“One small step for Filipinos”
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
Recent discussions here at the blog cite the reality that the Philippine governmental process, and citizen reactions to it, range from dysfunctional to toxic. It is such a mess that it cannot be “cured” by simple masterstrokes. It is also true that things work better here than in the US these days. So we should count our blessings rather than our pimples.
And we should sit back, fold our arms over our chest, and contemplate. Not rush about screaming like Sara Duterte or Chicken Little.
The path to progress, to wealth, to health, and to happiness consists of ground covered by individual steps, one after the other, leading to, I don’t know what. The Holy Grail I suppose.
What are some of the steps that can be taken, that are achievable, and would help Filipinos live better?
I’d welcome your ideas.
Here is my starter kit:
- Teach sex education in grade seven so fewer women have their lives defined by having babies at 15. I’ll write a blog about this soon.
- Harness rainwater to provide electricity, drinking and agricultural water in dry areas, and slow storm runoff. Make it a national commitment, a big project, and track it with clear public metrics.
- Require businesses with 50 or more employees to prepare career path opportunities for workers and ban nepotistic hires and promotions. Move employment decisions from entitlement to merit.
These seem doable to me. Not easy, no, for sure. But doable.
What steps would you recommend, to improve the lives of Filipinos?
_________________________
Cover photo produced by Word Press image generator using the article as the prompt.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
I will go with my oldies
Make people’s initiatives way simpler.
Mineral recovery from landfills and wastewater
doing things baby steps is no way small thinking
Peoples’ initiatives could help but I think if government were competent there would be less need. It would be interesting to see how it would roll out if simplicity were adopted. A side benefit could be more citizen engagement, and better voting. Having said that, I’m now all for this proposal.
Mineral recovery goes along with my water capture as modern initiatives to make better use of what we have, naturally. Totally agree with this initiative.
Hi JoeAm and others. Am not sure at this point how to respond to the article without hopping on to one of the threads, in this case that of Karl Garcia, the first one. So “bahala na.”
JoeAm wrote in the article: “Recent discussions here at the blog cite the reality that the Philippine governmental process, and citizen reactions to it, range from dysfunctional to toxic.”
I noticed in reading through most of the threads, the “doable” suggestions seem to involve government in a major way. If you have a government that is “dysfunctional to toxic,” doesn’t that make the suggestions not really doable?
I think one of the best efforts I’ve seen was the Gawad Kalinga dream of Tony Meloto, who is now retired in a place in Batangas that I believe he calls “Paraiso.” I recall that he deliberately left as much of the government out of his vision and its implementation as he could because he felt that he could accomplish more that way. I suspect he was right.
I recently got a “report” from a lady who resides in the Philippines and was active in Gawad Kalinga. She is of course pleased with what the project accomplished, but she did acknowledge that if felt way short of the lofty goals it hoped to achieve by 2024. I am a fan, however, of the expression “Aim for the stars and you will at least reach the tree tops.” I think the tree tops that Gawad Kalinga reached were from pretty tall trees.
Another great achievement that still continues is the Hospital on Wheels of a certain Dr. Jim Sanchez. I’m on his mailing list and I have seen “before and after” pictures of surgeries that have been performed in his mission. Like Tony Meloto’s Gawad Kalinga, Dr. Sanchez appears to keep the government (dysfunctional and toxic) as far away as he possibly can. I believe he relies primarily on private funding.
I don’t give any internet links to both of these visions that have become realities in the Philippines. They can be easily found via Google.
Comments welcome.
Angat Buhay is also an initiative that finds its own ways to help. The government is impossibly inefficient in the Philippines. I saw an example, “close to home,” where it took two freaking years for a small barangay hall in Albay to receive funding to be built.
I seriously don’t know how the Philippine government can be reformed. Karl and Gian know more about its intricacies, but I doubt that the vision and competence for a revamp exist over there.
apparently tony meloto did not retire but resigned from gawad kalinga due to some concerns about alleged misconduct. he is summat facing court case regarding lasciviousness.
https://gk1world.com/os
To reconcile ineffective government with ideas about how to improve the Philippines, merely refer to your fondness for aiming for the stars to reach the tree tops.
Yes about the allegations brought against Meloto…meanwhile, Gawad Kalinga is still an example of an obviously doable “one small step.”
Aiming for sex education is the stars, and effective government is the tree top? 🙂
‘ad astra per aspera‘
translates: ‘to the stars through difficulties.’
This saying captures the idea that achieving great goals often requires overcoming significant challenges. Its use as a motto highlights resilience, ambition, and the pursuit of excellence despite obstacles.
This saying might well be the motto of Pinks and every Filipino voter of goodwill. (NASA & Mr Ingalls won’t mind)
Ah, perfect, sonny. That’s the path.
Challenges:
To make such an initiative work, the following should be considered: policy interventions, financial incentives, technical support, & community engagement to overcome existing barriers and facilitate a transition toward a more resilient and water-secure future. Multisectoral collaboration is also important.💦💧
Excellent, gripzzz, that framework is important to success. Terrific.
been there, done that, ask our fellow filipinos. and now, they are seeing the follies of water privatisations, water for profits, service nada at palaging walang tubig. primewater the villar owned company apparently coped the most flak and as consumers asked for consultations, their queries answered, the villars give them only silence. consultations are non existent, and queries never answered, time and again. consumers can complain to the high heavens and gotten no answers. just more bills and higher rates to pay. so, this polling day, many voters are probly shunning senatorial candidate camille villar. not unless the villars open a dialogo with their customers, answers concerns and make water potable, not murky.
https://www.eco-business.com/news/down-the-drain-philippines-water-joint-ventures-stir-anger/
On the subject of water in the Philippines, I just got this email from my anti-corruption “kilala” in the Philippines. I decided just to paste the entire thing since some parts of it I cannot relate to, being away from the Philippines for so long, but some of you folks can probably relate. Comments welcome:
CV, et al,
1. NAWASA was replaced by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) under RA 6234, enacted on June 19, 1971.
2. During the Ramos administration in mid-1997, under the privatization scheme developed by World Bank together with its affiliate International Finance Corporation (IFC) and a team of UP economists, MWSS entered into similar concession contracts with the winning bidders—Manila Water in the East Zone, with winning bid of P2.32 per cubic meter of water, and Maynilad in the West Zone, with P4.96 winning bid. The agreements provide for rate rebasing every five years. (The reason for the huge variance between the two bids—which the MWSS consultants failed to unravel based on media reports—is explained in Chapter 15 of my book Inequality: Economic Tyranny.)
As the two water concessionaries would be the ones earning revenues from water supply operations, they also assumed the then-existing MWSS foreign loans: $800 million for Maynilad and $80 million for Manila Water.
3. Maynilad was a joint venture between the Lopez group (Benpres) and Lyonnaise Waterworks, Inc., an apparent French company.
4. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which approves every foreign loan before it is contracted, and whose main mission is price stability—together with the MWSS consultants—failed to require Maynilad to obtain exchange rate hedging on its assumed staggering $800-million foreign loan. Consequently, when the Asian crisis erupted and the peso drastically depreciated, Maynilad suddenly collapsed due to 100% exchange loss it suffered on its assumed $800-million foreign loan without exchange rate hedging..
To this day, BSP, or any other government authority, has not mandated public-service power, water, and tollway companies to obtain exchange rate hedging on their foreign loans. They use consumers as their hedging mechanism through raising their rates whenever the peso depreciates, but they reduce their rates on a prospective basis only when the peso appreciates. They do not make retroactive adjustments for past charges on unrealized exchange losses that will not happen because the peso appreciated, thereby realizing exchange gains that will not be refunded to consumers.
If the peso drastically depreciates again (as was the case during the Asian crisis) due to unpredictable war and/or economic crisis, consumers would suffer anew drastic increases in public service rates to recover exchange losses on still unhedged foreign loans of improperly regulated public service providers.
5. Maynilad was rehabilitated through a Court order, with the MVP group (partly representing Salim of Indonesia?) and DMCI as major stockholders. What MWSS denied to the Lopez group—about P4 per cubic meter rate increase to recover its exchange losses—the Regional Trial Court (which approved the Maynilad rehabilitation) granted to the MVP group at the more than doubled rate of P10.20 per cubic meter.
[Is that Court authorized to do what lawful regulatory bodies (like MWSS, Energy Regulatory Commission, and Toll Regulatory Board) are authorized to do—grant rate increases of regulated public service monopolies under their respective jurisdictions?]
6. Without conducting public hearings or consultations, every 5-year rate rebasing, MWSS granted staggering rate increase—more than double the winning bid rate in 1997—to the rehabilitated Maynilad, as shown on the following pages of the first arbitral decision dated December 29, 2014:
(a) Page 21: Effective January 1, 2003, average rate increase of
P10.34 per cu. m. up to a basic rate of P17.52 per cu. m.;
(b) Page 59: Effective January 1, 2005, increase in rate from P19.92
to P30.19 per cu. m., or an increment of P10.27 per cu. m.;
(c) Page 27: Effective January 1, 2009: P10.20 per cu. m. increase, thereby raising the average all-in tariff to a whopping P37.82 per cu. m., or more than seven times the P4.96 per cu. m. winning bid!
MAYNILAD RETURN ON EQUITY (ROE):
(Core Net Income to EQUITY—In Billion Pesos)
2008: 2.32 over 0.94 = 247% of Year-end Equity
2009: 3.46 over 2.35 = 147% of Average Equity
2010: 4.83 over 5.85 = 82% of Average Equity
2011: 6.01 over 10.14 = 59% of Average Equity
7. Thus, with its fantastic rates of return way in excess of the 12% cap that equate to OVERPRICING, subjecting Maynilad Water to the Supreme Court-ruled 12% return limit is of paramount importance.
The jurisprudence on 12% return limit applies to all public utilities nationwide, such as power distributors like Meralco, VECO, Davao Light and Power, etc., as well as all water distributors like Prime Water of the Villar family.
Tollway companies that are required to charge reasonable rates by the law on tollway operations, like NLEX Corporation, should also be required to do that—and their reasonable rates as defined and quantified by the Supreme Court in its decision is also the rates that will yield them not more than 12% return on their investments. This is the reason why I include NLEX Corporation in my position papers as subject to the 12% return limit.
8. Now, on the question, why allow profit-making in the supply of water (a most basic necessity) through PRIVATIZATION of water supply operations?
The answer is simple. It is more advantageous than 100% government operations without profit-making.
Option 1: The government will privatize water services and, under proper regulation, raise rates by an amount equal to the 12% reasonable return entitlement of the private capitalists. This scheme actually resulted in a much better service to consumers, such as increase in water pressure, 24-hour water supply, more households newly covered by water service, and better responses to consumer complaints. (The major defect, though, is that the 12% return limit is not enforced by MWSS on Maynilad and Manila Water. However, such a defect is curable and will be cured now).
For example, one time, when we complained of almost lack of water supply shortly before 5:00 PM of the day, a crew of workers came at about 10:00 PM of that same night and worked on the cause of the problem—damage in the water pipe before reaching the water meter due to past road drainage digging. By midnight, our regular water supply was restored.
Option 2: Government corporations will act as water service providers nationwide. This way, water rates will not include the 12% return that must be given to private capitalists. However, under existing usual conditions, the government corporations will become wasteful, inefficient, and corrupt. Thus, while the government will save on 12% return that would have been given to private capitalists if privatized, the government will lose much more than the saved 12% return from the ensuing wastes, inefficiencies, and corruption in government operations.
Mar (May 1, 2025)
Fascinating. So the issues are unhedged foreign loans that pass currency exchange costs on to consumers, greed resulting in a lightly enforced 12% limit on profits, and incompetence among government water operators. The Villars operate a water company that provides such lousy service that legislators are currently looking into it. Our water system in Biliran is untreated year-round river water pushed into a big blue pipe that feeds occasional mid-sized black pipes that feed little blue pipes that run to houses and are metered at the feeder joint. Costs us about 100 pesos a month and is operational about 95% of the time. We have a big-ass 27 cubic meter water reservoir that has been hugely important after major storms or outages. I cannot imagine how Manila manages, or even Cebu, given the slapdash connectivities.
I remember calling NAWASA that had been turned into MWSS “nawasak” (broken) as a kid. Either I picked it up or already had some creative sarcasm. Well, most who lived through that era will know that PAL also meant Plane Always Late and not just Philippine Airlines, and that “you know who” referred to.. won’t tell, this is a test if CV remembers this, he might. He might also know who allegedly joked “sa ikauunlad ng bayan, bisikleta ang kailangan” on TV, mocking the “disiplina ang kailangan” motto of Marcos Sr., and how he allegedly was punished.
My recall is that MWSS got a World Bank Loan to improve water service but prioritized a shiny new HQ in Balara (I SAW the place rise, it was just behind UP Diliman) and allegedly the new reclamation area in Manila Bay. They only ripped up the streets to put in new black PVC pipes in UP Diliman a bit after the HQ, then they closed the streets and made the connection to our homes in what felt like years later. We got water either from an open hydrant near UP Balara that the informal settlers had opened, or from the UP fire brigade, or at certain times. Indeed, it seems that privatization improved service as I don’t hear of middle-class people in Metro Manila bathing from pails of water. First thing I loved about Germany was the always flowing water and even hot and cold water. What a decadent Roman I am.
Haha, decadence is great although hot water showers are a luxury our family no longer participates in. We take the water as it comes down the mountain, cold most of the time. It’s a commitment imposed on us by a water heater burned out from lack of enough pressure. In the US we had big hot water tanks, here little electric cookers that heat the water as it flows through. Both are unnecessary complications. Simple is decadent I think.
Yes, Irineo, I do remember Ariel Ureta and his “bisikleta ang kailangan” and heard that Marcos, Sr. ended his TV career in retribution. I enjoyed his humor…seemed less “bakya” as we middle to upper class Manilan’s liked to refer to the lower income crowd. Thankfully now we use letters to describe the different income levels.
I would love for more ideas on small things Filipinos can do.
Hydrogen atoms is key, CV!
(Joe, can I post the article/dialogue in the now stale originating discussion thread? for CV. i think it might also add to talking about conclave, on top of small things Filipinos can do.)
I’m not clear on what you mean. I’m not interested in philosophy or diversions from the Philippine condition.
The story, urban legend maybe, was that the Philippine Constabulary picked him up and had him ride a bicycle around Camp Crame until he collapsed. Nowadays, there are terms like jeje and jologs that somehow denote lowbrow.
Our UP house had a water tank, and we also collected what ran off from the roof during rain, all to deal with almost permanent lack or flowing water. The UP Balara folks literally opened a fire hydrant nearby, creating a creek and a place to get water using pails. That was also our source of water in very hot and dry summers, aside from the fire truck that occasionally brought H20. We got new PVC water pipes at some point, but priority was given to new hotels downtown and the prestige projects on the land reclamation area. I guess these issues no longer exist since water was privatized in Metro Manila, but even now, the main supply is due to infrastructure, especially reservoirs built way back in the 1930s.
There was a short water crisis in 2019 where one retired MWSS engineer revealed that there was a bypass to fill up the Sta Mesa dam from the Angat Dam, and Filipina author Alma Anonas-Carpio showed a paper from one of her grandfathers, a master plan of the Manila water system including the two dams and the bypass, and I think I retweeted that with a comment about how most of the aqueducts the Romans left fell into disuse after just decades. Well, as education is deemed colonialistic by many Filipinos nowadays, the “Romans” in the country have by choice been reduced, the choice to become ignorant was a conscious one. Back to the article, fully agree, as the tide of ignorance must be reversed.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BWkrqbjae/
Rustic is the term I use for dilapidated due to lack of maintenance. Striving hard to be kind.
I have likened the Philippine government to a mansion built by Quezon that has shanties as annexes, with some proper annexes built by Marcos Sr. and Cory.
It needs a full overhaul to modern standards like the Manila Metropolitan Theater, but Duterte almost burnt it down like the Manila Post Office.
instead of overhauling sagging infras left to sag maybe by previous admin ni digong, president marcos is selling government assets to private firms. cannot overhaul infras dahil walang yatang pera ang gobyerno, or maybe assets are categorized as too hard basket, too problematic at sobrang purwesyo to maintain, kaya pinagbebenta na lang. out of sight, out of mind, kaso most infras sold off are in prime locations and very much part of community. and people who are voters are affected, some badly. not all private firms are costumer friendly some have bad service, are money hungry and hostile to clients, answerable to no one and dont answer clients questions. and the government can barely do anything against a private firm now in control of what was once public assets. and worst, private firms have their own people in the government now, overseeing government contracts and making laws, maybe to benefit privateers. what goes round comes around.
https://www.abs-cbn.com/business/06/05/23/p254-billion-worth-of-government-assets-to-be-sold
My impression, totally uninformed, is that government is a lousy manager of anything in the Philippines. A private hospital will be better run, likely charge higher prices, and better serve the community. Our community hospital in Naval has long carried the reputation of being a place not to go because you leave in a coffin. They have a brand new facility but I have qualms about the quality of doctors. My experience with private hospitals is generally good. I just detest the cattle runs one must do to get in first-come, first served. I guess doctors here don’t have appointment calendars.
most doctors stick to their appointment calendars, but. some doctors habitually report to work late and naturally, patients appointments get pushed back.
and if there are emergencies like motor vehicle accidents, doctors close to accident sites regardless of whether they are privately or publicly employed are required to give immediate medical assistance and prioritize those wounded and bleeding.
as well, walk in patients who have no prior appointment but are suspected of having heart seizures may well be given priority. that is why both private and public clinics or hospitals asked their patients who have prior appointments to be understanding. appointments guarantee them being seen by a doctor but waiting time may vary, and sometimes greatly.
but if you happen to be the president of the philippines, your rank will guarantee utmost priority. all others can wait.
Yes, I’ve experienced the delays. The mainstream method of serving patients remains first come, first served, which means you sit and wait for an hour or two. It helps to know the secretary who juggles the numbers on who is next. It also helps if you’ve paid the doctor a lot of money, he’ll see you on an appointment basis. Never ever set your watch by a doctor’s schedule. It will be late.
It depends on the private hospital as well. Top tier private hospitals provide good service of course. Unfortunately most other private hospitals have the same issues of bad service, bad quality of care, tardy/absent/negligent/haughty doctors, with the bonus of taking patients hostage if they can’t immediately pay, even up to holding cadavers of deceased patients hostage. Never mind that it is illegal since 2007 (RA 9439). Other private hospitals try to get around RA 9439 by requiring big deposits, even in cases of medical emergency, which is in a legal grey area per my understanding. To the family of a patient in medical distress, demanding a deposit is akin to highway robbery. The family has no choice but to pay upfront, or let their relative die.
That’s true. Hospitals remain authoritarian, in the main, not service-based. Poverty shaped the policies. Medical care depends a lot on pills. But equipment is coming in, and technical skills. Covid accelerated improvements I think. I’d peg 20% of doctors here to be lousy, 60% are okay, 15% are good, and 5% are top notch. The emergency room doctor at Chong Hua Mandaue that attended to me on two recent visits is in the category of spectacular. She is better than any doctor I’ve ever had in the US or here.
Well to be charitable, routine health visits in the Philippines are fine for the most part though I am concerned about heavy usage of borderline quack treatments of dubious locally manufactured supplements by doctors outside of too private hospitals. The main danger is when a patient is undergoing treatment for a serious condition, or has a medical emergency. In those cases, a patient cannot wait for when the doctor may decide to attend the clinic, and probably can’t pay upfront due to the emergency. Chong Hua is one of the top hospitals in Central Visayas, if not the best hospital, so your experience there is not the norm.
If I were to be an advisor in the government on healthcare, my recommendations would be quite common sense. There needs to be more of a focus on affordable preventative care, a subsidized program for the various diseases plaguing tropical countries, and patient education that is inclusive rather than directive. Beyond that, I’d come down harshly on hospitals that hold patients hostage (which is most of them unfortunately), while also finding a way to implement a fair repayment plan that holds the patients themselves accountable to their medical bills.
Yes, near-medicines and quackery are common but consult the doctor if symptoms persist. Well, the mind and body are built to persist so they all work if you think they work. Robert Kennedy is introducint this form of treatment in the US to do away with measles, and coffins will be made in the USA.
Yes, I can afford the best hospital care here, but the point is that it exists, and can exist for more people as the nation gets wealthier. The only barrier to better health care is money. Well, and brains and willpower. Hostage taking is a product of poverty, and it will go away when more people have credit cards. lol
Well, I did not share my observations to be a Debbie Downer; rather as the reality that I have observed. In the US, the current excesses will possibly usher in a new progressive era of great advancement as has periods past had done. I am a strong believer that the government should exist to manage the public goods, which healthcare should be one of them. Interestingly the US pioneered healthcare plans via employer-based healthcare in the early 20th century, while post-war Europe jumped to public health care plans immediately. As it could be said, it’s much easier to build something new than to reconfigure something existing. I’m not sure Europeans would neglect their healthcare needs if the public option didn’t exist, but Americans who have decent employer healthcare or Medicare/Medicaid do use it. A logical step for the Philippines to take is to reform publicly owned hospitals and expand public clinics, raising the level of care. This is what Costa Rica did in the last 20 years or so.
I googled “philippine reforms to improve public hospitals” and found out Duterte passed a law in 2019 to upgrade public hospitals. Alas, PhilHealth is a key player and they have demonstrated the kind of gross incompetence that overwhelms good faith efforts to improve health care. But the ambition to improve health care exists.
You know what, I just had a thought on how the healthcare system can be given an impetus to reform. The UHC law is a US style public-private healthcare scheme, but the main impediment are uneven charges by clinics and hospitals, and the doctors themselves showing up for work “when they feel like it.” Aside from having a closer look at PhilHealth disbursements (or lack thereof), how about accountability for healthcare institutions and providers be introduced? If the institution charges outside of the pay scale, they get their funds revoked. If doctors don’t show up to their clinics, their funds get revoked. Provide a way for beneficiaries to report misdeeds and neglect, then have the government follow up on it similar to consumer advocates. That should light a fire under some asses!
That’s excellent. It’s too late for Senator Hontiveros to address it. We’ll have to wait to see who gets elected. Or maybe get it to leftists in the House to stir up trouble.
Desalination must be a thing now.
Lots of minerals in brine.
Waste to wealth: A critical analysis of resource recovery from desalination brine
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0011916422005483
I really love the idea of desalination technology, especially since I’ve had nearly 20 years of hands-on experience working with Reverse Osmosis and Electrodialysis in Saudi Arabia. It’s a field I’m very passionate about.
Of course, in the Philippines, one major challenge is the high cost of electricity, which makes operating and maintaining these systems quite expensive. But despite that, I’d be genuinely happy if this initiative pushes through, especially in areas suffering from water scarcity. The long-term benefits can be truly life-changing.💦💧
What is your opinion on Nuclear plants?
Solar and other renewables are still not that cheap for developing nations as of the moment.
Power costs must be really be affordable. Maybe nuclear power will be useful if we knopw where to place the nuclear wastes. Renewables like solar, offshore wind must also be sustainable, ports should be repurposed for offshore wind.
I would say get closer to negritos. They have a ground feel of things in the Philippines. take care of pangolins, tarsiers, butandings, dugongs, etc etc….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Oposa <<< make her famous.
Just leaving this Rappler YT documentary on Duterte’s popularity here:
ahem, my funny bone is saying yeah right, bring him back, back to his mother’s womb and wish he has never been born!
Great points.
1.) On sex ed, not sure if providing actual sex education (as opposed to abstinence training) will be of help. There is a “babaero” culture there, even if of course not all boys are womanizers. In the US once accountability laws for the baby’s parents were enforced in the 1990s teen pregnancies dropped off. Once American girls felt like they had a future aside from being a housewife, American teens started protecting themselves and being more discerning about sex partners. Today, American girls outnumber the American boys in university entry. Filipino boys are also too often coddled by their mothers into their 30s, their mistakes excused and blame shifted, which adds to the problem. I expect as time goes by more and more Filipinas will get ahead in life, following a similar path to what American girls had.
2.) I haven’t seen many locations in the Philippines that looked suitable (from a lay man’s understanding) for creating hydroelectric dams. Water conservation is an area of hobbyist interest for me. Paul and I had a back and forth about this topic previously in another blog. I’ll write more on this later with fleshed out ideas.
3.) Not sure how shifting employment decisions from entitlement to merit can work, as DOLE and BLR are not really strong enforcers of existing laws as is. Even in the US with very powerful NLRB (formerly, before being gutted by Trump), it was a difficult proposition to enforce anything but the most blatant practices by larger enterprises. A better solution would probably be to create more private sector labor competition, including promoting new business growth, where the market provides the solution of workers jumping ship to better pastures. Though this would still be hard. I’ve been working with a mentee for a few years, encouraging her to apply for another company (which I had referred her to) that pays closer to her experience and skill level, but she is afraid of risk so sticks with her current employer that underpays her…
In order:
1) Women power should be an element of sex education then, along with raising men’s awareness of responsibilities. Parents are not teaching, evidently. Nor are churches. I think schools have to be the place where norms are set.
2) I once did a study of Biliran Island and discovered that the topography was perfect for a high level lake with lengthy vertical drop. The only issues were geology (stability of rocks) and 2) political will. Biliran tanked a geothermal project because the locals got greedy and the Icelandic corporation said “nope”. There is huge stupidity in local political greed.
3) US firms have well-structured merit policies within Human Resources, and I believe most are law-based. That’s the corporate discipline that I believe is needed here. More business competition would of course help.
–Marcos i heard tried to tackle this with Dept of Education sending teachers to the boondocks to convince women about the virtues of family planning, and women themselves were all like its really difficult to put condoms on when guys aren’t compliant. wanna go all naturale.
IMHO, Filipinos are their own resource. child births going down around the world. why not increase it instead of decreasing it in the Philippines. it was kb that set me straight on this. i’m totally anti- family planning now. play the numbers game, be like rabbits.
–Maybe not dams per se, but pumped-storage hydroelectric facilities. as batteries. also doubles as cisterns and flood control.
–As to work, I’m with Ireneo re digital nomads. if non-Filipinos can do it in the Philippines, what’s stopping Filipinos? this is more an imagination issue than anything.
Response by paragraph:
1) The challenge is to get young teens to grasp the concept of personal responsibility over what feels right in the moment. Kids are an adult responsibility so they have to think like adults. I’ll have a separate article about sex education out next week.
2) Philippine birth rates are also declining and this is likely to continue. I suspect no political aspirant will adopt your position in a country that already struggles to feed its kids properly.
3) Could help.
4) There are definitely opportunities for non-structured careers. I suspect we will see this emerge naturally.
On sex ed, absolutely, this should be taught in schools. Perhaps also add an element of mentorship and good adult example. Too often Filipino kids have no adult role models outside of some artista on screen. I’m sorry to say as most of my Filipino friends are DEs, but parents there outside of AB really reinforce the bad habits of their children. It can be argued that the parents don’t have the capability or knowledge to be better guides due to their own childhoods, so this is where the government needs to step in to provide that education and guidance as a matter of public policy.
Beyond infrastructure megaprojects, which need sustained government investment, the electricity infrastructure in the Philippines is dilapidated and fragmented. I do wonder if revitalizing electrical grids province by province with semi-decentralized power generation (solar, wind, adding geothermal, hydroelectric, fossil fuel where appropriate) would help or not. For the most part from a lay man’s view it seems to me hard to do hydroelectric dams at a large scale. A lot of the abundant rain runs off into the ocean. Redirecting that rain into groundwater by various means may be a viable solution that also tackles the flooding issues.
Well, haha, perhaps American enterprise HR was merit based during your time, but it is not anymore. Western HR now serves to protect the company, not the worker nor promote merit. What does promote merit though are promotions being tied to personal and team success on corporate objectives, with the executives also being overseen by the shareholders and board. This way of manager-driven meritocracy assumes a hunger to succeed though for either the rewards (pay or accolades), or for the pure challenge to succeed through the seemingly impossible. In the Philippines, the more relaxed culture doesn’t promote this. Still a culture can play to its strengths and still live well; just should not compare themselves to other countries that may have a different personal culture.
Paragraph
1) Yes.
2) Groundwater replenishment is important. I am absolutely convinced there are places for manmade lakes on islands like Cebu. The low hills are perfect for it. Mindanao, Luzon, same same. Electricity, flood protection, water. It is insane for the Philippines to lack water for residents. And electricity. My gosh, mountains, water, tides, wind, hot rocks, sunshine. The place is a natural generator.
3) That surprises me that merit programs are out. They are good for business. As for the Philippines, one either throws one’s hands up in the air and flees (as many yellows have done) or keeps pushing. I see no benefit to not proposing ways the Philippines can get smarter and richer. Aim for the stars, make one or two people better off, works for me.
One of the issues with megaprojects like hydroelectric dams and nuclear power is the projects need sustained multi-decade government commitment and investment. AFAIK nearly all of the existing hydroelectric dams in the Philippines were built by Americans during the colonial period, or with American investment in the immediate post-war period. Private investment, being shareholder driven, is just not suitable to providing public goods.
Corporate meritocracy was more common in the US when it was uncommon for one to spend their entire careers with one company, rising from the bottom to the CEO position. When I entered the workforce this lifelong commitment of a corporation to the worker and vice versa was long gone. Well if one thought the US was terrible in this regard, the UK is much worse. Costco is probably one of the few US corporations that still operate this way. Costco pays their workers very handsomely too ($30/hr for a starting position as a cashier/shopping car attendant).
I still think the best way to increase the life outcomes of Filipinos is by providing good paying jobs to grant dignity and a chance of upward mobility. Given that the majority of DEs are undereducated or uneducated, and given that it’s quite hard to academically re-educate someone, the best way is likely to be via going all in on manufacturing. Yes the job will still be hard though less hard than jobs these young folk are used to in the province, but it would pay multiples more than what’s available now. Once a secure economic future is there, the next generation gains a foothold into higher academic study and job opportunity. It’s mind boggling the Philippines government won’t take this option to grow.
I think Costco is one of the companies that will retain its DEI programs as Trump tries to get rid of them. They’ll get hit hard by tariffs so it will be interesting to see things play out. Providing a future for Filipinos is key to improving competence and wealth of the nation, seems to me. There is no quick fix but if economic growth remains sound, it will occur naturally. Get the right people in charge of angencies and the nation will bloom like a rose. Gadzooks, what a fucking optimist.
As long as the currency continues flowing in from OFW/BPO, the Philippines will naturally (slowly) progress economically via consumer driven growth. My main worry is if one or both of those currency inflows slows or is cut off, the Philippines is in for a big world of hurt.
The lack of progress (at the speed that we want) is in sense Filipinos, including in the government, being contented with what they have now. What Filipinos will need to grapple with is whether collectively as a nation, the Philippines is fine with plodding along, or if people are willing to together do the hard work required to satisfy a hunger for more.
It’s fine with plodding as far as I can tell. Or wallowing in incompetence but not able to see it for the incompetence. Aha, shades of John Cleese, that stupid people are too stupid to know they are stupid. The difference in the PH is not stupidity but incompetence.
https://x.com/dzrhnews/status/1918890522896179592 we have Sec Vince Dizon of DOTr saying that the SUV hitting a crowd at NAIA and among others killing the 5 year old daughter of an OFW saying it “wasn’t intentional”.
I mean, if it were intentional, it would be like what recently happened at Filipino festival in Vancouver, a crime and “not just” gross negligence. Also, just some days ago, 10 people died as an overland bus rammed cars at a tollgate near SCTEX.
Raquel Fortun, the forensic doctor who has gathered a lot of evidence on tokhang, noted that at NAIA the bollard that was supposed to shield the people at NAIA departure wasn’t anchored very deeply in the ground.
If I compare that to the bollards at the outskirts of the Oktoberfest that are meant to deter trucks used intentionally for terror attacks, anchored as deeply into the ground as they are high and probably made of harder materials, am I being a German chauvinist again?
Or am I just a believer in competence? As for the bus driver, there are very strict requirements for bus and truck drivers in Europe, physical and psychological. I wonder if the story that bus companies in the Philippines hire bus drivers who have killed as a qualification is true.
The reason for that is allegedly that they are or were instructed to drive over road victims as damages for dead are less than damages for disabled. That would be a terrifying consequence of bus companies there being under-insured. Lot of stuff to unpack recently.
BTW, San Miguel is paying the damages for the injured and dead at NAIA while investigating what happened. That is a sign of the new professionalism Ramon Ang brought into NAIA. Not bullshit like “the driver didn’t run over a kid intentionally.”
Our world is whacked out. Incompetence is deadly for sure. So many tragedies and angry nutcases. I wonder when we’ll grow up. It seems many are growing down, bitterness in a human body.
An interesting FB post about the LTO in the light of these day’s events:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16ZjhErA3q/
(Start of quote)
About 11 years ago, after a traffic violation, I was sent to the LTO main office for a road safety seminar and exam before I could get my license back.
While taking attendance outside the seminar room, a staff member offered to let us “pass” the exam in exchange for a small bribe. I refused.
Inside, the staff announced that since only two of us refused to pay, everyone would automatically pass. The room erupted in applause.
We were still required to complete some sort of “seminar,” so they asked if we wanted to watch the NBA Finals instead of the safety videos—cue even louder cheering.
So for two hours, me and a roomful of traffic violators sat there and watched as the San Antonio Spurs clinched their fourth win against the Miami Heat to win the championship. Afterward, they handed out test sheets with answers already marked in pencil. Everyone simply shaded them in and passed.
At the final step, staff jokingly called out names like it was a graduation. People clapped as traffic violators “went up the stage” to get their licenses.
I’ve since kept my record clean long enough to be granted a 10-year driver’s license—which isn’t really difficult; renewal only requires a short online exam and a medical. As someone who spends more time on the road than at home because of work, I’m no longer surprised by the reckless drivers I encounter daily—not when the system meant to discipline traffic violators and promote safer driving is turned into a joke.
After this week’s tragic events, I can’t help but wonder if the people responsible for claiming those innocent lives and destroying families sat in that same room with me years ago—where, instead of being sternly reminded how to drive safely, we just watched a basketball game. Where, instead of having to prove we were still competent enough to operate large machines capable of killing, we walked away without even a slap on the wrist.
I cannot imagine the pain those families must be going through, but it would be an even greater tragedy if nothing is done to change the system that continues to claim thousands of lives each year—a system so rotten to the core that even those who try to resist it end up complicit.
If fixing that system requires that my privilege to drive be revoked, I would gladly do so—if it means the streets become safer for my family and everyone else.
(End of quote)
Wonderful tale of the way privilege and corruption work in the Philippines, and why everything is so “rustic”. The money is just bigger higher up the power scale.
since ramon ang has taken over the management of naia and is now responsible for the safety of those in and immediately around naia, it is only proper he compensates the crash victims. those presumably substandard bollards come under his jurisdiction too. and had he seen the blue print and known before hand the bollards were substandard as per engineers report, and he did not nothing to bring them up to standard, the accident is wakeup call.
it was accident, not intentional. the driver was apparently distracted and put his foot on the wrong pedal.
Here is an FB posting about the bollards:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14Fynh7s6es/
“After some sleuthing of dedicated Redditors and netizens, they were able to dig up the winning bidder of the substandard NAIA terminal bollards.
Apparently, the project was won by a firm going under the name Kontrak Enterprises which was allegedly only incorporated in 2016, the year Duterte became president, but was able to win and complete the bollard project in 2019.
This is the only photo of Kontrak Enterprises when you do a Google image search. But when you go to the Facebook page, it doesn’t exist anymore. There is scant information on this firm when you do a search.
But one thing is obvious. They are proud Duterte supporters based on the only exisiting photo related to this contractor. Draw your own conclusions, but the whole thing stinks.”
And a Marcos Jr. statement on SCTEX and NAIA incidents:
https://x.com/newswatchplusph/status/1919334852580778332
https://www.reliance-foundry.com/blog/security-bollards-guide a bit more on security bollards..
https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/human-resources/transport-sector-workers/road-transportation-workers/index_en.htm these are EU rules on safety especially rest period for transportation workers
Rest periods are enforced here with actual logging of when trucks are moving or not moving, to be provided on demand to the highway police..
thanks, Irineo. as regards drivers safety there is technology available, the IR (infrared) camera mounted on the dashboard and faces the driver. it is unobtrusive and quietly monitors the driver’s eye movements, and give alerts if the driver is about to go into micro sleep that may compromise not only the safety of those on board but those of road users as well.
incidentally, when ramon ang rehabed and refurbished naia to the tune of 170billions, I thought, he also did safety checks and may have found out that those bollards were summat decorative aesthetics. just my hindsight.
My take on the Philippines after a quarter century of visits is “things are okay, but things could be better.” Then again I only know a Philippines that increasing accepted the lost promises of EDSA starting in the late 1990s. People get by, led by organic micro-leaders in their family and community who figure out a way to get around roadblocks in the system. There just isn’t an organic capacity for more than that without some kind of framework of impetus which is lacking.
Leaders in government don’t have an electoral pressure to achieve more for the people, while youthful would-be leaders demand too much far away pie-in-the-sky without seeing obvious solutions right in front of them. The former is prone to stagnation; the latter is prone to burn out and grow in resentment as seen recently by the government gun battle in Negros Occidental with a promising young UP Cebu student environmental activist turned communist rebel.
There seems evident to exist an undercurrent of hunger for more, yet too few know “how.” In a recent discussion in my Big Four GC, I had opened the idea that common truths shared by Abrahamic religions (to also include the Filipino Muslims) of caring for the community be the foundation of not a moral, but a social movement. Not a social movement in the sense of the Western “alphabet kids” identity virtue signaling, but the actual application of Filipino values as those values complement and add to modern needs. Providing people with dignified work and the opportunity to give their children a better life. Essentially the Four Freedoms for a modern Philippines.
You really need to start writing blog articles here. What a wonderful article that would be. The challenge for you would probably be how to keep it short and pithy, but what a great topic. I can’t write it, for sure.
Well thank you. I’d have to consider it. I write very long technical and business documents that tie together stakeholders for a living, then hold meetings to explain those technical documents. Though my formal education is prone to equally lengthy elucidation. Can’t expect less from an English major.
As Fareed Zakaria said that for advanced nations, manufacturing is backwards and the service sector is the way to go,alas, we are not an advanced nation and service is not doing us any good.
The ships and chips bluff or act will not MAGA it will resort to more froend shoring do that us good for PH.
There will always be a core service sector in the Philippines, BPO or not. There are quite a few underemployed and unemployed Filipinos though, living in informal settlements just outside of subdivisions or an hour away in the province. I’m not an advocate of low paid jobs, but any type of manufacturing is better paid by a multiple factor than the typical unreliable minimum salary labor job available to these folks. I’m willing to gander that given the choice between an overseas factory job in Japan paying 120k/month, a Filipino would gladly take a local factory job near their hometown for 40k/month so they can be closer to family and friends. Minimum salary in Cebu is a paltry 8.7k/month. All this would require Philippines trade representatives and Congress to take initiative on attracting FDI though, including reducing red tape and stabilizing the business environment to make it suitable for investment.
Foresight isn’t really a Filipino trait. That does have advantages for being happy as opposed to Germanic overthinking, and sometimes we have analysis paralysis here, but it can also mean reacting only when shit hits the fan.
ahem, a lot of filipinos have fantastic (not!) oversight to the extent that they have become quite advance and able to profit, some from scams and dupe and dodge the law. some even escape overseas before they can be brought to justice. and it is because of such advanced foresight and oversight that our border has become very porous specially in the south where smuggled good can easily pass tru’. and it has become the exit modus of people smugglers and human traffickers. manufacturing false travel documents, passports and clearances.
if only foresight is put to good use, much good would have come out of it. and good people would have benefited.
It would be interesting to have an anthropological study on how culture shifts. Broadly I think cultures mostly shift as a reaction to external and internal impetus. In many ways Filipino culture has never really shifted… a blunt way to describe “why” many practices are the way they are in the Philippines, is that there has always been a father and/or mother figure picking one up when one falls, just like all the way through back to in the pre-Spanish time. Accountability does tend to force change and new thinking. Sadly, most abroads who do come back home don’t take their new cultural learnings back with them, though they do at times take back the academic learnings.
3) it seems BPO shook up a lot in the Philippines, as suddenly it became less important to “be an Atenean” to be a manager and suck up to them to have a career, of course Atenean is just a metaphor for established networks there.
BPO, and I guess now VA work introduced a meritocratic element into a country run by cliques in politics, government, business, and academe.
I’m not quite convinced that VA can introduce meritocratic thinking. I liken VA to be more of a new way of negosyo, where self-starters can find success. Many nowadays try to get into VA, but fail as they don’t know how to manage their time, segregate their personal and business finances, and do not adhere to the client’s time schedule requirements thus subsequently don’t get hired by other clients. I’ve had mentees who are barely junior BPO agents ask me for advice (or even investment) to get into VA work. Those ones I steer gradually towards factory work abroad.
For BPO, it depends also. Top tier clients (such as banks) do have their BPO partners enforcing a high standard and pay accordingly. Clients that had bad customer service in the US CS operations to begin with hire fly-by-night BPO operators who have terrible service. I’ve had BPO agents who were so enamored by my voice that they tried to contact me on WhatsApp afterward, or other agents who tried to be “too helpful” and provide an excessive refund using dubious methods.
I don’t think BPO is vastly expandable though. I’m quite worried that if the remittances from OFW and family, and the revenues from BPO were to be reduced, the Philippines economy which is built upon consumption will crash. There still exists a more sustainable path that straightforwardly gives even uneducated people dignified jobs, which is to take advantage of manufacturing outflow out of PRC as supply chains reconfigure. Philippine leaders seem to think factory jobs are “beneath” Filipinos, and besides are too lazy to actively recruit industry, but any factory job is much more high paying and dignified than let’s say a rubber farmer tapping goma part time in the province barley being able to support his family.
I just thought of these two examples OUTSIDE the usual system based on favoritism and seniority as exemplifying your point that real competition would introduce more opportunities.
Actually, this is very sad, but probably anything NOT run by Filipinos would do that. Because the entire Filipino way of doing business is indeed intended designed to keep people in their comfort zones. It favors those who don’t rock the boat, not the innovative.
The thing is most days I’m not sure how to shift the paradigm in the Philippines, even in the broad answers are apparent and obvious. There is a certain comfort in the Philippines with taking it easy, letting others do the work then being compelled to share the benefits. To get ahead there has to first be the knowledge that something better is out there, confidence building to create courage to get out of the comfort spot, then there needs to be enough “hunger” to fundamentally shift oneself. The most logical solution I have is to bring a taste of economic independence, which will create the space to hunger for more. That could be achieved through proper industrialization as supply chains rapidly drain out of China. But leaders in the Philippines seem to think that for a country that never achieved the First Industrial Revolution, should leap immediately to the presently emerging Fourth Industrial Revolution 😅
I attended a funeral for a nearly 90 year old Tagalog-American man yesterday in San Diego. It was a huge wake and funeral, with full military honors. The man had achieved the rank of master chief petty officer, USN, then went on to a distinguished engineering career at General Dynamics San Diego (formerly National Steel shipyard). Yet in his Philippines activities, he maintained a large compound with countless helpers and drivers. Until Filipinos abroad come back home and start actively teaching their kinsmen a better way, the chance of success is much less. PNoy’s administration tried, but it seems there were too few that came back in the limited 6 year timeframe to transmit new knowledge.
it is uber difficult to get ahead in philippines. workers are supposedly lazy and layabouts specially when there is no work to be found. like for example a rubber farmer working on a non existing rubber plantation, collecting non existent goma juice therefore blamed for lack of productivity and holding the country back.
the government has done its part of funding for growth, only it went nowhere.
https://www.rappler.com/philippines/commission-audit-liable-pampanga-icidsfi-foundation-agricultural-project-unimplemented/
I had no idea there were still goma plantations in Luzon. The small scale goma farmer I used as an example is from Mindanao. For these small scale farmers, what holds them back is a combination of lack of education, insufficient market access (most sell to a local aggregator/buyer who sets very low prices), and resistance to changing the way things have always been done to update to new methods that increase productivity. So the farmer remains poor, generation to generation. Still, the kids seem happy enough enjoying the traditional games kids play there in the bukid. I’ve become quite the expert at a few of those games during my extended stays.
lofty dream was goma plantation, fully funded but did not get off the ground. unliquidated funds plus changes in the government and its subsequent apathy summat killed the implementation of the project. now commission on audit has hard time chasing the money, and may have to sue those entrusted with the fund just to recover it. and if the entrusted have political connections, the fund is more likely nowhere to be found. corruption is summat thick in this country.
I suppose the Commission on Audit, Blue Ribbon Committee, and Committee on Good Government are only effective as accountability commissions so far as the Congress and Executive are accountable. It seems the cost of corruption indeed is built into the system.
I don’t think the barrier to getting more manufacturing into the Philippines is a rejection of labor as a work style. Most of the nation labors. The barrier is corruption and rats nests of laws and no 100% ownership for foreigners. And price of electricity. So the nation is lousy at selling its low cost labor pool.
Fully agree. The constitutional roadblock to foreign ownership is major as well. It is an expression of lack of confidence in a sense of Filipinos’ ability to control their own destiny. Another example of “bahala na.” In reality, if a theoretical 100% foreign owned business is acting badly that company would be subject to the full force of Philippines law, which provides a check.
Though businesses also prefer to have a working environment that is predictable, including in matters of law. If nothing changes then the businesses that will come will be those that can close up shop and move to another country (or AI). The possible effects on the Philippines economy if that happens is my biggest worry in the near future.
That’s a good point on lack of confidence. I may have to blog the point to get it some exposure.
you are correct, joeam. labor is not problem in philippines, many are willing to work if only is work available that many travel long distances just to go to work. some start traveling as early as 3am!
corruption is biggest problem why philippines is so far behind. it will probly get worse now that trump has finally decided to cut aids to our country since corruption is still high and not been addressed well enough.
https://mb.com.ph/2025/5/1/trump-aid-cut-fallout-no-more-mcc-threshold-program-for-philippines
The US Aid cutback was across the board, as policy, so there was nothing Philippine specific about the decision. It’s like the rich uncle who decided he’d stop giving gifts to all his nephews at Christmas.
Sori, Irineo. What means VA?
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/virtual-assistant.asp
“A virtual assistant is an independent contractor who provides administrative services to clients while operating outside of the client’s office. A virtual assistant typically operates from a home office but can access the necessary planning documents, such as shared calendars, remotely..”
Many, many thanks, Irineo for taking the time to translate the term VA. It has been a while since I first encountered the term “virtual”. To my mind, the term was coined first by the IBM computer engineers to refer to the “virtual systems” they were working on to replace the IBM-360 system with IBM OS-VS series of computers, i.e. VS as in virtual system architecture.
My answer would have been Virginia. Joke only.
My answer would have been Veterans Administration. Which rather shows we are creatures of our personal history. By the way, the Philippines went from 134 to 116 on the Press Freedom Index. President Marcos is taking credit for it, as he should. Marcoleta should not.
I hope no more Duterte president just some one better and we hope to get a name soon enough. This press freedom ratings is good news.
Agree. Every little bit helps.
Didn’t think VA the state; my first guess was Veterans Admin., by rote; Virtual something my best guess. Link explanation Virtual Assistant is new info to my database.
I believe the Philippines can operate nuclear power plants, especially if we invest properly in infrastructure, training, regulations, and safety. We already have a strong pool of engrs & technical experts, & there’s even some past experience from the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant—though it was never put into operation. With the right international partnerships & strict safety protocols, I think it’s very possible.
One nuclear plant can help a lot especially in stabilizing the grid and lowering electricity cost but it won’t be enough to power the whole country. We’d need more plants over time to make a nationwide impact. But starting with one could be a smart step forward.
Our government is planning to add nuclear power to its energy mix. They aim to have the first nuclear power plants operational by around 2032. It’s quite an interesting development!
Philippines and Republic of Korea Strengthen Energy Cooperation | Department of Energy Philippines
I believe this is in response to @Karl’s inquiry. I totally agree with this assessment. I don’t think Bataan is the best place for a power plant due to geological instability. West is better positioning than east due to fewer earthquakes and wind pushing more often to the west. I’d put it on Palawan.
Thanks for your response.
I’ll attempt to expand on these infrastructure thoughts.
1.) Water access. I’ve read articles about dams for water storage, and of course the government should be investing in such large scale infrastructure where appropriate, but most DEs I know get their non-potable water from wells or directly from rivers. Even in cities like Cebu, most people do not have access to city water supplies. It’s pretty much the same everywhere I go. There have been concerns about overusing groundwater, along with the potential for water-borne disease that plague lower economic classes.
2.) Managing water resources. It rains a lot in the Philippines, but most of the rain floods streets for days, then runs off into the rivers then oceans. As part of flood control efforts, it would be good to implement water gardens along streets to manage runoff, filter pollutants, and recharge the local water table for well usage. Water gardens have an additional beautifying effect and reduces urban heat build up. Excessive water should be first diverted to wetlands to additionally filter and recharge ground water before going to rivers. I don’t believe desalination is a viable solution as the infrastructure is very expensive.
3.) Electric generation capacity. In the Cebu there are only two coal-fired power plants, with a large amount of electricity imported from natural gas plants elsewhere by the two local electric utility monopolies. Brownouts are common. Elsewhere in Mindanao, brownouts are even more common. The grid is very old. Cebu doesn’t have any suitable hydropower, wind or geothermal locations, but provinces that have the natural topology can take advantage of that. Possibly large scale solar installations and a semi-decentralized electrical grid can help modernize the local grid. Solar installations can start on commercial buildings that have ample roof space, with excess power being sold to the local utility. Public places like parking lots and structures are also suitable places for solar, with the benefit of providing shade. Of course the local utility monopolies would not like this so there needs to be a government effort.
4.) Rice security. Polyculture should be explored. In ancient times, the former natives practiced rice polyculture, which was transmitted by the Yue peoples of the mainland whose migration to Sundaland I had written about before. Indonesia and Malaysia still practice rice polyculture to increase crop yield, reduce pesticide usage, and provide secondary income for farmers. The Philippines mostly forgot this farming technique except for very small scale farmers I occasioned upon. Rice can be combined with kangkong, corn or kamote (in the case of terrace farming), tilapia, catfish, haluan (snakehead), ulang (freshwater prawns), freshwater crabs, duck, to give a few examples.
Water gardens in the Philippines blend beautifully with the country’s tropical climate, rich biodiversity, and cultural traditions. They are found in both private residences and public parks, and they can serve aesthetic, ecological, and even food production purposes. Here are some key aspects: 1. Cultural and Historical Context
2. Common Features
3. Ecological Role
4. Modern Trends
5. Examples
Would you like me to provide:
Thanks for this summary Karl!
pleasure
Polyculture in the Philippines is both a traditional practice and an emerging strategy for sustainable agriculture and aquaculture. Here’s an overview tailored to the Philippine context: 1. Definition
Polyculture is the practice of growing multiple crops or raising different species in the same space at the same time, mimicking natural ecosystems. It contrasts with monoculture, which grows only one crop or species. 2. Traditional Practices in the Philippines
3. Benefits
4. Polyculture in Aquaculture
5. Modern Applications & Government Programs
6. Challenges
7. Opportunities
Would you like me to dive deeper into any of these aspects? For example, I could give you case studies of successful polyculture farms in the Philippines, or show you how it ties into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and regenerative development.
Polyculture and aquaculture is kind of a hobby for me. In my fish pond (koi, aka fancy carp) I have both flowering aquatic plants for beautification and filtering fish waste products. A higher tier pond flowing into the fish pond is planted with kangkong, rice paddy herb, gabi in substrate. The other side of the higher pond is contains ulang (freshwater prawns). My hydroponics setup is also connected to the system. I hardly need to clean out my mechanical (barrel with filter pads) filter, as the overall system acts as a bio filter.
nice to know
nice to know
Expensive infra for desalination.
If everyone foes it then it will be cheap.
Solar desalination is for a small scale for now, but time will come for it to scale up
Tech will always be obsolete sooner or later so that will being costs down.
I did talk about mineral recovery. Maybe just a drop in the bucket even a drop in the ocean but only for now.
For Joey and other readers.
My take in Polyculture
https://joeam.com/2020/09/28/what-now-philippine-agriculture-food-security-or-rice-self-sufficiency/
And some regenerative development stuff.
I have a kuya friend in Cotabato who went from rags to being a big rice plantation owner through hard work and being open to new methods despite not stopping study in grade school. He tried to form a farmers collective locally to increase yields and share mechanized equipment, but the other farmers were more interested in selling their land to become laborers for a guaranteed share of the harvest. I had shared an idea to introduce rice-duck polyculture and he started implementation, so I’ll have to check it out the next time I’m in the area.
Best of luck to your friends
@Joey
Re Dams
The Kaliwa Dam would solve Luzon’s water problems of no IP tribes live there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliwa_Low_Dam?wprov=sfla1
That’s an excellent example. Do tribal rights of a few thousand trump the needs of hundresds of thousands? If the Philippines had a more aggressive management of natural resources and protections for local tribes, I suspect it would be easier to approve the dam. But in a vacuum of support, tribes gonna find lawyers.
Yes, many lawyers do advocate IP, maybe they also advocate a lot of others. They end up with lots of causes and zero effect.
Wasn’t the main reason the Kaliwa Dam project failed was that Duterte canned the plan put forward by PNoy and the Japanese? The Japanese design was supposed to be “free” essentially with very low interest forgivable loans, while Duterte shifted to a PRC design that had a very high loan interest. And the PRC wanted to bring their own materials and labor to the project.
Yes, but there is more to that than meets the eye
.
Social and environmental concerns
Social issues
Ancestral lands belonging to Indigenous Dumagats and Remontados will be affected by the Kaliwa Dam project. The coalition Sectors Opposed to the Kaliwa Dam (STOP Kaliwa Dam) estimate that 1,000 households from Barangay Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal, and 500 households in Pagsangahan, General Nakar, Quezon, will be inundated by the construction. The Samahan ng mga Katutubong Agta/Dumagat (Organization of Indigenous Agta/Dumagat) estimate that the project would displace 10,000 members of the Dumagat tribe. Protesters have maintained that Indigenous communities that will be affected by the project were not consulted. Philippine law requires that such projects acquire …..
Indigenous tribes have been abused for generations so I’m empathetic to their plight. Are there perhaps any developments on providing an amenable solution that also benefits the local tribes?
Laws that support them are there unlike before.
But most laws are compromised literally or ends up having compromised middle grounds where not everybody is happy.