing it. so curious about said program. thanks.
Also theres the Mormons but just proselytizing i’m aware of, much like JWs, though they could have students i suppose that go to BYU or something in lieu of missionary.
Also i’ve heard of the students from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_High_School_for_the_Arts coming here but not as exchange students more like cultural like they dance around the US and stuff.
According to American Mormons and JW I know, these programs are sort of like missionary training so they can go back to their country afterwards with training how to proselytize. I don’t think it’s college. BYU is Mormon owned so I would imagine they do some of the training there. Utah is a pretty small state population wise, used to live there for a while.
I’ve met plenty of Filipino international students here even back during my days at UC Berkeley. Mostly kids of rich families, but some on scholarship as well. To be honest, the name of exactly which group sponsored the scholarship escapes me as this happened nearly 20 years ago. It definitely wasn’t a religious organization sponsored scholarship. It was a Filipino privately funded academic scholarship for poor students who are high achievers though. She went to UCLA to study Biology for a pre-medical track.
thanks. nice. did she end up staying? will try to research this program. seems like NGO stuff. i heard UCR has a medical school too now. were you at UC Berkeley when Kamala Harris was there?
I’m not that old haha! Kamala Harris is 20 years older than me, and I only went to Berkeley for my undergrad.
No, she’s back in Cebu now with a family and working as a manager in a BPO.
Our school in the province does an intermittent fundraising for projects not funded by the government budget such as structural maintenance (classroom repairs, fence mending, painting, etc) and beautification (plants and seeds purchase, signage, etc). They appeal to the Filipino diaspora and school alumni to fill in the void.
In the US the bulk of basic education funding comes from the state snd local government. Just a small portion of it comes from the national government budget. Not all states are equal so proportions of state/local and national funding vary from state to state. I read that it is the reverse in PH: the national government provides a sizable chunk of the funding and only a small portion come from LGUs. What can be done to assist the LGUs in upping their share?
The elephant in the room should be addressed from the bottom up: Corruption. Transparency and accountability need to be revisited and corruption rooted out of the system. What can be done to solve this problem?
there are large disparities between rich and poor brgys/municipalities. the rich municipalities provide extra stuff to their teachers and students.
https://x.com/QCGov/status/1813529702591770698?t=i06778OmIi8D0TvX0WPM-g&s=19
Tax base of most municipalities are to small. Notice how people from bamban loved Alice Guo. Influx of money boosted the economy which created a form of development. Albeit an unsustainable model built on top an illegal operation.
I am presuming the townsfolk of bamban are alice gou’s happy happy hakot crowd. for them to be beneficiaries of alice gou, many people were tricked and trafficked and made to suffer, abused, beaten, exploited and made compliant. innocents were scammed of savings, and BIR lose massive amount of revenue that could have been used to erect school buildings, pay for teachers salaries and upgrade infras.
apparently, the happy happy hakot crowd happily licked their lollypop pittance, contented and forever on the side of alice guo, defending her on all issues no matter what. eating and sleeping well amidst the sufferings of the enslaved people at pogo hub working feverishly for longer hours just so alice guo and the happy happy hakot crowd can have their fun.
all the while billions of illegally gotten money allegedly entered into the multiple bank accounts of alice guo et al. depriving our nation of what is duly ours.
There could be sustainable and legal solutions such as entrepreneurial activities, new industries or cooperatives for poor municipalities.
I know there are fiestas in PH. In the US most municipalities have week long festivals that showcase whatever the people there are proud of. The municipalities use them to drum up local businesses and raise funds for various projects. Farming communities have veggies or fruits festivals such as Corn Festival, Strawberry Festival, Peach Festival, etc. Most of the veggies and fruits festivals coincide with harvest season so farmers do not have to deal with surpluses/ rotting perishables. I know of the Cebu Mango Festival but other places could also have Tomato Festival, Watermelon Festival and the likes to sell their produce and value added products too.
There is also a practice in the US where municipal officials approach in-state or out-of-state industries planning to expand or relocate to present their city as a possible site. Some even travel overseas to entice foreign companies to relocate in their cities.
Cooperatives are also well and alive in various western countries. They drive rural development by pooling resources to produce and market value added food products. A lot of famous US food and beverages such as Land O’Lakes dairy foods, Sunkist citrus, Ocean Spray cranberries and beverages, Blue Diamond almonds, Sun Maid raisins and Welch’s grape jelly and juices are examples of cooperatives with established brands.
I am not so sure how the USA handles taxing subsidiaries of business in towns and states, but in Germany, there is the Gewerbesteuer, roughly trade tax, that is due for subsidiaries of firms for the money they earn in a town.
Don’t know if in the Philippines, SM or Ayala pay some percentage of their tax directly to a town one of their malls earns money in. Same for factories of firms that have their HQ in Metro Manila.
Giancarlo, Karl, I know there is the allotment of tax to LGUs based on population and area, forgot the abbreviation for that, but that money goes to central first, this is NOT the case in Germany and probably not the case for the USA.
I know the skepticism about federal stuff in the Philippines as in it could stuff the pockets of local politicians, but at best in a working democratic community, more direct accountability would be the result as in well-run German (and American) cities, counties and states.
Of course there are places like Naga and Iloilo that are exemplary communities, while the other extreme is of course Bamban, Tarlac – or even the often satirized Makati poor who vote for the family that sends them birthday cakes.
i know the Philippines is really into the latin honorifics, like cum laude, summa, magna etc. etc. I didn’t even know about them til I went to the Philippines– same with batch and top notchers. my hs year books had most popular this and that, and then honors, where they mentioned 4.0 to 3.7 GPA gold tassel, 3.7 to 3.0 silver tassel, etc. etc. no latin honorifics. but what our school did have a lot of were attendance awards. every month, i remember there was even an award for some dude that was never absent the whole 4 years of high school, lol. what a loser. i later learned attendance factored into funding directly. so there you go, no latin honorifics but a lot of attendance awards, ireneo. lol. its like profit prisons where they have to keep ’em full. i could go on about how the prison industry and the school industry here like teachers unions and correction officers unions create a positive feedback loop.
The US colleges/universities use the latin honors system. Students have to meet the grade point average (GPA) requirement to garner one of the awards as follows: cum laude (GPA of 3.5–3.64); magna cum laude (GPA of 3.65–3.79); or. summa cum laude (GPA of 3.8–4.0). One’s graduation sash denotes honor level accomplished in baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate studies.
thanks, JP, so exactly like our gold and silver tassels for cap then. there was probably a 3rd color maybe bronze i dunno. i do remember a sash for our uber honors. I got neither of these, JP. so i’m not too knowlegable. but i think the way its used in the philippines is not by groups of gpa, but actually 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th runner up, thus only one summa, only one magna, etc. like the top notchers for bar, etc. etc. ireneo can you clarify what i saw in the Philippines, what JP’s saying seems in line with what i know from high school over here. but i remember the Philippine system of awarding honors being different. there was a zero sum aspect to it.
in college we follow the way JPilipinas described.
Current issue is that almost half of the students now graduate with honors.
There is also grade inflation in Germany now, and in the often criticized German system that selects kids into grammar school, trade school and vocational school after Grade 4 (in Berlin after Grade 6 due to US influence) now has most kids in grammar school, which is the track to lead to university while trade school is for white collar usually secretarial and accounting jobs and vocational is for skilled workers – leading to too many kids trying for university which not all have the talent for, not even for the newly introduced (thanks to the Bologna process aligning educational systems across the OECD) Bachelor’s degree – and too few apprentices for the kind of highly skilled artisan jobs Germany is famous for, in fact those that don’t make the cut for grammar school often just want to be influencers or join casting shows.
Having said that, the WAY the Philippines handles honors and rankings as a kind of race instead of focusing on mastery and self-improvement is toxic. One-upmanship a la UP is something that I have been told impedes interdisciplinary research, for instance. Well, we don’t have that school in common even as I grew up on campus, but in the school we do have in common there was this case from the early noughties that was literally toxic – and tragic.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2006/04/05/329904/145poisoning146-dampens-pshs-graduation
I find the current PPop boy and girl groups a novelty in such a culture BTW, as the fans of just a few years older belting queens are competitive as hell in a toxic Filipino way. Striving for excellence and STILL being capable of teamwork seems so “UN-FILIPINO” to me. Tripping others up or leaving them in the dust, like a childhood friend of my father who didn’t tell him about the Foreign Service Exams in Europe when both studied there, is more “normal”. BTW re the two major PPop groups there is good competition as in the fans of both trying to outdo each other in raising the view count of their respective videos, and bad rivalry as in hating.
The sicko aspect of Filipino one-upmanship includes Prof. Contreras insisting his niece was screwed out of becoming valedictorian (she was salutatorian) by VP Leni’s daughter due to Jesse Robredo’s influence. Or my father once making a remark that he should have been valedictorian not salutatorian at Albay High School if the girl who became it hadn’t been so popular – over 20 years after, sometime mid-1970s when they graduated in the mid-1950s. And to boot, my father had been summa cum laude in UP in the late 1950s when that was still very rare, and he was full UP professor by the mid-1970s with a Paris doctorate so nothing left to prove, but still. So there. And indeed both he and the girl got automatic UP scholarships as that was what valedictorians and salutatorians at public schools got back in the day.
I am reminded also of a scene in The Tesseract novel where a farmer pushes his sons to be noticed by their landlord, to get on those who work for him. Flash forward they are his bodyguards. Are the roots of that mindset that deep and old, as in only a few get the gold?
Most US States tax corporations (corporate tax) but some do not (0 corporate tax). Corporate tax percentages from gross/net income/sales vary from State to State. Federal corporate taxes are remitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and State corporate taxes are paid directly to the States’ Department of Revenue.
I think PH LGUs also receive corporate taxes from corporations. That is why Makati and other places with large business centers such as Cebu and Davao have discretionary income that is often passed to local schools and social services (cakes!).
PH LGUs revenues are mainly from Amelyar and Business Permit taxes. I believe it is a percent of the gross revenues of the business earned locally.
Irineo also had the Internal Revenue Allotment I mind.
“Section 284 of the Local Government Code of 1991 prescribes the amount of IRA to be allocated during a given year, i.e., 40% of the national internal revenue taxes based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year. “
Before the Trade Department and Toursm Department had this OTOP (One Town One Product) program.
As for food fiestas
like Lingganiza, Alimango, etc.
allow me to provide a link.
https://foodphilippines.com/listed/13-philippine-festivals-that-celebrate-food/
as the history of the world show it is not easy to do development.
It is not easy but it can be done. The US development is rooted in the cooperation between the first settlers. They helped each other clear large swatches of land for farming, did bayanihan style raising of roofs for people and animal shelters, traded for what they need with fellow settlers and later on with Indians. Development is a trial and error endeavor. Persistent makers and producers are part and parcel of the winning formula.
I think our ningas cogon and crabby nature keeps us from sticking to our guns. Lots of peanut galleries to mock our failures and crabs to tear down our successes contribute to the problem. Why can’t we unite and embrace those who have good intentions? Why can’t we showcase our collective strength instead of our dysfunctional features? What will it take for us to shed behaviors that impede development?
In our neck of the woods
Crab mentality both in its putdown and pull down forms is due to lack of confidence in one’s own culture and lack of trust among Filipinos.
Why am I so interested in Filipino music going global? It would be like the Manny Pacquiao effect ten times, giving Filipinos a sense of yes we can.
AND also forming an industry out of one of the few native crafts Filipinos still have retained, as even Rizal noted in the Noli that kids quickly picked up on songs the band played they had never heard before. That skill of industry-building can be used with other stuff, once acquired.
And once you are on a road of success, nothing succeeds like success.
OK, if one is nationalistic, one can make up the story that Euterpe was actually a Cebuana whom the Greeks falsely claimed. Can’t trust them, tsk tsk.. 😒
kinda like this, Ireneo. but the thing to take away from Pac-man is all that stopped over night. i think there were stables of up and coming boxers they fielded out, but none as successful as Pacquiao. so theres gotta be the scaling as focus like how K-Pop just keeps producing them. one hit wonders vs. patterns of success. how to do that i dunno. but kpop seems to have figured it out. not copy but to improve on it.
re Euterpe, if like that Sufi said, these are just jinns, then definitely all species seen in Trece can be reimagined as jinns not local but global in scope, even inter dimensional. thus Filipinos can justifiably steal cuz they already have ’em, just retell it.
Re storytelling, the greatest stories are those told by reality and retold from new perspectives. The historical drama genre in the Philippines is evolving since decades and now with Pulang Araw (Red Days) there is a coming Netflix Philippines drama about the Japanese period. But it obviously was created by GMA based on the actors and yes GMA always was good at historical stuff. The acting and cinematography as well as the period portrayal is close to world class, what they might still have to learn is to keep stories tight and it may match K-dramas soon.
And even make enough money for better CGI than this one even as I am impressed by the accuracy of how prewar Manila is reconstructed.
while watching videos reviews of Pulang Araw the algorithm showed me Apag which i guess is also on Netflix (i’ll have to check). but I once came across a hit and run situation of a jeepney driver in the province who hit several kids playing on the street wherein the driver had to be safeguarded into the barangay hall brake failure cuz families wanted him dead. so i wiki’ed Apag and saw Tuazon as the characters last names and i remember Tuazons of Pateros who grew duck eggs for balut. but i digress, Pulang Araw looks good though the trailer I can’t really figure out what its all about. I have seen the Great Raid about Alamo Scouts of which there were Filpinos from the US and Rangers rescue a POW camp. but a movie i really wanna see are all the Filipinos who worked for the Japanese but relayed information to their buddies in the guerillas. like that series Turn.
Yes, that takeaway from Pacman is what JPilipinas calls ningas-cogon, basically a short flame that easily dies out after a big burst.
There is a new Star Hunt show at ABS-CBN right now, after the 2018 Star Hunt that created a successful GG – and a less successful BG.
1Z, which is the independent firm owned by boygroup SB19, is now recruiting for a girl group to train.
IF PPop stays successful in the next two years and the next batch of groups is launched by then, the chance is that the industry will continue to grow.
It already has created a music video firm called UMU or YouMeUs, which makes the videos for both top group and a songwriting firm called FlipMusic that writes for a number of artists and groups.
Crab mentality has already plagued both major groups and will cause issues for nearly any of the groups to come as being excellent is seen as haughty by many, no matter how humble and nice people are.
No, I am not BTW saying music alone will save the nation, it is just one building block. Once self-esteem has grown, less need for mythology a la Tallano or any genies in a bottle except maybe Christina Aguilera. 😉
the Marine Corps differs a lot from other services with more funding because it focuses on making Marines. all culture. so even heroes are repeatedly as well as myths of battles. when Evan Wright died of suicide last week the Recon Marines he was assigned to write about threw him a memorial. and HBO’s Generation Kill series spiked up again. i don’t think you can ever get past stories, heroes and myths, Ireneo. just better interpretations that reflect current times. that’ll be applicable to creating better leaders and tighter cohesion of people.
so here’s to more stories from the Philippines, only time will tell if it sticks and becomes canon.
I am wondering why FilAm Olivia Rodrigo is not very popular in PH. She is right up there with Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa and only a notch below Beyonce and Taylor Swift. She is embraced in US, UK and Canada but I hardly read anything about her in PH media.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Rodrigo
Bruno Mars already conquered the world’s biggest musical venues so I have no doubt that Filipino musicians will fare really well anywhere in the word.
I tried to search her in Rappler and Philstar.
Her Grammy nomination was a hit back in 2022.
I don’t know maybe her Pinoy fandom shifted to the new kid on the block.
@Irineo had a series and commentaries on fandoms or fan behavior.
*anywhere in the world
@JPilipinas
Both Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo are on the cover (so to speak) of the June 24, 2024 issue of the New Yorker.
David Remnick, its editor, has written about Olivia; also about Jia Tolentino (another Filipina). Jia now regularly writes for the magazine.
x-
Under [David] Remnick’s leadership, The New Yorker has become the country’s most honored magazine. It has won more than fifty National Magazine Awards during his tenure, including multiple citations for general excellence. In 2016, The New Yorker became the first magazine to receive a Pulitzer Prize for its writing, and now has won eight Pulitzers, including the gold medal for public service. Remnick was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2016.
-x
More on OTOP.
“ONE TOWN, ONE PRODUCT (OTOP) PHILIPPINES is a priority stimulus program for Micro, Small and Medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) as government’s customized intervention to drive inclusive local economic growth.”
@Karl
RE:OTOP
I went to the site and read about it. The last update to the page was in 2019. This is a start but it looks like a lot of areas are not represented? Does this program still exist?
Hope this is not one of our ningas cogon initiatives. Good intentions must proceed first even if threading the road to perdition.
I checked their FB page and it is still quite up to date if photo ops count.
This program had several resurrections or reboots.
Ningas cugon then some one brings back the spark.
PBBM mentioned OTOP, implying a level up or an upgrade. He mentioned that it should not be limited to one product or something to that effect.
Coming from a European country where cooperatives are hugely successful and made small Netherlands into one of the top players in agriculture, I tried to introduce the idea of a cooperative several times over the past 30 years in my area. We even started a business to encourage the community to follow. I know that some cooperatives in The Philippines are actually working, but our efforts fell flat. Two reasons.
First reason: They do not trust each other at all. At all…. In a country where the cashier registers your purchases, the packer checks it and then the guard at the entrance again checks your purchases, it is very clear that they do not trust each other at all. The Philippines is the only country in the world where I saw this elaborate checking system. Even in small shops they do not trust each other and there are people writing receipts and then only ONE person handles the cash, resulting in a very inefficient system. So, they do not trust a system where produce gets sorted, packed, shipped and sold. Every stage provides an opportunity for creaming the system and experience has shown that indeed, it does happen.
Second reason: Nobody was willing to hand-in some of the possible earnings for the greater good. To pay for a specialist to train the community, to invest in a cooling facility, to work on planting mangroves for fish propagation. Or somebody had the idea that his fish would get a lower price because he had a slightly better quality than his colleagues (the opposite was proven true, but there was no changing in the position).
Especially the trust issue is amazing. Having worked with Filipino’s all over the world, it would not enter my mind to ever, ever distrust a Filipino colleague. The other nationalities often had to be controlled, but the Filipino’s were the most reliable, trustworthy crowd all over the Middle East, Africa, Russia and the other Asian countries. But, coming to The Philippines, I noticed that those same people suddenly had to be checked. Most of the time, they would not lie (because we worked with each other before), but they stopped offering the truth. Same people, different country, different personalities. However, working in a multinational in Manila, I noticed that the “sneaky” attitude was not present at all, it was one of the best working experiences I had.
It seems that the overall environment has a huge influence on the personalities and with the right encouragement, it is possible to get a positive attitude. There is hope.
On the positive side, the sneakiness is not often violent. Yesterday, I walked past a huge truck full of Tanduay. In most countries I lived, this truck would have had zero chance of arriving at it’s destination…
Joe, most funny was Vietnam where The North Face stuff “fell off” the truck and the staff of the manufacturing company went to the market to buy it back. Other companies had similar problems in spite of rigorous checking processes. A continuous battle of wits.
Too many checks and balances will only result to one resorting to balancing their checking account.
Very rich insights on cooperatives. The trust issue arises from financial struggle. People have accepted that it is okay to skim and scam for money. So everyone is wary. Cooperatives here are largely failed due to lack of sophistication as well.
I have similar observations from decades of seeing Filipino overseas associates rise and fall. People either assume the others are skimming, are doing it, or both. Whew, I recall a summer festival with a basketball tournament where I was one of the organizers.
With such a culture, no wonder there are no real grassroots political parties. Pablonasid noted correctly that in multinationals, people behave. Same thing with a lot of Filipinos abroad who were perfect employees in Embassies, hospitals etc. – a boss being there made a difference. Thus two major Filipino organizations in Germany at the start were the wife of a German recruiter of nurses and an employee of a charitable organization helping new arrivals – meaning people with something to offer to their “constituency” tho they never sent birthday cakes. 😞
Pablo, this is an amazing observation about cooperatives.
A friend of mine is a DepAg agriculturalist based in Koronadal. Per her telling, her local office was able to gain some funding to launch a pilot program for farming collectives, transition to more productive seed stock, and teaching of more effective farming methods. The other idea of the pilot was to pool resources to start light mechanization of the farms covered under the collective by purchasing a pair of light duty tractors, combine harvester, grain/produce cart, but none of the farmers wanted to pay their portion. Instead, they were only interested to join if they can receive the improvements for free, including the seed stock which ended up being sold by some farmers even though it was provided for free. The farmers, even with education by my friend’s office and field agents, did not see any benefits in having a collective to be able to afford machinery for more production, nor having a collective to set a higher baseline price per kilo of their product so their earnings are increased, preferring to sell as they always have at a low price to the middlemen who owned the transport.
Another friend is from Tulunan in North Cotabato came from a broken family, as his father left the family. However through personal industrious ambition, he was able to take the small land he inherited from his mother’s side and make the bi-annual palay productive. Over time he amassed profit and invested back into his farm, buying a tractor, combine harvester. As the other farmers in his barangay respected him, he also tried to start a collective, however the other farmers just preferred to give him a share of their produce if he managed their harvest in effect becoming sharecroppers on their own land.
Compare that to an encounter I had on the airport of Hanoi. Belgian agricultural specialist. Working as a trainer in the government. He trained the government support people. The farmer gets a piece of land to operate. He gets support to buy tools, seedlings, fertilizer. The farmer needs to keep a logbook. Every few months, the support person drops by and they discuss the state of the plants. The target production rate is 2000 kg coffee per hectare. If there is a problem, the rectification is identified (fertilizer pattern, pruning, pests, drainage, watering etc). If the production is below 1800kg/ha then the situation becomes serious. If the farmer does not follow the advice (e.g. skimping on fertilizer, not pruning properly etc), then a few hard talks are held, the logbook is reconciled against the purchasing receipts, records of neighbours, weather records etc If the production stays unacceptable, the farmer is told to leave and another farmer can give it a try. I also spoke a young couple later, they helped me at a government office with some paper processing. They were trained agriculturists, waiting on a chance to get a piece of land to start their farm. Very motivated, very much aware that farming is a tough life, but can be rewarding. Much like the farmers in my family.
The result: Vietnam is one of the biggest coffee producers in the world. From zero to max in 40 years. Producing 2000 – 2300 kg/ha. Philippines went front a coffee exporter to importing 75% of the coffee, a top production in Philippines is considered 400kg/ha and the coffee farmers I spoke were happy with 200kg/ha, they saved on anything: water, fertilizer, herbicides, labour, equipment.
Ofcourse, there are disadvantages of high production rates, the pesticide use being the majority concern. But Filipino’s don’t seem to care anyway, their use of Roundup (etc ) is excessive.
There is lots of room for improvement, but it will be difficult to reverse the Agrarian Reform where running farms were split up in 5 ha. Sections and decided under the workers.
But.. it can be done. After the floods on 1953, the Netherlands was under water for 25% and the redistribution of land was started at the time the land became available when the dikes were repaired. Now, the farms are efficient, big, beautiful and looking great. The Netherlands became an agricultural powerhouse. And now has very serious problems with the farmers because of nitrogen issues, pesticides, pollution etc. But,,, farmers are in the higher income groups and the country exports like crazy. Cooperatives and a decisive government when it was needed.
My coffee production is below 200kg/ha, I hardly use fertilizer, no pesticides. But I am not a commercial farmer and happy in The Philippines because I drink my own coffee, make my own chocolate, and have some 30 different fruits growing. Maybe that is what could make Philippines the happy place. But then… it’s impossible to increase the population, city sizes and GDP, right?
A crossroads, catch-22.
The rambling above is probably hiding 2 key issues: Incentive and accountability. You do well at school, you get a chance. You flunk the chance, you’re out.
In the Philippines, we’ve got to ask ourselves: how can we get more people to stay (Giancarlo, maybe you could do some soul-searching here) and push for change as opposed to the feudalistic/ fatalistic approach of the groups who’s target it is to get trained so they can leave.
Maybe the cauldron of change is cooking in the mega cities? Regards, Paul Holtslag,
Nasidman Island, Ajuy, Iloilo, Philippines. GPS: 11.074,123.012 Tel: +639957451572
19 Fisherman’s Village, Danabaai, South Africa. GPS: -34.2064,22.0214 Tel: +27632611666
Paul, apologies for assuming your name was Pablo, though sometimes I also go by José in the Philippines as well!
The Vietnamese government program you shared is almost a 100% match in methods for the program my agriculturalist friend in Koronadal is running. I haven’t asked her previously, but now I’m wondering if DepAg had hired foreign agriculturalist advisors for their pilot programs.
The main issues the local DepAg office faces is that the farmers only want to know what’s “free,” they cook their logbooks with falsified numbers (which is a bit funny, since being uneducated the farmers don’t know how to perform correct arithmetic), skim the free materials they’re given and sell on the market, then turn around to apply for compensation when their crop yields don’t meet the expected benchmarks. All the while, the farmers are protected by their LGU since those rural LGUs are usually run by the biggest farming family in the area and their supporters. My friend has described her work as demoralizing and feeling useless, and is now exploring a doctorate Agriculturist program in the US or Europe, and wants to permanently migrate from the Philippines. The Philippines will likely lose another highly educated civil servant who tried their best to work in government to improve people’s lives.
The biggest issues I’m seeing in the Philippine agriculture is a large amount of work is still done manually or with draught animals like a carabao, with no attention given to crop rotation and crop management. I’m not an agriculture expert as my field of expertise is in technology and business, but it’s common sense to me and I can’t figure out why Filipino farmers are so resistant to changing. Old habits die hard I suppose, but the best way might be to show proof that the farmer’s neighbor earned more money by complying with the government program.
Certainly it’s also necessary to have the government invest into each needed area, which I find that the Philippine government under invests in critical sectors, instead opting to use the limited money for flashy projects which often fail or serve as money sinks. The US was one of the first countries to develop modern farming techniques that are now replicated across the world, and beyond that the US government also supported spreading of those new practices with low interest government farm loans. In the period from the 1910s to the end of the Great Depression, practically all farmers were able to afford a mechanized tractor, combine harvester, better storage buildings, and formed transport collectives to bring their products to market. All this progress had the explicit backing of the US government in the form of Farm Acts which still exist to this day. The benefits of mechanized agriculture also are to free up labor to be employed in manufacturing… if the government also took care to encourage investment in factory building.
I don’t think mega cities would help the situation much. The Metro Manila area is already untenable, followed closely by the rapid population growth in Metro Cebu. One of the biggest dangers of a country that coalesced around mega cities is that all employment trends to go towards the service sector, suffocating manufacturing, agriculture, artisanship. We shall just ask the UK how well their experiment went with getting rid of every sector besides service. I think those hard headed British are starting to wake up to the fact that their country doesn’t produce enough food, and doesn’t produce hardly any goods for export anymore. The Dutch and French must be laughing as those two countries export basic foodstuffs to the UK.
is https://www.boscoffee.com a good business model and can it expand to say rubber, since coffee like growing under the shade and rubber trees can provide said shade. but don’t sell to rubber manufacturers for markets abroad dependent on futures market. be more like the Vibram for Philippines. so Bo’s can be more like REI or Danners like for adventure or just great footwear using top of the line rubber. but with coffee.
Bo’s coffee looks awesome LCpl! I’ll have to try that cafe the next time I’m in Cebu.
I’ve spent time around Butuan and the mountains around Agusan del Norte have many coffee plantations due to the cool, moist conditions. The problem the local farmers have is that most are artisanal small scale coffee farms that are worked by the family members or occasionally tambays in the barangay who need extra money. But if let’s say a Filipino returns from overseas to their family coffee plantation and brings modern ideas, they could really create a collective in the surrounding barangays and barrios that would pay the farmers a fair price for their coffee. That coffee can be marketed as an artisanal coffee, which I imagine would fetch a great price in Western countries. The Indonesians and Malaysians have already figured this out with their coffee plantations, and in the last 10 years I’ve noticed Vietnamese coffee brands available in regular American supermarkets as well.
Hmm, these stories remind me of an anecdote in the defunct AntiPinoy blog where a Filipino gardener refuses to use a lawnmower and takes longer using shears because “ser, this is what I am accustomed to”. An East German friend once told me that what holds Filipinos back is a certain hard-headedness. In fact, a certain hard-headedness is seen as strength by certain Filipinos, and new ways of doing things are called “incomplicated” (sic) or chechebureche.
Hell, if Bavaria where I live hadn’t been open to applying Benedictine modern methods of agriculture, they would still be using https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridge_and_furrow agriculture like the old Anglo-Saxons did. I once saw the archeological rests of such agriculture North of Munich, including a signpost describing how much work an entire village had to barely feed itself. And yes, there are Filipinos who still think going back to an Amorsolo idyll is possible, even if neither population density nor modern living standards still allow it. Of course the megacity model is even less sustainable, in fact it is sometimes almost sci-fi dystopia.
I used to read AntiPinoy and GRP quite a bit just to have a feel of what the reactionaries were saying, but it got tiresome after a while since they only offered anti-intellectual viewpoints and no real solutions besides bashing Filipinos. However that anecdote is apt with Filipinos.
I have a theory that while some of these habits may be endemic to the Filipino mindset shape by Filipino culture, some other causes may be remnants from the Spanish period. Since I’m fluent in Spanish and history is of interest to me, during my youthful travels to Mexico, Central America, and South America I noticed a pattern there as well. Here I’ll use the historical Spanish terms. The people who mostly descended from Indios, and to a large extent, mestizos, are quite hard headed, prone to recklessly having large families, consider doing things the hard way to be macho, while modernizing was seen as being weak and effeminate. Urbanites consisting of descendants of peninsulares and other European immigrant stock were more forward looking and open to change if it benefited them. To this day, in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela the leaders and educated people tend to be descended from majority peninsular or Europeans. The same is largely true for Brazil where until recently leaders were mostly descended from mazombos stock. Latin American countries that remained mostly Indio descended due to a lack of Spanish forts in those colonial territories are quite poor, except for Chile.
There is a lot that still comes from the Spanish period I believe, and a former colleague who took a sabbatical and traveled most of South America told me about how they do things in quirky ways there, though some are quite smart adaptations to difficult living conditions that work somehow, including systems to reserve seats for overland busses that start only when full, bit like jeepneys. I myself can be conservative at times, especially in private things. I am not as digitalized as my job in IT would suggest as I grew up in a time when brownouts and no water were common in the Philippines, so I prefer some stuff offline till I know it is reliable. Conservative as in change cautiously is different from reactionary meaning reject all change.
The indigenous mindset in Latin America is also a result of being the underdogs. For instance, I have been told that the infamous crab mentality is also quite prevalent among the people of the Andes, whose once proud culture was subjugated.
It is possible to bring people from a lack of confidence in learning new things to adaptation. This is something that I have learned in years of IT Consulting, which has to deal with users that reject the new software. One can’t be the high flying business consultant with them. This is why for instance I would accept a President Tulfo if he happens, because he is man enough to know when to call up lawyers or institutions to help his clients. He doesn’t have to prove he isn’t “bayot” by using violence. I am referring of course to the infamous Presidential debate where Duterte called Mar Roxas bayot for not using violence to solve the drug problem.
Possibly the main weakness of lambat-sibat was its long term approach, most certainly adopted from similar methods of the Bavarian State Police who coached PNP from 2009-2016. Getting to “buy-bust” is a long term thing but it ignored the street reality that drug pushers were a real danger to citizens not behind subdivision walls. Over here in Bavaria, the situation is different as criminals know that there is an efficient, modern police machinery. Had the liberals listened to the street, Duterte wouldn’t have had an issue to harp on. But they were too far.
I recall when I was still on Twitter that I tried to explain how conservatives and liberals can find common ground using the example of the drinking ban at the Munich central station. Drunks and people probably more than just drunk hanging out at the exits made life hard for people. Train stations, of course, are where a lot of people pass through or sometimes wait. Legally, you can’t just make people leave. The drinking ban basically refused the political tension after a 38 year old man of athletic build was beaten into a coma by drunks that looked very broken. LCPL_X will know about this kind of stuff that such people can be “feral” and unpredictable. Well, my attempt to discuss a real example was met with “deadma” by Filipino liberal Twitter. But this refusal to see other perspectives is so Filipino and extends to all camps and classes.
Humans are naturally resistant to change, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be a bit conservative in how we do things. I’m in the same boat, with a field in business and IT, yet quite conservative about how I consume information and media especially in this day and age of rampant misinformation. Reactionaries and radicals are always bad in my book since the former rejects all change while the latter demands immediate change yet they don’t have a plan to get there beside the regular mumbo jumbo about revolution.
In Latin America, there is a definite pattern of the economically stronger countries coalescing around centers of Spanish and Portuguese power in the New World, usually through the presence of a fort network and large colonial settlements. Of course we have Mexico, formerly the crown jewel of Nueva Espana, but there are also the countries who formerly constituted Gran Colombia, which both had large forts in the territory. Then there’s the Vice-royalty del Rio de la Plata, from which Chile and Argentina both descended, that had a powerful Spanish Navy presence. Interesting aside is that Bernardo O’Higgins, the liberator of Chile and Argentina had plans to conquer the Philippines and incorporate the islands into Chile. All the modern countries in between these territories are quite weak and economically unstable, with governments sadly quite similar to the Philippines.
Another observation is that Latin American countries that had already developed a strong sense of identity around ethnicity, ended up more intact and successful post independence. On the other side, the nations that had many ethnic groups due to being in bordering regions (Central America and Northern South America) that had national lines demarcated haphazardly are in the present day badly run since they still haven’t developed a strong identity around an idea or ethnicity. Those countries have a system of a strong man leader running a state capitalist or state socialist economy. The classic “banana republics,” to bring up early 20th century descriptions, but I digress.
Machismo is quite prevalent in Latin American culture, as is the worship of strong man figures. Actually the similarities are really striking in many areas of thinking and societal habits by the uneducated laboring class. Crude behavior is also present in politics, as exemplified by former President AMLO of Mexico, Chavez of Venezuela, Milei of Argentina. Citizens actually admire that behavior even more, because they feel a connection to someone that speaks and thinks how they do.
Moderates on the center-left and center-right have more in common than they think. Even slightly more left or right people may be included as well for their insight. Perhaps the attitude of deadma is prevalent due to Filipinos who are engaged in politics seeing things as others being “with or against” them. There is a large feeling of being locked into “teams” that I’ve noticed in Filipino politics, which causes a myopic thinking when it comes to the big picture. Politics are supposed to be a debate between how to compromise where each side can accept gaining most of what they want, at the sacrifice of their minor positions. Maybe this fracturing has gone on since the Revolution, when in the past even the revolutionaries had stark and sometimes violent disagreements on basic principles and how to attain those goals.
Teams or tribes or fandoms seem to be the natural state of Philippine politics, and if one is to go by Chemrock’s analysis of the Flor Contemplacion case in https://joeam.com/2020/05/04/policy-and-moral-distortions-in-the-philippines/ the sense of morality extends only to those perceived as part of the collective, the “kami” and “kapwa” as opposed to the “iba”, so possibly it isn’t principles.
https://joeam.com/2023/11/16/change-org-petition-for-doc-iggy/ this article was given to me by a former Pisay batchmate who happens to be “Pink” even as our high school and elementary (in UPIS and Ateneo respectively) school classmate Doc Iggy was very much a DDS, but I was wondering if any of those who see injustice in what was done to Leila de Lima will see his case as unjust. Well, mostly deadma from the Pink crowd, I’m not disappointed, I expected it.
The behavior is the same from toxic fandoms where it is very obvious and even comedic up to political groups where it can be tragic. There are some true believers in Christianity, a few true believers in democracy and the rest treat every new thing like Cebuana Queen Juana treated the Santo Niño after being baptized in Magellan’s time, as new idols to dance around. Or dance with like they do in the Sinulog, though that is a cool kind of syncretic worship with pagan and Christian elements. In politics, it isn’t funny, especially not tokhang human sacrifices.
Justice is a human right that should be afforded to all regardless of politics, religious beliefs, or group affiliation. That’s the idea anyway, of Lady Justice being “blind.”
This brings back my memory of the Christine Silawan slay case in Metro Cebu some years ago. As I usually stay with friends in the nearby settlements in Bankal, Lapu-Lapu City, I unfortunately had the experience of stumbling across the scene in the vacant lot adjoining Bankal after a crowd had gathered while on my way to palengke. Now, I didn’t know Silawan personally but I had seen her around previously since she lived in the neighboring settlement.
What followed was a great injustice, with the PNP maliciously fingering first the brothers Jonas and Junry Bueno, minor drug pushers from Northern Cebu, who were subsequently victims of PNP EJK related to the case. Afterward, the PNP accused Renren Llenes, a tricycle driver who had obsessively stalked Silawan, going as far as posing as a teenage boy to send her messages. As someone familiar with that barangay, it was clear to all of us that the real culprit was the selosong teenage boyfriend of Silawan, “John Doe,” who committed the slay and flaying of the young girl’s face. But of course, the boy’s mother had connections to the local PNP station chief as well as the mayor of Lapu-Lapu City and thus got off scot-free, while the girl was slut-shamed for simply being an attractive young lady who got unwanted attention. To this day, everyone in barangay Bankal knows who committed the murder, but have accepted that justice is useless. The incriminating FB messages and CCTV recordings magically “disappeared.” This feeling is just sadly multiplied across the Philippines.
And as you said, even in issues such as injustice, people sorted themselves into opposing tribes and refused to change their opinions even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Funny observation about Sinulog, which has direct connections to Hara Juana! I’ve tried to explain to Cebuanos many times that Sinulog is in fact not an ancient fiesta, having only originated in the 1980s. I still remember the time before the costumes were not adopted yet. The costume design isn’t even a native Cebuano costume, but designed by the modern pageantry committee in the late 2000s based on native costumes of American Natives and African natives to market towards foreign tourism. Everyone Cebuano seems to firmly believe that everything Sinulog-related is in fact their true heritage now though. Now the “tradition” of Sinulog-copycats has spread across to Negros and Bohol, and even across the Bohol Sea to Bisaya areas in Mindanao.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Christine_Dacera This case was also weird, with Sal Panelo of all people saying this:
“You don’t go on a crusade for justice for a crime that hadn’t even taken place, punishing innocent people along the way. That’s wrong. My goodness!”
Or the https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiong_murder_case where a Spanish mestizo was convicted on more than flimsy evidence was also extremely strange.
Well, justice as a human right obviously isn’t a concept in many a Filipino mind.
It is more often I guess retribution and sometimes even sacrifice of innocents.
Perhaps what’s needed is an independent justice system similar to the US Federal police agencies (principally FBI) and an effective national Court. Here in the States the federal authorities hold ultimate power over local agencies, though Trump tried to embed his sycophants during his term. The Filipino system just allows too much corruption at the local level due to low salaries and lack of rotation of officials, while the national leaders don’t enforce accountability.
I’ve listened to other voices during my travels where some have relayed observations that the common Filipino demands sacrificial lambs from time to time in all aspects of society — celebrities, justice, leaders both community and national — to feel more justified in their own moral superiority, regardless of the sacrificed victim was right or wrong. Just like in the DDS EJK cases, often the mob justice tore down the victim yet when a member of the accusatory group becomes a victim themselves, the new victim and their family are immediately cast out by their former allies.
we area low trust society. After not going out of the country the whole Duterte administration what I almost forgot was how a high trust society works and it is really lower stress. Low IQ and Low Trust is a bad combination.
Education and Values formation is key.
Creating bigger and bigger circles of trust is the slow way we can try to go against this malaise.
I don’t think they’re cornering the market here, but INC folks here i noticed tend to own a bunch of care facilities, from wards of states to old people homes who need little care to a lot of care, even dementia Alzheimer. wards of states tend to be mongoloids to sever autism but not necessarily. so they hire fellow INC’ers. i say they’ve not cornered the market ala The Donut King cuz the market is huge and theres also a lot of Nigerians and other folks running their own operations now. the halfway house stuff which intakes folks from the Corrections (prisons) dept thats more runned by criminals themselves so i’m not counting that thats a totally different sphere. just the run of the mill care facilities, homes converted with extra rooms set up to expand lodgers. so as to what Joey is talking about i guess there is an industry that Filipinos are also expanding all thats needed is like the Donut King have a leader to siphon the service thru, eg. donuts is to customers as caregivers/care facilities is to customers. my suspect the initial circle of trust emanates from INC and expands, cuz i don’t think the Filipino caregivers/nurses are necessarily INC just either newcomers or TNTs but the facilities are mostly by INC. though we’re talking about 10 max pax so unless theres franchising i don’t think it is organized such so just a per family set up who happen to be INC. now Bobatime is think more Filipinos are getting into that mostly by young Filipinos with rich parents here, who went to UCs and tell their parents hey I have an idea for all that money you guys saved up and then Bobatime. weirdly Bobatime and Yoshinoya, one’s Korean the other is Japanese i think, could be Korean own too. probably the ease to franchis, i dunno. my point why not open a care facility franchise and corner the whole thing.
@Karl
Do you know Budgetbabe well enough to ask if she could write a guest article here?
@JPilipinas
Unfortunately, not that close.
I must also add that Gian gave a good primer on Budget 101.
As to budgetbabe, in the past, Irineo had a number of interactions with her.
heto, latest scholarship offering for brainy dependents of ofws. there is only a small window and roughly a month for applicants to apply.
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1962095/owwa-urges-ofws-dependents-to-avail-of-scholarship-programs
Just noodling the numbers, it would take about 80 billion pesos per year to give all public junior high and high school kids tablet computers (3 year lifespan of hardware). That is pretty onerous on itself against a 600 billion annual budget. You’d have to eliminate 2,222 teachers to offset the expense. That also seems onerous but it is not when you consider that amounts to about 1 teacher at each campus. And we have not considered the reduction of textbooks and other paper.
Then you get to the cost of internet gear and bandwidth and you realize you have to tap private firm profits (the telcos) to make this possible.
That leads to the advantage of decentralizing management of schools because localities can source private funds that would stay in the community. All schools will not be equal, of course. Some will be way better than they are now. Now all kids are held back.
Big challenge, for sure, but I see no other way to solve the resource problem. You have to change the structure. Target reducing teachers by 5,000 and get on with it.
Singapore provides all secondary students with laptops. It raises issues because they require tracking monitors on the computers. So there are certainly new lessons and disciplines that have to be considered. It would be good to study their financial justification (teacher reductions, etc).
This was the thing that was frustrating me. The issues are clear for anyone who tries to sit down and think about it seriously. That all of the solutions are non-solutions with this gargantuan problem just means nobody wants to tackle it seriously. They are engaging in fantasy thinking. Solve this without rocking the boat or being more creative.
Yes. Where have all the bold people gone?
One such project is the Gilas initiative for Internet literacy and access.
“Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (GILAS) is a multi-sectoral initiative that is composed mainly of corporations and concerned nonprofit institutions that realize the need to invest in bridging the digital divide among the nation’s public high school students.
Filipino students learn under the most difficult of circumstances. The Philippine government budget for education is not enough to provide for adequate educational facilities and other learning resources. This is why only a handful of Filipino students are given the privilege of a college education, as only a small minority are able to afford one”
https://lcc.deped.gov.ph/students/gearing-up-internet-literacy-and-access-for-students-2/
Thanks, Karl. I couldn’t get the site to load up fully. It appears to be a statement recognizing the problem, but I didn’t get to any programs or projects to see how they propose getting computer literacy to all high school students. It is a project of the Literary Coordination Council that seems to me to be all form and no substance, on the web site. There are evidently local literary council representatives that do something. It is an area that would go away, saving expenses, if education were decentralized to provinces and cities.
Hoping this is no nothing Burger. In the vernacular ” puro porma wala naman ibubuga”.
The problem with initiatives are mentioned above and lots of times in this space of ours: ningas cogon, crab mentality etc
Which in fairness were the main arguments of getrealphilippines.
The best project reporting was done under Aquino’s Build work. You could go see the budget, the lender, and the progress for each item in the pipeline. Here there is no simple statement of what’s going on. So many bureaucratic units writing this or that. I go nuts.
I fully agree.
The FB page of the GILAS was updated last 2012. Maybe because of our basketball program with the same name.
But here is a snapshot of PH digital literacy. And the article points to another article on the Filipino Literacy.
https://www.pids.gov.ph/details/fact-friday-on-digital-literacy-skills-of-filipinos
@Karl, it really doesn’t say much other than that digital literacy is a problem. It links to another note that says Filipino kids are comprehensively literate. Yet comparatives with other countries say they perform poorly. I view this as bureaucratic tap dancing, the kind of thing that is done to show action when there is none.
That is why I love this “solutions” series of Gian. We do not have to be a government think tank and be always wary of rocking the boat or stepping on toes.
Joe, re GILAS, perhaps this can still help: https://joeam.com/2015/09/27/nationalize-the-telcos/#comment-138680
Thanks. That suggests awareness of the issue. Talks about elementary school, not high school. And that program to provide computers got hung up with hardware/supplier issues I’m oretty sure. I don’t think there is an active program to give computer skills because of the enormity of the cost and technology complications. Lots of bureaucratic blabber. Color me cynical.
Now I remember you talking about the program and whatever happened to it, now, almost ten years after, here we go again.
Karl,
Irineo mentioned of “quick wins” just now.
Please see if this can help:
https://joeam.com/2015/09/29/the-national-budget-as-cake-the-suggested-algorithm-of-mar-roxas/#comment-138992
x-
“all measurable” reminded me of
“What gets measured gets done.”
-x
Popoy’s article.
Thanks for this I7sharp.
Another variation of measurable is a quote from Kaplan and Norton on their book “The Balanced Scorecard and it said: You can not manage what you can not measure.”
Guesstimates or guessing can only get hit and miss results.
Most of my recent (last 10 years) experiences in Philippines has been based around Cebu rather than Manila, with occasional trips to Mindanao. Over the last 25 years though, I’ve noticed a marked decline in literacy. I would say 25 years ago many people I met who completed SHS were able to speak/write English, Tagalog, and their local dialect/language. However nowadays when meeting young learners among the informal settler communities I often work with (FB, IG, and now TikTok generation), and realizing that they are not proficient in English, but their grasp of written Tagalog and the local language is shaky as well. As I’m not based permanently in Philippines, have you noticed this as well?
On topic of digitization of learning resources, this is a great idea but I think it just won’t work in Philippines at the moment. Having reliable internet is difficult without having a fiber or cable line installed. 4G/5G data is expensive and signal is spotty. Then there’s the issue I always had when I stayed for extended periods — trucks hitting and cutting the haphazardly placed lines, then the days waited to have it fixed.
How about standardization of textbooks and the government ensuring enough textbooks/materials are provided? A lot of materials change slowly enough that only occasionally updating textbooks/materials like back in the US would suffice. Any other materials can be supplemented by handouts.
My other worry about digitization is that many less educated Filipinos have a high propensity to believe what’s online, even if untrue. A decision would need to be made whether to have the tablet/laptop locked down for studying purposes only, or allow general access for other/family purposes like poor American students who are provided laptops/chromebooks.
Excellent points.
Hi, Joey, good of you to stop by. I don’t have a feel for the quality of education these days but the Philippines’ enduring poor performance on global rankings is consistent with your observation. I do notice that there is little social protest activity from college kids, other than some leftist ranting and field work. No protests of corruption or EJKs or EDCA or anything. Which is consistent with your comparison of family differences between the Philippines and Viet Nam. Disengaged.
Thanks Joe! On the subject of Filipino college protests, which used to champion many social issues, I find that sadly the current generation of students have failed here.
Mostly in my observation, current college students and youth mostly just believed and repeated what Western far-leftists spout online (Instagram, TikTok), even though they can’t recognize the fact that many of these issues don’t affect Filipinos at all.
I’ve probably done more field work and social building among the urban poor and provinces in Philippines than many of the last couple generations of Filipino college students… Certainly there are groups students can join. I did most of my work through Catholic groups.
Yes, in rereading my response I note that I erred because youth have protested EDCA. But they miss the opportunity to take a loud position on China or corruption/patronage, the latter of which is THE reason for enduring poverty. President Marcos Senior really destroyed the nation’s moral fiber, I think, among other misdeeds. Then social media fed carbohydrates into the diet, sugar by a different name, and lacking nutrients for brainpower.
The main through-line of what I’ve heard on the ground regarding EDCA sentiment among the youth is:
All these sentiments are, of course, incorrect. I’ve had a chance to study the EDCA, and it’s structured more along the lines of American base-sharing agreements with Germany, UK, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea. If anything, it’s actually a much better agreement than what KSA, Japan, SK has since the agreement explicitly states that the US will spend the funds to rebuild the bases, which will be wholly owned by AFP, and the bases will also be stocked with American equipment (aka weapons) that AFP can access. In my view, a respectful and mutually beneficial agreement among allies.
On WPS — I find it ludicrous any suggestion that Philippines should be compelled to negotiate a bilateral agreement with PRC. This would just be falling right into the PRC’s trap, and has been the tool with which PRC has used to neuter other country’s sovereign rights. Any fight should be to gather broader international support via UN and multi-lateral agreements with like-minded Pacific democratic states.
The last argument: asking help from Japan, Australia, South Korea to uphold Filipino interests. Indeed, these three nations have national interests regarding trade and FON in the SEA neighborhood, as well as concerns connecting to PRC influence and the Taiwan issue. But anyone who deploys this argument fails to recognize that amount of work the US (especially Biden and his State Department) has done to facilitate these new partnerships.
Within these arguments that a large number of youth believe, there is but two culprits in my opinion. The first culprit is the Duterte faction’s pervasive propaganda. The second culprit are PRC influence campaigns both online and laundered through friendly Filipino outlets. Just the same old anti-imperialist tropes seeded by the NPA and adjacent organizations, then sloganized by far-leftist Filipino youth from time immaterial.
On the national moral fiber, one can argue that the PRC under Mao also destroyed traditional Han Chinese values as well with the Cultural Revolution that was Mao’s reaction and excuse to his failures of the Great Leap Forward. Friends reporting on friends, teachers reporting on students, students reporting on teachers, the wanton destruction of intellectualism and moral values that had been celebrated in Han Chinese culture for millennia.
It could be said that Marcos Sr. achieved something similar as he descended into megalomania and imposed Martial Law. The same friends vs friends, teachers vs students, the easy red-tagging and accusations that persist to this day in Filipino society. The most shameful fact about these historical events is that in many cases, conniving individuals took advantage of the hysteria to mark their enemies for punishment or elimination, nothing more nothing less.
Which brings to the subject of EJK or tokhang. I had the unfortunate experience of being witness to a few incidents while staying with friends in settler communities in Mactan and Talisay. While I don’t doubt that DDS started off as lawless actions in Davao by a law-disrespecting local dynasty who imagined themselves as a Filipino John Wayne, the tokhang I observed and have stories conveyed to me are all apparently grudge killings between barangay rivals. When the politicians and justice herself is corrupt, humans will just need an excuse to follow the example shown.
What disturbed me the most about witnessing tokhang, was the fact that the multitude of passersby, even children, will gather to gawk, take photos of the corpse, take “souvenirs” from the crime scene as if it’s a normal thing to do in a civilized society. And of course, to blame the victim, until their own family or friend becomes a victim, whereupon others will blame them.
Yet with all these societal ills, the youth seem to be more engrossed in their mobile devices, as if they, and the society around them are numb to such occurrences that would not be seen as normal in other countries. I’ve seen children even as 2 years old being addicted to social media, with many children when I asked what they’d like to be when they grow up, their aspiration is “social media influencer.” As bad as social media algorithms have affected the youth of the West, it’s pertinent to remember that it was in the Philippines where new algorithms are often deployed and tested (e.g. Cambridge Analytica). It’s quite rare for youth to read books as a past time nowadays, and I’m often shocked at the level of reading comprehension of students I’ve met from top Cebu universities. It’s no wonder that once the Filipino youth rise up to university, they only can protest whatever flavor movement is trending online, even if it has nothing to do with Philippines. Issues affecting the Philippines that require the youth to rise up to the occasion are forgotten.
Re the WPS, I wrote some stuff: https://joeam.com/2020/09/14/philippines-from-the-edge-to-the-middle-of-things/
The historical perspective is a bit long-winded, but I do postulate that the Filipino mindset when it comes to maritime stuff is shaped by
a) it’s relative isolation around 1521 as technology then meant it was a weeks sail away from Saigon (even as there was trade with Annam and Siam) and the weaponry then was just a few cannons at best, so outside mattered less
b) it’s having been protected by colonial powers and even after independence until 1991 by US bases.
Thus, no real foreign policy or defense mindset could evolve.
I kind of finish the article with some options for the WPS issue and suggest an approach of US backing plus finding a deal with Vietnam as the other major state along that sea – and jointly brokering a treaty with the regional stakeholders and superpowers.
Of course, that would involve statecraft at a high level the Philippines does NOT possess yet and has never really worked on possessing.
They barely know their SEA neighbors. They make the same mistake towards Sokor and Japan – and sometimes China – as they did toward the USA. It is a mark of an immature nation to either over admire or over hate a more powerful country.
BTW, tokhang had its antecedents in the Japanese era Makapili, and spying on one another was terrible in that period. Many of the pro-Japanese forces in 1943 were primarily anti-US, most especially the likes of General Ricarte, who left after Aguinaldo was defeated. He lived in HK and then in Japan and came back with Japanese troops. His followers in the 1910s, Ricartistas, were similar to Dutertistas in often being tough guy street types. There is stuff by Prof. Rey Ileto on this. Seems he even sees the Makapili as the true Katipunan heirs. 🤪
Thanks Irineo. At your previous suggestion, I’ve been reading through your and Karl’s old posts (I’m halfway through).
I agree with all your points here regarding foreign policy in earlier time periods. As I’m a Spanish speaker thanks to Spanish being a major language here in the States, I’ve also had the opportunity to travel and do humanitarian work in Latin American countries. My observations there is that the stronger and more cohesive Latin American countries had already developed a strong identity prior to their independence from Spain, usually based on the pre-Spanish dominant culture.
Which brings us back to the Philippines. Despite the massaged history that students are taught in Filipino elementary and high schools, or even college, to those who had studied Filipino history (I’m just an amateur here, admittedly) it’s clear that there was no cohesive identity at the time of the Philippine Revolution. Rather than embracing that truth and developing a new national identity based on shared history or an idea that would be palatable to the various regional groups, I find that it was unfortunate Philippine nationhood was based on Katipunan ideals.
On WPS issues, China’s modus operandi is always to split opposing parties because divided everyone will fall. This is why I’m a strong supporter of the US’s current efforts to unify the Pacific Nations. The Philippines really has an opportunity here to be the linchpin and leading state if Filipino leaders can educate the people on the benefits. Now is the time to accomplish the pivot outward since NPA has been largely neutralized and BARMM is onboard.
Actually, one trait that endlessly annoys me is that the Philippine government needs to bring benefits to the equation rather than simply trying to associate with nations perceived as more powerful/rich. I believe Philippines has many benefits to give in a mutual relationship, first off a large population of young and mostly idle people among the lower economic classes that could work in factories exporting products. Even better if the exported products have Filipino value-added to it. This would involve of course reforming foreign investment somehow to attract said foreign investment. Manufacturing and exporting “Made in Philippines” products beats begging other nations for money and grants (which essentially what BBM is doing in SK, Japan, Australia, just as Duterte did in PRC, Russia), and will plant the seed of national pride.
Interesting aside on Ricarte’s connection to modern tokhang. It seems that the common thread is that all these men were traitors to their own country, because they believed that they alone should hold power, even if they must seize it through violent means.
Local politics is brutal, I agree, or not even politics, just ego. I lived in a small village in northern Mindanao for a time and experienced the hostilities you recite. Very tribal. As for the US, yes, those “beliefs” are really insecurities turned inside out. If they accepted and respected that Filipinos are masters of their own destiny, all those incorrect beliefs would dissolve. But they can’t get there because they help confirm that most Filipinos don’t know what that feels like, to be a master of your own destiny. Filipinos are indentured to the Filipinos they elect. Not the US.
Local and Natl pols: I do not know if it is a reverse Messianic complex where you are always looking for a savior and if that savior is a dud in your POV you crucify him or her out of disappointment.
As a fellow American that loves and believes in the Philippines, I share your exact sentiments. Outside of the Filipino intelligentsia, I’ve found that many are more willing to blame others rather than to take introspection within themselves and the leaders they elect. After all, it’s easier to blame someone else or to have an attitude of “bahala na” where God or a politician will save someone. But a people and nation can change while still respecting and honoring the culture. I believe Irineo has shared many examples from his observations in Germany, and I personally have observed nations resolving to change in my travels of Eastern Europe.
Yes, I agree. The nation has been treading the fine line between success and muddling around for years, I suppose its religious base providing an essentially inert goodness, or innate even. But the pragmatics of greed and patronage keep it just below the success line.
I have argued in the past that a Filipino’s innate goodness, trusting nature, and ability to forgive so easily is exactly why the Filipino becomes hoodwinked by greedy and malignant politicians again and again. There can be forgiveness, however it should be “forgive but not forget.”
Re Eastern Europe, I have observed how Romania has historical parallels of at least a part of the country enduring (Turkish) colonial rule for centuries, dictatorship (Antonescu, Ceausescu) for much longer, AND a difficult struggle for democracy after ousting the dictatorship with outrightly corrupt and populist leaders making for a cynical populace, yet they do have a consistent and lasting anti-corruption movement that sprung out of the old democratic movement and is supported by Romanians abroad (another parallel is a huge percentage of the population working abroad albeit mostly NOT overseas) unlike Philippine OFWs who are highly skeptical of what Joe calls the decent opposition to say the least. Two possible differences:
1) Romanians for all difficult history want to be like the rest of Europe and see themselves as Europeans while Filipinos outside the old middle class might believe certain ways of doing things are “para sa puti lang” (for “whites” aka Westerners only) so “not applicable”.
2) Romanians abroad often want to build businesses and not lose their money to corruption, while Filipinos abroad might just strive to be “malakas” aka have pull with the powerful.
Well,there is EU money that has helped Romania so the Pinoy argument “mayayaman naman sila” aka they’re rich which sees rich as something inherent to some people and not as something one can achieve might come up.
In sum, Filipino thinking seems to usually be self-limiting. Those who make it abroad are often seen as “mayayaman naman” meaning to be milked if they allow it, not as to be emulated.
Irineo, Romania is a great example, as are Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, three countries I’ve had the pleasure of spending a lot of time in, of the path the Philippines can take to escape endemic corruption and build democracy.
You’ve hit the problem right on the head. Whereas other countries felt fed-up of the endless cycle of mediocrity and corruption, then used outside foreign grants for the betterment of their country, I’ve watched Philippine leaders again and again “beg” for foreign aid only to squander it back at home.
Does this have something to do with the culture of “hingi?” While my first visits I was a minor, by the time I became a young man following my college years at Berkeley, it has become a routine that if I visit the neighbors will inevitably find out and line up to “hingi.” And when someone doesn’t give, those same borderline prostrating neighbors will “marites” behind one’s back.
I’ve seen too many people who have been designated and pressured to become the family breadwinner, or even the breadwinner of the entire “tribe.” Some give because they want to hambog and feel like a hari, but the vast majority seem to feel resigned to being milked as an ATM, while those who are benefited sit idly by waiting for the next notification from Western Union or GCash. Even more incredulously, province girls who barely can speak English either go out on their own initiative or through pressure of their parents to find foreigners to become the ATM for a few months, or if they’re lucky, the savior of the entire family.
It really reflects in the foreign policy too. Imagine with all the free grants that came in prior to Duterte, and are starting to come in now that BBM has normalized relationships somewhat, much goodness can be done in the Philippines. Smart investment for agricultural reform once and for all, investment in new manufacturing to create Filipino jobs.
Hi!
You remind me of one late great commenter in TSH, Edgar Lores because of your bullet points.
Your ideas are also a breath of fresh air.
I am a little guilty of the last bullet point about Japan, SK and Australia completely forgetting the adage of No permanent friends only permanent interests.
On that quote by Lord Palmerston or Henry John Temple it goes something like this.
“Therefore I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.”
Now on that bullet point four, I think the sentiments are build alliances with Aukus plus Japan. That is my take. So AUKUS has US in it so US was not bypassed in this school of thought.
But some do have a school of thought that is not so fond of US.
I am in the Maritime League Forum composed of the Maritime community including Navy and Coast Guard Admirals.
There was this comment yesterday that US practices Liminal warfare or Ambiguous warfare. Then I quoted that quote above.
There also this comment about not only be wary of China, but sorry to say this but also VN because they might be influencing MN to go against us.
One said that ASEAN practices non-interference so that is far fetched, then I interjected that it is common knowledge that in the Mindanao conflict there was Malaysian involvement to name one such interference whether welcomed or not.
Thank you Karl, I’m humbled but I am not on Edgar Lores’ level. I’m but a simple American observer who has invested care and love for the Philippines for most of my life.
To add context to the foreign policy adage by former British PM 3rd Viscount Lord Palmerston, at the time the British Empire enjoyed its height of political and global power, Pax Britannica, following the European great wars of the 19th century. By the time of Queen Victoria, under whom Lord Palmerston was one of many PMs, the British Empire did not face any serious threats to its power, having defeated France in the Napoleonic Wars, while the Russian Empire was constrained past the Balkans and the Caucasus.
I believe that while this quote refers to the theory of Balance of Power, the theory also has an assumption that the British Empire would negotiate from a position of strength. In other words, it may not apply to the Philippines as it did not apply any longer to the modern UK which has lost its pre-eminent position in the world compared to when Lord Palmerston made his famous speech.
In my view as an American, I will always advocate for policies that benefit the US. I would expect other countries to practice the very same, if that country’s leadership is smart. This view doesn’t preclude assisting allies and raising up countries that want to become allies or want to renew the bonds of alliance.
I find that one of the sad and unfortunate traits of many Filipinos that “boxes in” the capacity to broaden one’s thought is thinking in terms of “I want to be the best,” but also “There’s no way for me to achieve becoming great.” This probably explains why some Filipinos reach to foreign based stars who have some kind of Filipino descent, no matter how small, to look up to while ignoring the great talents and great minds right here at home. As Joe says, and I firmly believe, Filipinos have the capacity to become great, and in many ways Filipinos are already great! But it’s always better to constantly improve one’s self and one’s country to deal with a changing world. Taking a single step forward as small as it seems is still worth more than standing in one place, or god forbid, to take steps back.
Many thanks but I believe Henry Kissinger has his own version about Permanent interests.
The way to tweak it for PH is to always have PH National interests in mind.
From citizens to leaders.
Thanks
Personally I think Kissinger’s policy pushes set up the US for many of its current geopolitical problems.
I fully agree that Philippines interests should follow the Filipino people’s interest. I also believe despite a country having its own interest in mind, two or more countries can come together with mutual interests that benefit all. The post-WWII US alliance and economic network exemplifies this. I am convinced that with some good leadership and taking advantage of US help, the Philippines can become the next economic success story which would only benefit the Filipino people.
It was Kissinger who lobbied to have a friendly relationship with China.
He also had a controversial role in the Vietnam war, Last example, the MDT he gave opinions that made MDT ambiguous by design
You’re completely right here on these points.
Here in the States history has not remembered Kissinger particularly well. Kissinger subscribed to the realpolitik school of foreign policy, which I don’t particularly agree with. Personally I think there’s room to ensure both a nation’s sovereign interest while also not taking a maximalist view.
Going back to the focus on Philippines though, I was glad when Biden confirmed the US treaty obligation to the Philippines, as well the promise to Taiwan. I hope this will remain the US policy going forward.
Appreciate your insights.
Taking pictures nowadays of everything including children mauled by dogs, road rages or someone shooting another person…..for what?
I do not want to use the whataboutism card since we are focusing on PH even if it happens every where else, that was my mistake in dealing with Irineo and even benign0 of GRP before.
RE: Youth’s opinion on Duterte.
I had a nephew from Davao who visited me lastweek, a 22 year old college student.
He is against Duterte’s foreign policy, but admired his local policies. I did not debate, I just wanted to know an opinion of a College student from Davao. I don’t know if many of them have the same sentiments.
RE: youth protests on China.
I found a 2024 link.
https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2024/04/philippines-activists-to-protest-outside-chinese-embassy-in-makati-city-metro-manila-from-0900-april-9
For me it no longer matters if they are leftists, nationalists, or whatnot, but that is just me
I hope this works … that you can see Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo (sort of) on the cover of the New Yorker.
I read the interview of Olivia in The New Yorker. I went back there when you mentioned that Olivia and Taylor are on the cover. I imagined caricatures of Olivia and Taylor hugging each other (Olivia is a big Taylor Swift fan). You got me there, i7sharp. I failed to look at the T-shirt graphics. I should have known. Millennials and Gen Zs often wear concert tees. This picture is actually an accurate depiction of my son’s family: iWatch, iPhone, Stanley cup, concert tees, fedora…
this was a good article, gets you in the mind set of Chinese students here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/how-chinese-students-experience-america
Excellent read, LCPLX. Thank you for sharing.
A lot of FilAms who immigrated in the US in the 70’s and 80’s avoided mentioning Marcos’ name, like their Chinese counterparts of Xi’s, for the very same reason: memories of unchecked power and punishment. There was a time in PH when Filipinos whispered when talking about the Marcos family for the fear of being arrested or killed.
I learned about this just now (a few seconds ago):
NERVE
https://thenerve.co/?pnespid=ou3Pn5hR.qrU9qXrpUKx56IK4hUPpjJ4h1dyFlUu7F2VE.lYDLCgQb2iQxa1tP2UgjUsqXbtaA
Also about
https://www.cocomilkstudio.com/
NERVE is applied data and human intelligence, as I read the first page. Modernized planning, project work, and marketing. They incorporate influencers in the scheming, and I’d think a political candidate could benefit from thir services, if they are truly good at it. Depending on the price, of course.
An insightful analogy of Animal Farm’s characters to the 2016-2020 Trump administration’s sycophants. This could also apply to the Du30 and Marcos’ administrations’ cast of characters. (Did you know you can write an X article if you bought a blue check?).
https://x.com/realTuckFrumper/status/1815034191937221068
Joe Biden is not going to seek re-election! I am heartbroken.
There’s only Newsom now. Harris has to bow out too. she has zero chance. Newsom at least has some chance here, especially with all stream of consciousness speeches by Trump who’s not leveraging the assassination attempt with humility. JD Vance is suspect. not a lot GOP trust him. so has to be Newsom, JP. has to be.
@LCPLX Joe endorsed Kamala and that is a wise decision since it will be less of a technical hassle to Democrats. Newsom could go toe to toe with JD Vance and win “bigly.” Joe will be remembered as one of the BEST president the US ever had. He is a selfless and benevolent American patriot. He chose the country over ambition.
Joe Biden was pushed out, JP. I don’t think he feels he chose the country over ambition. there was a mutiny. and they pushed him out. although the money going dry i’m sure had a lot to do with that calculus. we’ll see if Harris steps down too, if she steps down then that would really be choosing the country over ambition. cuz she can’t win. theres ambition and theres reality.
Joe’s campaign has 100+M to Trump’s 102M which just got there after the RNC. A chunk of Trump’s campaign and fundraising dollars also go to pay his enormous legal fees.
Not even 10% of the high ranking Democrats joined the opposition to his reelection. 90% is a whopper of support in politics. It came down to Joe and his family to decide. They made the decision. For a lot of Indies and Dems, it is the ideas and values that Biden and his campaign symbolizes (democracy, women’s reproductive rights, economy, etc) that makes them vote Blue. It is not a personality politics but a democratic values driven decision.
I believe that Joe Biden is a decent human being and a stellar public servant. I believe his and his family’s decision is about the country. I believe that as much as he wants a second term, he gallantly passed the baton to Kamala because the propaganda about his age and the perception of his diminished acuity will not go away.
Here you are again with your cavalier attitude. Please look into sensitivity training. Thank you.
I’m not just making this up, JP. its in the news. Biden feels pushed out, thus not having a choice precludes said decision. as to the money running out, maybe they were forecasting said depleting i dunno. i’m just assuming that factored in the decision to bow out. theres politics and theres rhetoric. the politics of it is what you’re supposed to be looking at, not the feel good statements. now Harris has to convince everyone she can beat Trump. and based on pass performance, polling, hell blacks don’t even like her cuz of all that Willie Brown stuff. she just has no chance. that’s reality.
So it’s a fact when it is in the news? “According to unnamed sources” news are best called opinions. Do you think the media always tell the truth? You can’t gish gallop me, LCPLX.
okay. what’s the likelier scenario here, JP, that Biden gracefully bowed out of the next presidency due to selflessness and benevolence and patriotism, because remember he didn’t want to bow out as of this morning pro-Biden mouthpieces were on the Sunday talks; OR that forces within his party pushed him out? thus he had no choice. the likeliest is that he was pushed out, so now you have to factor in the emotions involved to being pushed out, as in mutiny, and those sources and what they said would align, correct? analysis has to be holistic. I don’t blame Biden for being pissed off even towards Hillary or Obama, these are emotions that would be normal. doesn’t make him a lesser person. but making him out to be some saint or martyr or hero, now that’s propaganda. too much propaganda means bad analyses are incoming, I think the Harris incoming propaganda will guarantee the Trump presidency. see the danger there. honesty is the best course here not mythbuilding. Dems pushed out Joe (even if it took so long the correct course of action), now Dems have to choose the best candidate. IMHO its Newsom.
also factor in the way this all was announced. he doesn’t wanna drop out, JP. he’s been forced to.
All you have is third party opinion. This is what is called tsismis. Give it a rest till Biden personally issue his statement. Clay Travis is the replacement of Rush Limbaugh as a conservative mouthpiece so what he is to say is null and void to me.
But do you think a letter on Sunday afternoon is the stuff of choosing country over ambition or more like someone forced his hand, what in Spanish is called contra-gusto, JP? forget that Clay Travis is saying it for a minute and weigh it out. usually things of this magnitude is done more officially. this was a surprise even to his staff. i watched the Sunday talks this morning, there were no indications. hell, Biden could still say “I didn’t write that damned letter!!!” at this point if you really think about it.
LCX,
JP already asked you to give it a rest.
She is feeling bad, don’t rub it in.
Remember your article about a lost buddy and I made an insensitive comment about suicide which until now, I regret because, I too have mental issues. All we are asking is a little empathy from you.
karl, i never wrote an article about a lost buddy. but i think in the commentary you mentioned suicide and I told you about a buddy that died by way of suicide and why I tend to be pro right to die cuz he and others should’ve died in hospitals and not alone by their own hands which if you think about it is just lonely and scary, i think thats how the conversation unfolded. but I never post for therapy , karl, I add to others posts with facts opinions articles experiences, etc. etc. and I think you’re reading JP’s: “Give it a rest till Biden personally issue his statement.” she’s just saying wait til Biden does an appearance. eg. not to jump to conclusions, which she’s right. i just like jumping to conclusions. theres nothing to be sad about, Biden had to go sooner or later, karl. i’m just pushing back as to how that decision came about.
ps. i just read Newsom endorsed Harris. so looks like its gonna be Harris/Buttigieg now. that’s a guaranteed lost. swing states will not swing towards that hot mess. i’ll shut up now , karl. Newsom shoulda fought for this.
Oh I was thinking of Go Gently into the night article. I will reread it.,
My bad, nothing specific in the article itself.
Ok! On to the next comment about a different topic.
thanks, karl. i’ve forgotten about this. but you do mention an earlier interaction about suicide in there so maybe there we talked about it. but yeah for sure no articles about suicide, though that article does mention suicide i have to read it again but more about dying than suicide i think. like whats a good death.
An Education Reboot?
https://bilyonaryo.com/2024/07/22/education-reboot-business-group-cheers-marcos-reform-agenda/business/
“In his third State of the Nation Address, Marcos outlined plans to enhance education quality, increase budget allocations, address the digital divide, support teacher welfare, promote innovation in learning, and expand opportunities through Technical Vocational Education and Training.”
I will echo what Joe said about the Gilas program: “Color me cynical”
But there is always the “cynical optimist” in me.