Filipinos are thinkers with no place to go
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
Most people are racist to some degree, labeling others based on common stereotypes. Filipinos get tagged as low IQ because their government does dumb things, the country can’t fix potholes, and schools mass produce laborers rather than tech geniuses.
My belief is that filipinos are POTENTIALLY as smart as anyone else. But never has a people been so confined intellectually, socially, and governmentally.
Intellectual growth should be fostered in schools but the Philippines mistakes following orders for good thinking. Teachers demand that students repeat back what they are told, not figure things out. Is that ridiculous, or what? How can a rigid educational framework produce kids who are able to find their way past the barriers that keep them from discovery?
They are taught to obey, and the nation’s social framework of authoritarianism reinforces it. Government officials snarl, bank officials scowl, doctors and nurses scold, even store cashiers give stony glares. Customers here are seldom free enough from a barrage of belittlement to be right. To think for themselves, confidently.
Obey.
My wife yesterday morning at breakfast said vote buying is dumb because people who sell their votes are taking money that was stolen from them by corrupt candidates. When she was poor, she would never have figured this out. Poverty would have forced her to rationalize getting the money as a good thing.
Need is a great eliminator of intellectual choices. It dumbs down thinking, not by brain power, but by stomach need.
And corrupt government officials love it.
They love being better than others. Tricking them. Gaming them. Using them.
Social classism is a form of racism within the race. Legislators and agency officials here are of the class of entitlement and impunity. The Vice President can get away with apparent stealing and it’s no big deal to the Senate President. And other senators of the class of holier than citizens.
Education, classism, and greed confine Filipino intellectual growth. Too many Filipinos have been taught to be resilient mimics. Barred from good data and critical thinking.
The barriers need to come down.
Free the Filipino!
Free the Filipino to think for himself. To obey out of knowledge, and respect. Not command.
It will be fun watching the entitled scurry for cover when citizens become informed and start demanding respect, compassion, sense, and a smarter government.
__________________________
Cover photo created by Word Press image generator using the prompt of a young Filipino student thinking about thinking.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Resiliency is our strength and weakness. We are able to adapt and recover quickly, as what OFWs do but it has been our burden that our managers and politicians take advantage of. We are good in obeying and very few become good leaders. This has to change now.
That nails it. Resilience is obedience to external forces. Better to be the force.
Adapting by joining them if you can’t beat them, you can also adapt by doing your own thing but many do the former because of frustration or by being battered too much or just plain laziness. Two challenges to overcome.
I have a comment last time of keeping your feet on the ground without foot dragging.
Being on the ground does nor mean you go nowhere you can do it slowly but surely but go somewhere without dragging.
Being grounded is being humble and practical and real.
Irineo says what about ambitions?
Shooting for the stars without a pencil and paper is useless. (Just kidding)
We have many ideas from oped columnist and blogs like yours worth sharing over and over again but somehow like chain letters the chain will be broken.
Action oriented people are very enthusiastic but ending up pffft and a laughing stock by people who could laugh at stuff they have no idea wtf is funny.
Charge it to ningas cugon cultural trait or cultural quirk.
Not so fast….
Let’s take one step back and think this over…
How is this different from Western Europe 70 years ago? And from the USA to a lesser extend still? And from South America? Or even Russia?
There, people were also forced (economically) to do as they were told and follow the economic powers. Call it economic blackmail if you want…
Only Philippines has the disadvantage that the top layer of “action people” and interlectuals are for a big part working as OFW and therefore exactly those who could initiate change have left the country and those who are left just use the OFW’s as their fallback position instead of having to solve the issues themselves. The OFW as the helper as well as the curse.
Those left in the country are forced in a position of obedience because the need to rise up is not really present. There always if the OFW money. If you see how my grandparents had to fight against the establishment because there were NO fallbacks. Only 15 years ago, my mother kicked out the priest on her deathbed (my dad, as a big city boy already came to the conclusion in 1940 during the war). There is a long way to go for the Filipinos, but I think it goes faster than what happened in Europe. My only worry is that the fascination with “fastcash” (like the USA) is sabotaging the natural process of development and support. The strong family bonds are a blessing in this process of liberation, but certainly also shackling the freethinkers.
A very interesting time to live in as the whole development process goes very fast. Look at the enormous change in children per woman, indicating kids start thinking of their (and their children’s) development priorities. The biggest worry, ofcourse, is that the external forces (China and USA) sabotage a natural process and their interests encapsule the country before a natural development process has taken place internally.
But… You have a point..
Somehow, the freethinkers and action people seem to disappear after their first fart dissolves in opposition. But remember when Marcos Snr. got kicked out, how people suddenly started to breathe? Or when Gina got a lot of traction in the young people? The undercurrent seems to be present, it needs a leader/movement to guide the energy which certainly is present. I just hope I will be there when the action kicks in as I just about missed the action of the 60-ies. LOL
Thanks for always being there for the speeding reminder
I also wonder, given some current news from there, whether more education will help if there is apparently no real sense of right and wrong among many or most.
Of course I might be proven wrong soon, iykyk, let’s see.
Currently, education is used to curtail free thinking. Even the UPV students have to be tickled to think for themselves. My mate and I love to go on education trips with the students and then tease them into thinking for themselves, that is real fun, but it shows how much it still will take for the kids to think for themselves and shed the shackles. But, UPV was also a centre of the fight against martial law and during Duterte’s ruling, there were protests. So, let’s not judge too fast. But, there is a long way to go for the average kids.
Development is always a function of necessity. The pressure to change, to challenge the powers is just not yet there. If I talk to the students, their answer is not development of Philippines, it is their path to OFW. That made my working life very pleasant because Filipinos were so much fun to work with abroad. But for local development, it is killing. We cannot blame the youth to have a target to make the best out of a difficult situation…
it just makes Philippines both a basket case as well as a very interesting case of development where the intellectual top 5% has left the country. With the youth doing what the do, I have great hopes for the next 30 years, I just have to make 100 to see it. LOL.
I am planning to visit Malawi, a landlocked country in Africa without any real industry, mainly small scale subsistence agriculture but with a population where half is below 19. With rampant aids. There, the youth is fighting for their development and security. Would be interesting to see the parallel with Philippines where the youth is still very docile and does not seem interested / motivated (yet) in getting the country ahead as a country (in spite of the interesting flag ceremonies).
i am totally convinced that the generation over 25 will never instigate change but have all hopes for the younger ones. Gina had a good run and it was fun watching…
Speaking of speeding limits
I was cited by you for speeding on the following topics.
Olympics
ROTC
Flood Control
etc.
I assume that
With the few of us here, you are the most travelled, Joe maybe next then Joey then Irineo. I am quite sure there are more but wih even your experience I may have a few comments if I may.
The Philippines being sub par, mediocre and will have an uphill battle is the common them in your retort to my comments.
Even if it takes more than our lifetimes, our development would take a slow burn no matter how we cook it.
We may have an uphill battle,but it is not sysyphian.
The tasks maybe gargantuan ,but not at herculean levels.
We may not ahve to be Narcissus to love our selves, but love our selves we must.
Terrific commentary, Karl. Poetic. I especially like the line “We may have an uphill battle, but it is not sysyphian.” Terrific. In fact, the journey is rich with understandings, amusements, disappointments, and achievements. And the Philippines is a great place to live.
OT, I caught a note on Twitter that referred to an article that says the US is building a facility at Oyster Bay on the west coast of Palawan that will be designed to service drone boats up to 38 feet long, and will be transferring such boats to the Philippines in the near future. I think our “bee fleet” work here is done, lol.
Hoorah!
In constitutional republics, there is a tendency to elevate the constitution itself into a position of reverence without fully understanding the meaning of a constitution. A constitution in another description is a contract between the elites and the people, where the elite agree to give up some of their monopoly on power to the populace in return for stability against revolutions. We should not mistake where the lion’s share of power, both economic and political lies (with the elites). The question then in a constitutional system is how much of the share of power the non-elite population holds through a rotation of representatives (who are often elites themselves). In more countries where the general public has a larger share of power, the economic situation tends to be more fair. Where the balance of power is skewed towards the elites, economic inequality is more pronounced.
Now I’m but an outside observer of the Philippines and I don’t comment much on the dynamic of the elite/general public power balance; rather I see things through the observations I’ve seen, the culture habits that are around us, and the history that is behind the cultural habits. From my viewpoint the sometimes obscene amounts of consumerism in the Philippines (which is shocking even to an American like me) can be viewed through my understanding of the underlying cultural history common across the Austronesian sphere. I see materialism in the Philippines as not only a human trait, but a central cultural trait going back to the sometimes-described ancient barangic era. The fast cash mentality and consumerism is a non-Filipino idea overlayed on top of an existing cultural tendency that complements the imported idea.
The rampant consumerism is one example of how outside ideas are applied to a cultural mentality as an external accoutrement — transforming the existing culture, but ultimately not being entirely necessary. But more positive outside ideas can also be applied and made a permanent part of a culture, rather than being a façade. For starters, more focus on effective eduction would be a positive. Secondly, I imagine providing a way for OFWs to come back to help build the country would also help. Out of necessity it is understandable that a country sends her best, hardest working, and smartest people overseas to earn hard currency. At present from my years of observation that earned income gets plowed right back into what seems to me to be extreme consumerism.
My small personal project in Cebu among acquaintances and people referred over to me is to give advice on how to utilize the resources they have better, rather than blowing their 13th month pay on a secondhand iPhone, while their child struggles with being ashamed the child does not have the required school supplies. By the way, the government should make “free” public school fully free, including school meals, books and supplies provided. Educated Filipinos I speak with act as these are insurmountable problems. Post-war Finland which was very poor at the time accomplished this years ago by working with Finnish farmers and civil society to redirect surpluses towards government programs.
I don’t think I’m doing anything amazing in particular as it concerns the poor Filipinos I work with. I give simple to follow advice on managing resources and putting aside a bit of savings by having more self-discipline to identify needs vs wants. Where possible I give introductions to supervisors and managers I know who can help someone find a job in BPO. Still there are quite a few who treat someone like me more like a datu who will provide monetary help. I have long been a believer that the problem that keeps most Filipinos poor is in a sense they are told and judged on why they “lack fish to eat,” when instead the Filipino should be helped to be given the tools (the fishing rod) and taught “how to fish.” When I have time and energy, I’m more than happy to help because my payment are experiences and human connection, but should fixing things be left to foreigners and outside NGOs? The Philippine elite are standing right there.
Analogous and hopefully not off tangent
With or without votebuying it is the non elite who decides elections that is wht they are easy scapegoats and can easily be dismissed as bobotante if your candidate loses
One other scapegoat is block voting by the INC damn they are just million of them if their headcount is to be believed.
Horizontal organizations does not mean leaderless organizations.
Call them flat and no hierarchies people would still need a leader because someone has to be blamed or even sacrificed.
Accountability, jugement,rersponsibility,accuse blame it is still fingerpointing.
Electronic voting machines certainly can help. What I noticed in the recent midterm was that even those who did not support Duterte candidates accepted vote bribes from the Duterte nexus, then voting for their preferred candidate. That’s why the Duterte aligned partylist implemented a “backer” system where if the voter wanted more money, they needed to show their voting receipt. Illegality aside, everything is “legal” until the offenders are caught and prosecuted.
@Joey
There are more banked Filipinos than ever.
Meaning consumerism is not a problem.
It’s exciting to see the positive momentum in financial inclusion and banking growth in the Philippines in 2025. The rise in bank lending and formal account ownership signals an encouraging trend toward more Filipinos integrating into the formal financial system. Here’s a breakdown of key factors that seem to be driving this growth:
Bank Lending Growth: The 12.2% and 12.8% growth in bank lending reflects a strong rebound and confidence in the economic environment. The increasing demand for credit card and motor vehicle loans, along with lending to real estate and retail sectors, suggests rising consumer confidence and the expansion of key industries.
Formal Account Ownership: With 56% of the adult population having a financial provider account, this is a remarkable shift from previous years. The increase in formal account ownership indicates improved financial inclusion, especially with a growing number of Filipinos now able to access essential banking services.
Digital Transformation and Financial Inclusion: The push for digital banking solutions and open finance is a key enabler. The development of digital-only banks and innovative payment solutions will likely accelerate the uptake of formal banking services, especially among the tech-savvy younger population and in remote areas.
Economic Growth: Continued economic growth coupled with stable public expenditure will likely bolster demand for banking services. A thriving economy means more businesses and individuals engaging with the banking sector, making it an essential tool for managing finances, investments, and growth.
Government Initiatives: The government’s focus on financial inclusion, especially through programs like Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino and Walang Gutom, targets marginalized communities, ensuring that they aren’t left out of financial services. These efforts are crucial in bridging the gap and providing access to those who have been traditionally excluded.
Together, these factors indicate a shift towards a more inclusive financial system in the Philippines. The rise of digital banking solutions and government support is creating an environment where financial access and literacy are on the rise, providing greater opportunities for economic empowerment.
Rampant consumerism began in the 1950s in the US when technology and mass production started bringing gadgets, appliances, cars, entertainment, apparel, and homes within easy purchasing power. Without it, the US would be cowboys and Indians. The Philippines without consumerism would be like today’s poorer provinces. The lack of manufacturing is just laziness and risk aversion, both admirable traits for most. So I tend not to view consumerism as bad, but as good, providing construction, transportation, warehousing, clerking, and other decent jobs. It is a bedrock of economic stability, capitalism churning away creating wealth.
Yes, that’s right. What I meant though is that the form of hyper consumerism in the Philippines requires injections of cash from OFW remittances and BPO workers spread across their families. Whereas in the US consumerism is more of a function of buying stuff with the salary earned in a value-added system (formerly manufacturing-based, now more high services-based). There is also a system in the US of advancement via consumerism of leveling up throughout life from job promotions giving more salary to have a more comfortable life. Granted, that US system that worked well post-war started getting damaged when credit cards became more widely approved, further damaged by globalism. In the Philippines there is no such system or even an analog by my estimation.
But yes, consumerism does drive the circular economy (eateries, medical providers, grocery stores, shops and so on) in the local context which ripples out across the regional hubs then nation. The important part, I think, is how the money that enables that consumerism is created. In the US there are many value-add chains. My worry is the Philippines has all the consumerism (even more than the US, just look at the mall sizes), generally less self-discipline with waiting out “wants” and prioritizing “needs,” and a big dependency on obtaining foreign hard currency via OFWs and BPO workers. For example, I have the darnedest time convincing Filipino friends with the simple logic of “you should plan ahead and buy a bottle of shampoo or a box of powdered laundry detergent” to save money vs buying single-use sachets from the neighborhood sari-sari store. The usual reply I get is “it’s too tiring to go to the mall, so I’ll buy it more near” (the malls, which are everywhere, is literally down the street a single ride away).
Yes, the foundations of personal wealth are different in the Philippines, thin, and not always value creation to the max. My home town of Naval is a seafarers town, very much a respectable profession, maybe not creating jobs for the Philippines because there are few Philippine shipping companies, I’d guess. But the money spends well in our town for houses, cars, and goods. Classic Philippines. In Cebu, BPOs, medical, tourism, and a whole lot of little businesses. Other communities, OFWs. It’s all good I think.
That sort of more organic non-national-led development is all good. Temporarily broken gaps in disaster recovery and aid are filled by foreign donations and NGOs when the system breaks down, let’s say after a major typhoon or previously with child nutrition. I also don’t think there’s anything bad if the Philippines continues on that sort of path — it has more or less worked out throughout history.
Part of the Philippines’ charm is that things are kind of broken there, but somehow also kind of works out in the end, like the vibrant customized jeepneys and tricycles that ply the streets. However, if Filipinos who due to their economic class want the Philippines to rise in stature economically and globally (as they often claim to want), then they must remember that they are the ones with the agency to make it so by pushing the politician class that they are allied with to start leading national development. It seems to me that for the most part, the educated and professional Filipinos are fine with the status quo which they derive their societal position and benefits from.
Yes. Rustic does have its charm. And, indeed, most seem fine with it. Well, the entitled love it and the blind can’t see.
And the people for the most part live on. Whenever I’m “in town” there is always a party to go to, with drinking sessions that stretch past midnight. Laughter, talking about random “kwento,” every man wanting to get his opinion in. Sometimes fists start flying too, the wounds salved with more booze. There’s always food somehow, with everyone bringing their bit. Just don’t bring lechon, because it will be gone before you can suck the meat off the bones. It’s all good in the end in the Philippines.
Yes it is, as I look at it and live it.
Without consumerism no food for parties we will just consume the air of the story tellers and our wives be konsumido if we go home late
We created an anti Martial law anti cronyism and a constitution with lots of check and balances and a constitution for a quality way of life.
Some enabling laws take too long to come and some will never come like the anti dynasty Laws.
I think for the most part the Constitution is a good one. The problem seems to be in the implementation of some parts. That would need courage from lawmakers and the executive to carry out the goals of the Constitution.
On the right and wrong part.
I belive Heydarian that this is the worse senate ever, I do not know if the th senate could be any better with the worst clown in Bato still around then joined by marcoletta and padilla in fairness to sotto sometimes he makes sense. Still WTF
At least minus one Villar.
Will having sibling tandems make it any better, I doubt it.
The education portions I discussed sporadically here with Joe and myself.
I’m going to be a bit cynical here and say that general I don’t have much faith in all levels of the Philippines government. In order to start fixing these messes at a minimum would require a solid presidential term, then a second solid term to institutionalize the effort of the former.
In the Philippines the elites control all the levers of power, and if a sufficient number of elites wanted change, change would’ve happened a long time ago. The Filipino cannot continue to hope for leaders who will give them a larger handout than usual, and certainly cannot hold out for the perfect savior figure. The system as exists benefit the elites, yes even the well-intentioned ones. The vast majority of people are kept at the knife’s edge between survival and hope, not enough to foment popular uprising, but also not enough to have advancement opportunities. Those who lived through the anti-Marcos Sr. Movement and EDSA can probably better expound, but its seemed through my understanding that the margin between the people back then passively accepting and tensions boiling over into revolution was exceedingly thin. That margin has since been given a bit more room, but not by much it seems.
Those who have the power to effectuate change need to get away from being overwhelmed by the massive scale of problems and refocus on breaking things down into manageable goals. Every success provides a foothold for the next goal. If one stumbles, the smaller goal can be reattempted once the mistakes are accessed. Focus needs to be put on building from the bottom up starting with the poorest citizens, rather than a trying to impose a regnant plan from the top that risks failing on a grand scale. When the water is unreachable, start by adding clean pebbles one by one until the water level is closer to availability. The deep well is the potential of the nation, the pebbles are Filipinos, and the water is the life that all Filipinos deserve.
There is too much focus by Filipino elites on epistemological change and trying to do system transformation. I get it. There is a human want to be part of something bigger than one’s self, a revolution perhaps that creates fundamental shift towards what we think is “good.” Humans often look at the destination miles in front of us and feel defeated thinking we can never reach the goal. A journey always starts by putting one foot in front of the other and forcing the body to start moving.
Cynicism is optimism that has given up. Epistemological change is the sum of all problem-solving so I don’t see how that can be bad. All you say is true, but it is also the relentless negativity that is wearing to people who are doing their best. Does it help? Social scientists perhaps. Senators, I doubt it. The common Jose? No.
Take the matter of vote buying, a deeply ingrained affront to democracy that keeps the entitled in positions of entitlement. As with pork and dynasty preservation, they are elements of the system. Voters feel nothing changes no matter how they vote. So the trick to ending vote buying is better distribution of pain, from voting badly, and pleasure, for voting for honesty and competence. Knowledge is important in this regard.
There is a danger in boundless optimism too. Well, previously I had a hard life until after college, so I probably didn’t start with that much optimism to begin with. I wouldn’t consider cynicism to be the same as pessimism though. Cynicism recognizes the imperfections in the system and seeks to work around it, while pessimism is the defeatism of not even trying. In a sense cynicism is a form of cautious optimism. We can observe why Scandinavians are some of the happiest people in the world due to their culture — they are natural cynics and expect nothing, thus they are pleasantly surprised when good stuff happens even if it came from their own efforts. Scandinavians have a cultural memory of adversity and prepare for it, while the various Philippine cultures tend to have adversity in their lives yet believe in some form of self-validation akin to “the power of positive thinking” which ignores the existence of that adversity.
But yes, I believe negativity is bad, as negativity and pessimism go hand-in-hand. One being able to recognize what is wrong, and what one can do to change what one can change is not negative however — it’s actually constructive in my view. On the other hand, the pure optimism that many DE Filipinos have often become cycles of being absolutely soul crushed, then feeling hopeful again. Almost like praying for a miracle to happen. This is one of the very mechanisms by which the dynasties maintain control. So with the Sugbuanons I interact with I try to coach that one should not pray for miracles and that it’s ok not to be able to do everything at once, but it’s important to try to tackle the parts one can practically reach first. Small accomplishments build confidence to do bigger things. No one is really teaching the non-AB Filipinos who don’t have access to good education to think this way. They either need to figure it out themselves the hard way, or they need to be taught these skills like anyone else.
On vote buying, greed is certainly a factor. If it’s easy to get the money or relief goods while not involving that much risk, I’d imagine any reasonable person would think “why not?” Beyond simple human greed, many who accept vote bribes also need that money or food somehow, so I have a lot of sympathy towards the person but none with regard to the practice. People who have access to better jobs with better salaries are harder to buy politically. They might also start to think more independently towards their own self-interest and the interest of their family, and when their children have access to better education the next generation has access to even more. The simplest solution as of now is to grab part of the manufacturing pie flowing out of China, otherwise it’s going to be a long slog of OFWs/BPO helping their family or NGOs helping small groups of people at a time that may take decades.
Yes, I wonder if DTI is focused on China. I think I’ll research that. Huge opportunity.
Aside from DTI, as far as I know new PEZA special economic zones can be declared by presidential proclamation and it “just happens” not withstanding Congressional opposition. I had a look at the current PEZA SEZ list and there are not that many, especially in Mindanao. The PEZA SEZs I’m familiar with in the Cebu area are quite small; the few I’ve seen in Mindanao are even smaller, even in a “large” SEC like the Port of Zamboanga City (ZC SEZ).
If I were a government advisor, I’d advise that economic talks need to take place immediately with Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea to sell the Philippines as a destination for those countries’ OEM companies moving manufacturing out of the PRC. If Marcos Jr. had tackled this at the start of his administration, possibly groundbreaking would’ve been accomplished by the midterms with factories sprouting up by the end of his term. Tangible things people can see, especially if it involves better salaries, would cement his legacy. It’s now past the midterms so I’m not sure how much effort the current administration wants to expend.
I saw this government press release earlier today and just let out a big sigh. The China Chamber of International Commerce is a direct instrument of the CCP to exert economic control over other countries. Why PEZA is working with CCIC rather than the democratic countries of Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea that need to move their manufacturing is beyond me. The MO of the PRC is not to spread around economic development; the PRC wants control and fealty, and I would not be surprised if the PRC imports Chinese workers into any “collaboration,” just like the PRC did for POGOs. I guess it’s less work and an easier “win” to go with the PRC who will move in and build everything then keep control, compared to doing the somewhat harder thing of working together with friendly countries where hard things need to be built.
https://business.inquirer.net/529777/peza-inks-collab-with-china-business-chamber-leader/
That is disturbing.
Perhaps Marcos Jr. has other priorities to deal with, like trying to prevent the odious Dutertes from rising again. Maybe the next president will get around early in his/her term to attracting what’s left of manufacturing investment leaving China. I’m sure there’d be something left, even if the best investments are dwindling fast now.
Jenny Romero, PEZA legal affairs group manager, said in a radio interview: “The top nationalities that we have issued PEZA visas to are Japanese, Indians, and then South Koreans. Our issuance to Chinese (nationals) is very small — only 1,812.”
https://www.bworldonline.com/economy/2024/06/20/603300/peza-locators-account-for-bulk-of-special-investor-visas-issued/
On Tuesday, Party-list Rep. Erwin T. Tulfo filed House Resolution (HR) No. 1771, calling for an investigation into the issuance of Special Resident Retiree Visas and the Special Investor Resident Visas (SIRV).
He said that the resolution aims to address reports of excessive issuance of special visas to foreigners, particularly Chinese nationals.
In an online briefing, Ryan Ramos, director of the Incentives Administration Service at the Board of Investments (BoI), said that the BoI endorsed around 3,000 SIRVs since 1988.
“On average, around 50% of the SIRVs we endorsed from 2020–2024 are for Chinese nationals,” Mr. Ramos said.
The BoI endorsed 18 SIRVs in 2020, 29 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 80 in 2023, and 71 in 2024.
According to Mr. Ramos, to make the issuance of the special visas easier to monitor, the Department of Justice has created a technical working group to address the need to compile data from the various agencies.
3,000 seems like not very many. The pogo operators must have had different visas. I think Immigration has seen the light on automation and is improving their operations. My annual reporting is now done on line, neat and easy.
Very good.
Apparently there are still scamming hubs.One raid here caught an untargeted group simply because they threw all the gadgets from their windows and the raiding team noticed but their original target escaped
If made into a movie, it will be a comedy.
ahaha yes
ahaha yes
For BOI it is a different story because lots were given to Chinese
My understanding is these special visas are often used as a form of permanent resident visa after a nominal investment into some sort of business. Perhaps helpful in a sense if it attracts small businesses to the Philippines, but those are small fry in the larger picture. I’d love to see more effort to court big business and manufacturing developments, especially in manufacturing that can create jobs for Filipinos who could not complete their education for whatever reason. Vietnam and India are especially and proactively courting big capital inflows. It’s frustrating that the Philippines often takes a passive “if it comes to us” attitude. That might work for a bukid dweller who doesn’t know better due to lack of education, but leaders ostensibly are supposed to be the best among us and should know better or at the very least go seek out the solutions.
Ah, excellent. That’s reassuring. Thanks.
Schools mass produce laborers rather than tech geniuses.”
I listened to a congressional hearing on Tech Voc.
Our current situation is sad. But we have a goal maybe we would get there and get there if we can.
Goals are the starting point for progress, for sure. Resilience is the failure of leadership. Goal: inform voters. Stop peddling miracle drinks.
I do believe there are good initiatives going on to match students to job needs. Sara Duterte rather got things off course when she was EdSec. Secretary Angara is working multi-dimensionally. Much better.
I am thankful of the things Angara is doing though Congress job is oversight and budgeting aside from legislating educational laws, nothing wrong with periodic reviews and reminders.
At least even if some congressmen or women want to grandstand the only thing they can do that is by asking the right questions, no time for stupid on the spot shaming questions. It might backfire and get sensationalized.
Yes, all good.
this must be greatest joke, filipinos are thinkers with no place to go, did we get that right? coz if they really are thinkers, they think of innovative ways and create amusing places for them to go. in this day and age, the sky is no limit! there are many escapisms, as limited only as their own imagination. they can write original novels as quirky as they like and publish them in the internet and see how they go, they might just attract big publishing houses, their novels made into movies, etc. and they’ll be celebrities.
and if they are as smart as we think they are, they can surely learn to sing and be like sb19, or binis, or be influencers and have their own vlog with millions of followers, and attract advertisers who buy space in the vlog to advertise their products, and money will surely pour in. just be careful with finance sec recto who is eyeing of taxing money earned by vloggers and influencers via their internet or digital activities.
they can also be sports persons and if they are that good at sports, they’ll attract sponsors like nike and netflix, or nestle. and if they win gold medals at olympic, they are going to be set for life, be given condos, cars, houses and money worth millions.
still, they can join sanguniang kabataan (SK) and be elected politicians, senators and lawmakers, and make our country great again.
really, there are lots of destinations for smart filipinos who are willing to put in the hard work, sweat and effort.
The article is about the barriers that prevent all of that. Today there is applied genius in corruption, blames, excuses, and laziness.
We can sort the Philippines by age and location. Most of the olds in the provinces will never get to apply their thinking, no matter how smart they are. Five year olds in the cities have a shot at becoming powerful and rich by applying their thinking, if the teaching model changes to inspire them to do so. The chances for those in between have improved with technology, but it isn’t an open door.
I use as example the fact that my wife is smarter than me, but has not been able to leverage it with knowledge and opportunity. Philippine government should open doors, not keep them closed.
After our past few days of discussing AI, I come to the temporary conclusion that the offshoring business model will persist because of the ever cost cutting measures in the developed countries.
The value chain will always be global.
MAGA manufacturing will never return to post World War 2.
Services and Information will continue its pattern.
plus if we play our cards right
Friendshiring of defense materiel can be done here.
Our education system will improve on the next five years if they do what they say is very doable.
Watching the Education hearings made me say that.
So what if we continue to deploy OFWs there will be plenty left here.
NO to overliance on relatives abroad yes to self help without forgetting that there is nothing wrong in asking for help, just not all the time.
Consumerism always drives ups gdp and a driver of inclusive growth.
It just means our retail industry will always survive.
That all seems spot on to me, For sure there is a lot going on.
“Sky is no limit”
We had the Diwata,Agila, Maya at iba pa satellites. I wish they could be launched here maybe Space X could help us on that after Musk retires, or better yet NASA will have a PH HQ.
India
I wish we could be as lucky, they have advance STEM people, they have and had CEOS is almost all the known MNCs.
They have downsides like having the most poorest of the poor in number.Having the worst hate crimes, having castes and holy cows.
If we have the best parts of India we could go somewhere.
One thing revealed or reminded in that congressional educational hearings
We do have TESDA certifications for job readiness after senior high but the problem is that out of four rungs we only have second rung certifiers simply because it is too expensive to subsidize for scholars and even for private school SHS. So we know the problem and that is only always half of the battle.
On subsidising.
We can’t subsidise agriculture because allegedly mechanised farming boxed out farming jobs.
Ever since our farmers are way to old and now even agri graduates can’t complete with the lucky and the moneyed few who can have farms who are nor even schooled in agriculture.
I hope No more general education subjects in College especially those that you have already taken up.in high school.
I do not believe in the line of thinking of teacherless education.
I do not want a robot or A VR entity to teach my would be great grandchildren.
A twelve year old got himself in trouble with the feds because he built a mini nuclear reactior just because a fourteen year old built one in the past. Again correct me if inaccurate.
DIY videos and materials accesible to a young genius can do wonders especially if he has many fans and believers only one billionaire sponsor is enough.
Why can’t we mass produce so called inventions and innovations.
No government support and no billionaire sponsor.
Present those’ water powered cars, bus trains, bacteria that eats plastic, moon rakers and moon rovers, flourescent lamps, karaokes and even yoyos would not be urban legends.
“No billionaire sponsor”, rather sums up how little the oligarchs contribute to sports or education or anything but profits. Or maybe I’m missing something.
Maybe I was oversimplifying or generalising.
I have talked to myself in the past in comment threads at the risk of being put in the dog house because of world domination,joke only, I don’t mind if my past blogs have low stats I am used to talking to my self and even just one to three guys including the blog owner.
I have written big picture stuff, I even wrote when will this blog rise again even if I know why Joe got sidelined.
Maybe I will write again one day. We are not a news blog so I never have to worry about being real time or even being yesterday’s news.
I write because it is a discipline, two a week, and an enjoyment when the words or ideas align in ways that surprise me, and to throw a pebble of sand into the ocean to change the destiny of the Philippines. It is a relief, like a vacation day, when others contribute, but that is entirely up to them. The sun rises . . .
Please continue and be well and safe.