Do Not Go Gentle Into Performative Governance
Why the Philippines Needs Proof, Not Applause
By Karl Garcia
The Philippines is not a poor country. It is a tired one.
Tired of traffic that steals years from our lives.
Tired of institutions that promise reform and deliver excuses.
Tired of elections that feel consequential—and governance that does not.
And so, little by little, we have learned to go gentle—not into death, but into resignation.
That is the real danger.
Because resignation is the perfect partner of performative governance: a system where leaders speak loudly, act visibly, and are never required to prove that anything actually worked.
A Nation That Claps, Then Forgets
Every election season follows a familiar script. Candidates promise more jobs, safer streets, better transport, faster justice, honest government. The language is bold. The delivery theatrical. The crowd listens.
Then the election ends.
The applause fades.
And the promises dissolve into narrative.
The failure is not that leaders make promises. The failure is that no one is institutionally required to prove whether those promises were fulfilled—at what cost, over what time frame, and with what measurable results.
Philippine governance does not collapse primarily from corruption. It collapses from something quieter and more corrosive:
the absence of measurement.
Where proof is optional, theater thrives.
Resignation Is Not Filipino—but It Is Learned
Filipinos are not born passive. Our history is one of pakikipaglaban—not reckless rebellion, but principled refusal to accept injustice as normal.
Bayanihan was not smiling cooperation under exploitation. It was collective effort toward dignity.
People Power was not a festival. It was a decision to stop being afraid.
Yet today, civic courage is subtly discouraged. We are told to “be realistic,” to “understand the system,” to “wait our turn.” These are not wisdoms. They are instructions to stand down.
When citizens expect little, governments are free to deliver even less.
The Politics of Low Expectations
Our politics has mastered one survival trick: lowering expectations until failure looks like progress.
A train line breaks down—again—and we celebrate when it runs tomorrow.
Flooding worsens—and we praise relief instead of demanding prevention.
Corruption is exposed—and we applaud investigations that lead nowhere.
This is not governance.
This is managed decline.
Vision is not a slogan. It is the courage to measure performance, assign responsibility, and insist on consequences. Without measurement, patience becomes surrender.
Why Populist Theatrics Flourish
Populist governance depends on one condition: citizens cannot independently verify claims.
Where outcomes are not measured:
- anecdotes replace data
- visibility replaces effectiveness
- enforcement replaces prevention
- spending replaces impact
A road is inaugurated and assumed to be useful.
A crackdown is announced and assumed to be effective.
A budget is spent and assumed to be a success.
Evidence destroys this illusion. Measurement introduces comparison, attribution, and accountability—three things political theater cannot survive.
This is why the loudest governments are often the least auditable.
Governance Without Memory
The Philippines does not lack laws, plans, or institutions. It lacks feedback loops.
Laws are passed without post-enactment review.
Budgets are audited without outcome evaluation.
Development plans are written but never used as scorecards.
State of the Nation Addresses celebrate activity, not results.
Every administration is treated as a reset button. Projects are scrapped. Data buried. Lessons forgotten.
We remember personalities, not patterns.
We love stories more than systems.
A society that cannot remember cannot learn.
Why COA Is Necessary—but Not Enough
The Commission on Audit plays a vital role. It ensures money is spent according to law.
But COA does not answer the question citizens actually care about.
COA can tell us:
- whether funds were spent legally
- whether procedures were followed
COA cannot tell us:
- whether crime declined
- whether court delays shortened
- whether learning outcomes improved
- whether trust increased
COA audits compliance, not outcomes.
Expecting COA to measure performance allows the real accountability gap to persist.
Resilience Without Accountability Is a Trap
We are often praised for resilience. We should be cautious.
Resilience is admirable in disasters.
It is dangerous when it becomes a substitute for justice.
Bayanihan is not citizens endlessly adjusting to state failure. It is citizens demanding competence so collective effort can move forward—not just clean up afterward.
A nation that plans only in crisis is not resilient. It is negligent.
What Evidence-Based Governance Actually Looks Like
Modern governance does not treat activity as proof of success. It treats outcomes as unavoidable.
Serious institutions use:
- Objectives and Key Results (OKRs)
- Balanced scorecards
- Strategy maps linking actions to outcomes
These are not academic theories. They are daily tools in systems that expect delivery.
Their absence in Philippine governance is not a technical limitation.
It is a political choice.
The Missing Institution: Proof
What the country needs is not another reform slogan, but a measurement system.
A National Promise Registry where:
- campaign promises are logged and time-bound
- agency targets are measurable and public
- progress is independently tracked
- failure requires explanation, not spin
This would turn promises from performance into commitment.
A promise that cannot be measured is a promise designed not to be kept.
Why the System Resists Measurement
Politicians prefer ambiguity—it protects them from failure.
Bureaucracies prefer compliance—it is safer than accountability.
Institutions survive by managing process, not proving impact.
Once outcomes are measured, someone must explain shortfalls. Someone must revise policy. Someone must admit error.
Populism avoids this by design. It replaces accountability with identity. Questioning results becomes “attacking the people.”
Forward Is Not a Mood. It Is a Discipline.
The Philippines only moves forward when it chooses forward—deliberately, pragmatically, without drama.
Not louder nationalism.
Not endless blame.
Not nostalgia.
Progress is boring. Technical. Administrative. And that is its strength.
You cannot barangay your way out of traffic collapse.
You cannot bayanihan your way into energy security.
You cannot pakikisama your way through climate adaptation.
Systems beat personalities. Always.
Final Call
Do not go gentle into civic sleep.
Do not confuse patience with wisdom.
Do not mistake resilience for consent.
This nation has carried houses on its shoulders before.
It can carry institutions, too—if it chooses to stand up again.
The Philippines does not need a miracle.
It needs proof.
And proof only moves one way:
Forward.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
https://pia.gov.ph/news/legal-practitioner-proposes-institutionalization-of-govt-performance-indicators/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThat%20is%20something%20that%20we,different%20agencies%2C%E2%80%9D%20David%20stated.
“That is something that we consider of a legislation, institutionalize performance indicators that focus from the national down to the individual members of government para po ‘yung mga priorities in the budget will translate to actual performance,” David said during the Caucus for Good Governance Beyond Elections held in Baguio City on April 1, 2025.
David elaborated that the Department of Budget and Management provides an organizational performance indicator framework (OPIF) to the different government agencies and they have to fill the major final outputs (MFOs).
OPIF directs resources toward results and accounts for performance by identifying the MFOs that the agency delivers to its clients. OPIF attaches indicators of performance for each MFO.
However, most of the time the MFOs do not translate to the specific performance indicators, not even for each personnel, David said.
“Kasi, the budget is the declaration of our priorities and most of the time, those priorities are set aside because of the performance once the budget is passed into law and then later on released to the different agencies,” David stated.
I think, the concerns of atty david may have been superceded by the law authored by senator bam aquino as follows:
As of December 2025, the Philippine Senate unanimously passed on third and final reading the CADENA Act (Senate Bill No. 1506), authored by Senator
Bam Aquino. Also known as the “Blockchain the Budget Act,” this landmark legislation mandates the use of blockchain technology to make government budget transactions transparent, auditable, and accessible to the public.
Key Details of the CADENA Act (Blockchain the Budget Bill):
Status: The Senate approved the measure with a 17-0-0 vote on December 14, 2025.
Purpose: To curb corruption by providing real-time, tamper-proof tracking of national budget spending.
Mechanism: All government agencies are required to upload, update, and secure budget documents on a centralized digital, blockchain-based platform.
Accessibility: The system ensures that budget data is searchable and downloadable for public oversight.
Transparency: The technology creates an immutable, timestamped record of expenditures, enabling accountability from budget appropriation to final disbursement.
https://gcg.gov.ph/files/ONzRUkhMxaipEfjfn8b6.pdf
INTRODUCTION
In the previous Performance Agreement Negotiations (PAN), we created interim
performance scorecards which were based on our organization’s Organizational
Performance Indicator Framework (OPIF) logframe and Major Final Outputs (MFO).
However, these interim performance scorecards will be altered as we migrate to the
Performance Evaluation System (PES) framework (See the difference of OPIF and
PES in Annex A). In the PES, we will not only be looking at our outputs but more
importantly, our breakthrough results as basis of our performance. This Strategy
Map and Performance Scorecard Guidebook will provide you a step-by-step
procedure on how you will create your documents in accordance with the standard
requirements provided in GCG MC No. 2013-021
. Moreover, it intends to provide a
deeper understanding and appreciation of the framework and concepts being
employed in the PES.
In governance, Mintzberg’s “pitfalls of roadmaps” highlight the danger of treating public policy as a rigid engineering project rather than a dynamic social process. When applied to public administration and governance, these pitfalls manifest as follows:
How should governance proceed?
Instead of rigid 5-year plans, Mintzberg’s work suggests a Multi-Modal Approach that acknowledges the “protean” (ever-changing) nature of policy. Planners should act as strategy finders—looking for what is already working on the ground and “scaling” those successes—rather than architects of a master plan.
Are you analyzing a specific policy roadmap or looking for ways to build a more adaptive governance framework?
“And so, little by little, we have learned to go gentle—not into death, but into resignation.” – Karl
Enjoyed your essay as usual, Karl. Haven’t gotten to your “addendum” in the comments yet. Some of us Americans here have been talking about how grateful we are for the protesters in currently freezing cold Minnesota who are standing up for our rights. Two have given their lives which is tragic, but it is up to us to make sure that their sacrifices were not in vain.
This incidents and the others before it should not and never be downplayed as another overly sensitive protest, U.remember BLM mocked and rebuked saying that All ives matter not only blacks. At face value I would agree, but it is more than meets the eye.
Speaking ICE, the Italians want nothing to do with them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y29xzjdzvo
Trump’s secret police first attacked the Greater Los Angeles metro area (population 18.5 million), failed. Then they attacked the Chicago metro area (population 9.4 million). Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area was the site of sustained assault due to a misunderstanding of the BLM legacy (population 3.8 million). Now they are in Portland, Maine (which combined with Lewiston, Maine, population 680K). Border Patrol-ICE only have the capacity to attack one city at a time despite being funded at higher than the US Marines. They were run out of LA. They were run out of Chicago. They are now being run out of the Twin Cities, and are reduced to attacking rural Maine. At each point Trump has misunderstood the resolve of local citizens. It’s starting to become clear to Americans who forgot that the simple truth is that citizens outnumber the thugs and Americans no longer need to accept being bullied by sub-IQ degenerates who can only bully because they are transgressive while expecting others to respect rules and norms.
In the Civil War at the pivotal Battle of Gettysburg, the Confederate rebels under Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee had the US Army surrounded in a pincer movement, poised to crush the loyalist states for good. A call went out for volunteers to be the point of the spear to charge the Confederate line. The 1st Minnesota Regiment answered the call despite having arrived to the battlegrounds of Gettysburg late. The charge of the 262 men of the 1st Minnesota was so fierce despite an 82% casualty rate that the Confederate line collapsed allowing Union General George G. Meade’s forces to pour in. The 1st Minnesota’s battle banner carrier fell, only to have a man of the regiment to throw down his rifle and pick up the unit banner and the Flag of the United States and continue the charge. In total the man holding the banners fell 5 times, only to be replaced by a man with invigorated fervor. The 1st Minnesota eventually even captured the battle banner of the opposing Confederate 28th Virginia Regiment in hand-to-hand combat, which Minnesota has refused to return even after 163 years. Those men of the 1st Minnesota were mostly recent immigrants speaking no English (they were German and Scandinavian immigrants who spoke German), yet they had more patriotism than the native born traitors. Minnesota saved the US at Gettysburg. It’s no surprise that the turning point after 10 years of the US being under the thumb of MAGA starts in Minnesota.
Karl,
I pulled out this part of your essay (COA):
>>Why COA Is Necessary—but Not Enough
The Commission on Audit plays a vital role. It ensures money is spent according to law.
But COA does not answer the question citizens actually care about.
COA can tell us:
COA cannot tell us:
COA audits compliance, not outcomes.
Expecting COA to measure performance allows the real accountability gap to persist.<<
The X-Road tool can address those issues. Off the top of my head, I can think of two leaders in government who can “start small” with this tool and get the ball rolling. These are Vico Sotto and Leni Robredo, two current mayors who seem to have more noble intentions for their constituents than many politicians. Then we can watch for MOMENTUM that some folk in the Society have recently spoken about.
I don’t know if any folk in this Society are old enough to remember when the Philippine Long Distance Co. had a stranglehold on telephones in the country. I recall back in the 70s, I knew these guys from Hong Kong who were trying to set up an office in Makati. They said that they had already spent 75 thousand pesos in “grease money” to try and get a landline, and still no landline. In those days, residence lines had “party lines.”
Technology solved that problem with the advent of cell phones. When voice calling was super expensive, the people learned to be super good at texting (and Philippines became the text capital of the world! who says we are slow to accept technology like X-Road?)
Just my 2 cents. My hope is someone in the staff of Sotto and Robredo (and possibly other “enlightened” politicians in the Philippines) see my posts on “X-Road” and look into it. It is a leapfrog approach over the current ways in the Philippines including the culture which is a big part of Karl’s current essay “Do not go gentle”
Maybe we will have our version.
In the Philippines, there isn’t a direct local implementation of X-Road (the secure, decentralized government data exchange layer used in Estonia and other countries). However, the Philippine government has developed its own equivalents and building blocks for secure data interoperability, digital identity, and whole-of-government integration that serve similar purposes: 🇵🇭 Philippine Equivalent to X-Road
1. eGovDX — E-Government Data Exchange Platform
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) operates the eGovDX platform, which is the closest local counterpart to X-Road in terms of secure, interoperable data sharing across government:
Why eGovDX is like X-Road:
X-Road itself is a software and architectural standard (originating in Estonia) for secure data exchange. The Philippines hasn’t adopted X-Road software per se, but eGovDX fills a similar role in the national digital ecosystem — acting as the backbone for interoperable government services. 🧠 Supporting Frameworks
To enable platforms like eGovDX, the Philippines also has:
2. eGovPH Super App
This is the centralized citizen-facing interface where users can access many government services (e.g., national ID, payments, permits) in one place — analogous to how integrated digital services are delivered on top of data exchange infrastructure.
3. Philippine eGovernment Interoperability Framework (PeGIF) (policy level)
DICT has been working on updating the PeGIF, which provides the standards and guidelines for seamless information sharing among government systems. It serves a similar policy role to interoperability frameworks that support technical systems like X-Road. 📌 In Summary Feature Estonia’s X-RoadPhilippines (eGovDX) Secure data exchange ✅ Standardized, decentralized ✅ Platform linking government systems Decentralized control ✅ Agencies keep their data ✅ Agencies maintain system control Core software standard X-Road open-source Proprietary/Philippine implementation Government integration Backbone for services Backbone for eGov and government apps
Bottom line: The Philippine government’s eGovDX platform — supported by the eGovPH Super App and interoperability policies — is the local functional equivalent to X-Road for secure, interoperable government data exchange, even though it is not the same open-source software.
If you want more technical comparisons (e.g., architecture differences between X-Road and eGovDX), I can break that down too — just let me know!
“Maybe we will have our version.“
Exactly, Karl. Baby steps. The problem, however, is that with baby steps, by 2060, Francis might have to settle with seeing all our neighbors being way ahead of us. But if that is the best we can do, then so be it.
Actually we have…sort of. Refer to below.
I’m reminded of the frog in boiling water, that we can’t feel the heat rising (things are getting worse). Similarly, if the water is cooling (things are getting better) we may not be aware. I used to have to drive 3 hours each direction to Tacloban to do my annual report to Immigration. This year it took 4 minutes on Google Meet at the “expedited” price of 1,000 pesos. Also I have a 10 year driver’s license in my wallet. RE taxes are on line on our condo in Cebu. Ferries are all over the place with terminals run similar to airports, easy peasy.
Very nice to know and it really is good to know.
*This year it took 4 minutes on Google Meet at the “expedited” price of 1,000 pesos. Also I have a 10 year driver’s license in my wallet. RE taxes are on line on our condo in Cebu.* – JoeAm
That is the vision seen by people who embrace the X-Road system. Imaginie that at a national level covering almost every aspect of a citizen’s or resident’s life.
Imagine if the Land Transportation Office is fully integrated in the X-Road model (and for better digestion we can call it PH-Road as Joey suggests). How many inhabitants of the country will be directly affected? Will that lead to BUY IN into the idea of non-contact e-governance? I mention “buy in” by the public because I know that is one of Joey’s hot buttons.
Next step after LTO, how about the Bureau of Customs? Aside from ease of doing business, how much additional revenue (from reduced corruption) would that bring into the Philippine government? The possibilities are impressive….but it does take political will.
I am reminded of the story in the Old Testament of the 12 spies sent by Moses to check out the promised land of Canaan to see if it was fertile and if the inhabitants were strong or week.
Ten of the 12 reported that while the land was indeed fertile, it was inhabited by giants and they recommended not proceeding further. They were pessimistic.
Two focused on the potential (they saw the fertility of the land) and were optimistic that they could defeat the giants (they had faith in their God’s promise). These two were Joshua and Caleb. They were optimists.
The Israelites listened to the ten pessimists. They wept, grumbled against Moses, and even talked about choosing a new leader to take them back to Egypt.
Because of this “lack of faith,” God declared that that entire generation (everyone 20 years and older) would wander in the wilderness for 40 years—one year for every day the spies were in the land—until they passed away.
Only Joshua and Caleb were permitted to eventually enter the Promised Land because they “followed the Lord wholeheartedly.” This is why Joshua eventually becomes the leader who actually takes the Hebrews across the Jordan River years later.
Just my 2 cents.
Love the bible story. So much wisdom there. My impression of the Jordon upon seeing it was under-whelming. Well, I’m used to big ass Colorado rivers charging down the rockies, so a brown reed infested flat river did not perform well to my expectations.
LTO is pretty much still a pit of non-customer service. I think Customs is getting better.
To be clear — I’m not against a “PH-Road” data exchange API to facilitate more efficient and transparent civilian-government interaction. My worry is about half-measures and wasted efforts. Political capital and tax revenues to fund efforts are not limitless. Failures ingrain a general feeling of incompetence and citizen distrust. Any e-government effort requires having hard requirements and compliance enforcement so that once legacy documents are digitized the legacy documents are no longer used except in the case of no other choice. Few have also considered that taking away the dozens of document and clearance gatekeepers within the Philippine system also would take away the mini-power centers of each of those gatekeepers. In a country where holding even a modicum of power raises one’s profile by a whole lot, creating petty fiefdoms throughout the system, holders of fiefs typically do not appreciate their power being taken away. All this requires political will to push a policy through.
Take for example our often discussed jeepney modernization (PUVMP). The 2017 law mandated transition by 2020, yet provided very little government support to owner-operators and ever increasing directives. From 2020 to 2024, 8 extensions were issued. With the final exception expiring in 2024, the government essentially “gave up” and just let the wind blow where the wind may. The original plan of locally-manufactured modern jeepneys was continually loosened; IIRC DTI showcased 16 prototype modern jeepneys of various sizes, passenger capacities, varying amounts of local/foreign technologies but being full locally-manufactured. Japanese and South Korean companies offered investment opportunities, technical and local manufacturing assistance for JP- and SK-based platforms suitable for owner-operator jeepneys which was eventually passed over as “too hard.” What was the result? Delay after delay. Owner-operators decimated as they could never hope to afford a loan for a PUVMP-compliant modern jeepney. Philippine public transportation industry taken over by large consolidated operators who imported Chinese-made PUVs. Dozens of lost opportunities to build local experience and local industry while also protecting the livelihoods of the jeepney owner-operators that made the Philippines so charming to many foreigners, myself included.
“To be clear — I’m not against a “PH-Road” data exchange API to facilitate more efficient and transparent civilian-government interaction.” – Joey N.
Good to know. Important to keep in mind what we can probably call “collateral benefits.” One very important one is reducing corruption, possibly even to what are currently unimaginable levels for the Philippines which has lived with corruption for centuries if you count the Spanish era. Another collateral benefit is EASE OF DOING BUSINESS. I believe in the Society we have talked extensively about lack of FDIs. Difficulty of doing business is a big factor in that.
“My worry is about half-measures and wasted efforts.” – Joey N.
That is always a worry when it comes to the Philippines. Karl’s essays frequently point out half measures and wasted efforts that have been going on for decades. It is a subject very well studied and reviewed by the Society. Good leadership would help, but one element discussed with regard to good leadership is the leader’s INTENT. Was it Kasambahay who said the following traits were important in a good leader – “magaling, magiting, at mapagmahal sa bansa?” The more of that any Filipino leader has, the better, I am sure we will all agree.
Our current president, Marcos, Jr., is apparently what we have called a “caretaker” president. Does that fit the 3 Ms – magaling, magiting, at mapagmahal?” I don’t think so. Thus, any attempt now ON ANY GOOD SOLUTION to address major ills of Inang Bayan will likely have only limited success if any success at all at a national level. But we can always go to baby steps and begin the battle at lower levels of government, even LGUs.
correction po: it was not me who called leadership traits, magaling, magiting at mapagmahal sa bansa . . . I am from cebu and dont really know what magiting means, haha.
and pls count me out, I am not one of those who called our president marcos a caretaker president. he is an elected president with 30million votes, a current sitting president and chief executive. however, when president marcos goes overseas, he appoints a caretaker to oversee the government consisting of the cohort of the executive secretary and other designated officials chosen by him.
repeat lang po: our president marcos has never been our caretaker president, had he been, we would have strongly insisted he call an early election to legitimize his presidency.
Thanks, Kasambahay. It must have been someone else in the Society. BTW, “magiting” appears in the second stanza of our National Anthem.
*Lupang Hinirang
Duyan ka ng magiting
Sa manlulupig
‘Di ka pasisiil.*
FYI lang.
It was ISK aka istambaysakanto
thanks, so isk is the magiting one among us, nice to know.
Plenty of corrupt countries that were able to attract exponentially more FDI than the Philippines. Ease of doing business has more to do with infrastructure, energy, licenses/permits, stable political environment.
Good intentions don’t matter if the leader is indecisive and does not pick competent advisors. Also, insistence on empty moralizing that is not practiced is a bane there. Words like magaling, magiting, mapagmahal sa bansa mean nothing if not lived. Also note that the first two words are rooted in Austronesian praise of warrior prowess, which in Philippines context would be pirating one’s neighbor because that’s what ancient barangay chiefs did. The latter word is a Tagalog approximation of “patriotism,” as such concept probably did not exist in the culture. Perhaps that’s part of the problem of such words often being empty ones when used.
The best way to set into motion change is to actually do it. Otherwise it’s just like a bunch of tomador drunkenly shooting the shit at inuman on subjects they are not qualified to talk about. The male equivalent of chika. A useless exercise.
someone from Malabon who had contact with traditional herbolarios once told me that “merong galing” also meant had a magical connotation when used by that crowd. Well if one looks at the likes of Ang Panday (in my book these are modern epics) and how Filipinos often see leaders like Duterte as “magaling”, that magical connotation still seems to be there. Duterte flying above storms was seen as magaling while Mar Roxas slipping from his motorbike was seen as “di magaling” because of course a mythical ruler does not stumble and fall. The old mythology about Marcos Sr. having an anting-anting (and Katipuneros very commonly using them as well to “shield against bullets”) is part of that somewhat archaic concept as well.
I did note that some of the more recent “modern epics” watched by Filipinos like Ang Probinsyano show prowess as something learned and trained (Cardo Dalisay is not a man with magical powers like Ang Panday, he has special forces training) or even more recent ones like “Incognito” emphasize teamwork and specialization (the black ops, full deniability team of Incognito has a sniper, a hacker, an ex-Navy diver, a former Scout ranger etc) so maybe the mindset is evolving.. (?)
barangays of old, the smallest unit of society, often shifted allegiance to another higher ruler when they deemed it in their interest.
the bayan concept only developed into something larger than the village in the late 19th century and ONLY in Tagalog regions around Manila.
the equivalent concept in Visaya, banwa, apparently does NOT have a larger connotation based on old convos I had with some Visayans.
in my part of cebu, banwa means grass. they are pliant like bamboo, and metaphorically stronger than any plant. despite being constantly trodden, grass springs back to life after rain. and dont die off easily, even if burned, it always renew. and spread faster than wild fire too, thus ningas cogon.
Thanks for pointing out that ma-galing and ma-giting have magical connotations. I was a bit tired while replying and had implied the magical connection rather than pointed it out explicitly. Important to note though that a lot of concepts of power in Austronesian society has to do with magic. There is also the dismissive implications of both words when used to mock someone who *lacks power,* but I digress. The forgotten Champa was once a major thalassocratic empire on par with the thalassoracies of Srivijaya and Majapahit, and the land empires of Đại Việt, Kambuja (Khmer Empire), and Ayutthaya. Champa once figured out a way to channel Austronesian concepts of power into becoming a major power via integrating imported ideas from nearby rivals. Ultimately Champa broke down and devolved into essentially warring barangays when the magical aspects of power emerged again during a period of central weakness. Sometimes I do wonder if the Philippines is a truly “modern” state in the modern sense and modern concepts, or a country that while may “wear” the most fashionable superficial elements of modernity, yet does not truly understand it as the exterior is another expression of magic and power. How to both honor traditional beliefs but harness native concepts to adapt to modernity would be an important enabler of moving forward with the times.
In Vietnamese society the concept on patriotism and national identity developed over the 1,000 year period of resistance to Han Chinese domination, initially being a veneration of the Vietnamese emperor and later transferring to “love of country.” Thailand’s evolution of the Thai understanding of patriotism is still very much centered on a veneration of the Thai king and is separated from social connection, which may explain the sometimes disjointed nature of Thai patriotism. Malay-Indonesian concepts of patriotism only developed in the late colonial period but both countries have figured out how to transfer dedication to the local sultan/rajah/king to a more abstract national level. What strikes me about the Philippines is that concepts like bayan are mostly discussed at a high level yet operationally is still a type of datu-follower gifting-type relationship except with the resources of a sovereign state. People tend to emulate leaders. If the leaders don’t believe in and practice bayan, why should the people?
“What strikes me about the Philippines is that concepts like bayan are mostly discussed at a high level yet operationally is still a type of datu-follower gifting-type relationship except with the resources of a sovereign state. People tend to emulate leaders. If the leaders don’t believe in and practice bayan, why should the people?” – Joey
So true…over one hundred years ago, our national hero Rizal said: “In the Philippines, a man is an individual not part of a nation.”
I think it was Leon Ma. Guerrero who called Rizal “the First Filipino.” I took that to mean that he was the first of us who saw himself not just as a Tagalog from the province of Laguna, but as a part of a nation called Filipinas. When he was in exile for 4 years in Dapitan, he decided to learn one of the Visayan languages (sorry, I forget which one, but it would have been one of the more widely spoken ones in the Dapitan, Zamboanga area).
When his fellow Propagandist Graciano Lopez-Jaena from Iloilo was discouraged because he did not wear a doctor’s cape (could not finish his studies, I think), Rizal the Tagalog & fellow Filipino/Indio encouraged him with the words “It is not the cape that honors the man, but the man that honors the cape.”
Sadly, even today, the only times we seem to consider ourselves part of a nation is during a Pacquiao fight! Hehehe
Now here is a revealing statement from Joey: “People tend to emulate leaders. If the leaders don’t believe in and practice bayan, why should the people?”
As I recall and understand Joey correctly, he said choice of leaders needs to be from the ground up, not the other way around. Perhaps in light of this “People tend to emulate leaders…” and “…why should the people” he can explain how this ground up flow works?
In Dapitan Rizal learned Cebuano (the language of more recent migrants) which is a Visayan language and Subanon (the local native language to the Zamboanga Peninsula) which is not a Visayan language. Rizal also attempted to learn Malay while in Dapitan, connected to his (wrong) belief in Pan-Malayan Identity and as a leader in the Philippine-centric Pan-Malayan Movement.
Yes, First Filipino! Very difficult to find a second and third.
There are plenty of non-Tagalog, non-Cebuano Filipinos in Mindanao who speak 3-4 Philippine languages. A Tausug friend speaks Tausug, Malay, Cebuano, Tagalog, Subanon, Sama-Badjao, in addition to perfect English, Hokkien and Mandarin.
“There are plenty of non-Tagalog, non-Cebuano Filipinos in Mindanao who speak 3-4 Philippine languages. A Tausug friend speaks Tausug, Malay, Cebuano, Tagalog, Subanon, Sama-Badjao, in addition to perfect English, Hokkien and Mandarin.” – Joey
I don’t doubt that. But are they Filipinos, part of a nation? Or are they individuals, not part of a nation? That was the issue. Is a “bosing” part of a nation, or just an individual?
Have you ever considered that your pseudo-Socratic method of discourse can get grating? You ask many questions, which gets answered, only to ask more questions, never reaching logical conclusions. Just come out with what *you* believe and think, preferably based on your own successes in life that can be applied to make a better Philippines.
Joey
I even told BenignO to stop saying its simple really after every comment and FYed another one because of his See you at Starbucks signature, now I remember his handle: conyo. Then there was gabby d who never runs out of questions, I told him he is beggining to become annoying.
I tell you, they stop when the time comes to get tired
“Then there was gabby d who never runs out of questions, I told him he is beginning to become annoying.
I tell you, they stop when the time comes to get tired.” – Karl
I’m not familiar with these people you are talking about. Were the questions relevant to what the opening essay was about? I would think that the author would appreciate people showing interest in what they write about.
When I first came upon this Society, JoeAm was the principal contributor of a weekly opening article/essay. I recall then he was thinking about shutting down for lack of interest. I was new and was enjoying some of what I was reading, so I thought “just my luck” because I had just joined. But then he did not shut it down.
I guess at its peak the Society had 30,000 readers, and now it is down to about 1,000 he says. Rizal was a voluminous writer, both prose and poetry…but he lamented the response he mostly got – silence and apathy.
I do enjoy the essays you contribute, Karl…because I am interested in what goes on in the Motherland. Sadly, most of what you write is not encouraging, and as you yourself have said, sometimes you sound defeatist. Kasambahay says “Batman” (we took on the expression “Bahala na si Batman”) would applaud what he sees in the Philippines. Different viewpoint, I guess.
I try to encourage discussion on what you write about. I do that by quoting from your article. I use that to help the discussion stay in focus.
Anyways, keep ‘em coming. As you can see, I am anything but silence and apathy, unless JoeAm decides so. 🙂
Your engagement is welcome, of course. Joey is merely asking you to put your skin in the game by making declarative statements rather than forcing others to put their skin in the game through chains of questions that lead everywhichway but resolution, and allow you easy escape from any issue.
Joey does not know them from Adam too, they are people from my past, I happen to be around the blogoshere for the last 20 years. Some guys here like Irineo and Gian have seen me around for more than ten. That was my way of telling Joey to cut you some slack.
“around the blogosphere” makes me think of Tron where people actually become part of programs running on a computer, or the classic manga “Ghost in the Shell” were ghosts of people actually live in a global web – not yet called Internet as that manga was from the 1980s.
Remember how we fled the giant Pac-Man that was chasing us half a decade ago? Fortunately we found a phone booth to get out of the Matrix.
Yes that Giant Pac-man and Matrix…wait what? Hahaha
You echo my observation and frustrations. And the proposed resolution is spot on.
we first have to ascertain whether CV is Prokra or Nokra. That distinction was defined as of prime importance by a group of plantitas during Covid times.
As these plantitas happened to be Pink, they were happy when they found out that VP Leni eats okra. Let us forget those imported Socratic ideas. Okratic inquiry is the indigenous form of Philippine philosophy that evolved at the starting point of the New Global Philippine Civilization!
The Philippines is a nation of 100 or so languages. Assigning one as a national language was a mistake in my book, given that English is the unifying language of laws. Bosing is a social convention. Individuals are individuals everywhere, and patriotism comes in many shades. The beauty of democracy is that this is all perfectly acceptible. I watch my wife in awe as she moves effortlessly among the languages that seem to collect in the Visayas like so many variations of birds, each distinct and beautiful, except for the fucking crows that eat the eggs of my chestnut munyas.
Of course I do not disagree with you on that, JoeAm. I’m not sure, however, if you are talking in the context of the problems that face the country, that hold back its progress. Or are you speaking in the context of a visitor or a guest to the Philippines? (there go my questions again…but would you, or Joey, rather that I assume what context you are talking about or ask first?)
You will recall some years ago there was that Korean who said that Filipinos do not love their country the way they love Korea. Ring any bells?
It is that kind of love that Rizal was referring to when he said “in the Philippines, a man is an individual, not part of a nation.” He wasn’t talking about how many Philippine languages a person may speak.
Just my 2 cents for the moment.
I’m speaking to your point that seems to suggest there are difficulties arising out of so many different languages. I see the languages as a fact, and a fascination, and a bit of trouble confusion and humor. I don’t think it matters what foreigners think. The Korean is weird to say that as he confuses enthusiasm for entertainment with love of country. It seems an unkind spot of racism to me. Judgmental foreigners irritate me to no end.
many languages are among others an island thing. If one looks for example at Italy, only the outlying islands of Sardinia and Sicily have still kept their very distinct regional languages. There was a funny scene in the (European) mafia movie “The Traitor” where two Sicilian Mafiosi under US witness protection meet in the USA, and one tells the other “don’t expect me to learn English, I don’t even speak Italian”. Busan island also has it own form of Korean, I have read.
I also watched a movie “Amrum” recently, about the North Sea island but during the few weeks when WW2 came to an end. The dynamics between the locals who still very much spoke their own language back then and the outsiders from the mainland is shown, for example. But local languages in many parts of Germany have faded due to television, for example. Speaking like some sort of “weird islander” (or “hillbilly” as mountain areas often also have local languages) isn’t “cool”. The Swiss still cultivate their own kind of German and their own dialects which vary from valley to valley, but they are the exception, being very Federal. They even have the evening news in the dialect of their own respective cantons or mini-states. The French pushed to eliminate local dialects to unite their country but in the part of Switzerland that speaks French, quaint old dialects of that language still survive. Linguistic variety can be quite intriguing.
I think Joey has given the answer to that (implied) question a number of times. The Philippines was NOT in any way united as a nation, not even as a confederation of barangays as even Rizal (seriously, but wrongly) suggested, before it was colonized. But maybe it was also the heritage of smallness, which Indonesia does not have. The video below that I watched yesterday (on my PC not my mobile, it is 45 minutes) is a Singaporean feature about the Sumatran Sri-Vijaya empire.
Most notably, the Musi river in Palembang is huge (the bridge shown in the documentary makes the bridge over the Cagayan river at Tuguegarao look tiny) thus they already had a major artery of internal trade, they were strategically placed near the Strait of Malacca (also the advantage of the later Majapahit Empire of Java, or of Singapore) and they had developed a larger scale organization with religion providing the belief system holding people together. That is a characteristic of all kingdoms, whether it was that of the Pharaohs, the Sumerians, etc etc. There is a passage in the video where an old stone from a temple is shown, its text is that a curse is placed on all datus who oppose the Sri-Vijayan King – and that he will kill them. There is also a passage about the Badjau-like Orang Laut (men of the sea) being co-opted by the rulers of Sri-Vijaya to protect the sea for them. So they already had evolved something more centralized.
The “muscle memory” of both Sumatran and Javanese cultures was not the Filipino “heritage of smallness”. I still highly recommend watching the entire video!
A “heritage of smallness” rubs me wrong, as if small minded or hopelessly tribal, or backward. The Philippines is a big bunch of islands that had no infrastructure until the Spanish overlaid whatever that was, Catholic rituals and obedience I suppose, ending around 1900. Then the US pasted rote education and more obedience across the nation. Instead of smallness, I would say “individualistic”, or “opportunistic without power” resulting in baby making and corruption and a me first way of thinking that had no input avenues for conceptual and capitalistic thinking. Heritage of oppression, and suppression. And here we are.
you have made much clearer the flaw in the term “heritage of smallness” that Nick Joaquin coined – it is a bit of an “elitist” term though the word elitist is also a bit too loaded in Filipino discourse.
But it is true that the Filipino elite formed the end of the 19th century who got first dibs at the fire sale of Church property under American rule in the early 20th century – and first dibs at getting elected also – had a sense of grandeur a bit out of proportion with what they really were. They – including Nick Joaquin – kind of forgot that the people they ruled were far from ready for that grandezza.
Quezon envisioned a greater Philippines with Indonesia as part of it. Even he was a bit deluded about what the Philippines could really do.
We have seen especially under Duterte how little the Catholic rituals and what is left of the US educational system mean anything to the wide mass of Filipinos. Something also shocking to people like me (definitely elite, originally) and probably also Third Republic folks like sonny who do embody both Catholicism and American-style education. But it is what it is.
As Joey wrote, Filipinos have the chance to make the Philippines whatever they want to, if of course they want to and are able to define it.
Rizal was prescient on many things, but even he was affected by the insecure nature of the nascent Filipino identity during his time. I would not fault Rizal himself for being interested in Pan-Malayism but the Pan-Malay Movement was certainly popular during the formative decades of Filipino awakening. By the way the Pan-Malayan Movement is a *colonial construct* first proposed by German doctor and anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach as the “Malay Race.” Blumenbach was an advocate of the Out of Sundaland (Indonesia-Malaysia) model of Austronesian dispersion which also plays a role in the theory. In that theory the Philippines was populated by Malays from Sunda, which is how Rizal got to believing that Filipinos descended from Malays. Of course nowadays that has been disproven by archaeological and genetic evidence that supports Peter Bellwood’s Out of Taiwan model where the ancient inhabitants of the Philippines preceded those who went to Sundaland. Anyway Rizal’s interest and leadership in the Pan-Malayan Movement was the impetus for him attempting (unsuccessfully) to learn the Malay language during his time in Dapitan.
I consider Rizal’s interest in Pan-Malayanism and the Malay Race to be the result of a still forming understanding of the world around him when introduced to new ideas, even though it could be an example of Rizal, a Filipino, reaching for “something great” to justify “Filipino greatness” (and deservedness for independence). But people who came later should’ve known better. There is the famous biography of Rizal, “The Pride of the Malay Race,” (1949) by Prof. Rafael Palma which places heavy emphasis on the “Malayan people.” Note how no other non-Filipino writers described a Filipino in such aggrandized terms as “Pride of the Malay Race.” Of course as you mentioned about Quezon’s efforts for a Malayan confederation which was realized in July 1963 with the Manila Accord between the Philippines, Malaya (the interim state between British Malaya and Malaysia), and Indonesia. Here there is another example of Filipino main characterism, as the Filipino side clearly saw themselves as the superiors and the leader in bringing the “Malay people” *back* to a “greatness” that existed before colonialism. A bit preposterous as it was the regions of pre-colonial Indonesia and Malaysia that had advanced governments and empires, while the area of the Philippines was mostly small barangays sometimes but not always led by Malay princely second-sons going out to make a name for themselves. In any case the Maphilindo Confederation fell apart a month later in August 1963 when the Philippines was not able to mediate the competing territorial claims between Malaya and Indonesia. That failure was because the Philippines had its own claims in North Borneo/Sabah. The Indonesians and Malaysians eventually found their footing and moved forward. Interesting that the Philippines often looks back to the (not always true) glorious past, a view that is colored by local envy/resentment and colonial pseudo-science, and as such is held back by doing so. The one-month Maphilindo episode is an example of deluded notions of greatness, clinging to a theory that was by then starting to be questioned.
I had also considered the implications of creating a highly colored narrative being necessary for budding nationalism. At times it is important to draw inspiration from some kind of lost greatness to energize and provide moral justification to the present movement. In the case of republicanism in China and Vietnam, movement thinkers of that time drew from legendary and semi-legendary sources as primary sources had been lost. Although republicanism in both China and Vietnam later fell to communism, the subsequent regimes more or less carried on the nationalist use of such narratives to create their own narratives. Well now both China and Vietnam are highly active in archeological and anthropological study, but what I find interesting is China uses newly uncovered evidence to justify the CCP version of “Chinese greatness,” while in Vietnam newly uncovered evidence has been used to further understanding, build new primary sources, explain gaps in the historical record, and ironically proved that the Red River in northern Vietnam was the site of one of the earliest Asian civilizations (contradicting the Chinese narrative that China was the first/only civilization). I guess what I mean to say is the truth is easier to sustain rather than constantly trying to pick and choose examples to justify a belief.
There is a bit of truth though in all this, and that is to understand the Philippines one must start to understand the culture of other Austronesian peoples and Polynesian peoples. Austronesian peoples give an idea on nearby cousins, while Polynesians give insight into what the original seafaring warrior culture might have been about. The rise and fall of Austronesian kingdoms and empires is of great interest to me. We know more about Srivijaya and Majapahit, but still know too little. After Champa was conquered by Đại Việt, knowledge of Champa disappeared in the same way the Khmer Empire disappeared until Angkor Wat emerged from the jungle, knowledge disappearing even among Cham people who still inhabit the Mekong Delta. The field of archeology is more advanced in Indonesia and Malaysia but even there they know little of the Tamil, Arab, Hokkien and so on influence, but the knowledge there is exponentially more than what is pursued by Philippine academia. A problem in Southeast Asian civilization is of course the encroaching jungle that erases evidence of empires, though this is more relevant in mainland SEA and maritime SEA minus the Philippines.
As to rituals, we may see rituals as another way for the Filipino to express themselves. Newly adopted ideas are layered on top of the previous ones perhaps as symbols of power and prestige. Hara Humamay gladly accepting the Santo Niño and converting to Catholicism, today expressed as an instantaneous fervor but obviously and most likely Humamay saw the new religion as an additional “power” to aid her husband Rajah Humabon especially against his cousin Lapu-Lapu. Religious practice is syncretized with native animist beliefs even now, which is not unique to the Philippines but is an important indicator of how a culture integrates new ideas. Another interesting aspect are the “nationalist churches” of the Revolutionary era the most prominent of is the Aglipayan Church, but the ideas of which have been diffused throughout Filipino non-denominational megachurches like KOJC. There is a need to control something existing, but no knowledge of how to create something new. Instead of integrating new ideas and “making it Filipino,” it often feels like new ideas are layered on top of what came before, used as justification or as superficial icons of superiority as Ferdinand Blumentritt in students who studied at UST for a few terms (and didn’t even graduate yet). In order to get ahead, one needs to integrate beneficial new ideas, not just use the idea as a façade to make the outside prettier but not fundamentally changing what lies underneath.
One must remove as much Western or American thought as possible, which is why I don’t fully agree with the oppression angle which is heavily influenced by American leftist identitarian politics. Not everything is identity politics and I think by pushing things towards identity politics it makes that thing harder to understand. Oppression politics are one of the major drivers of how the US got Trump to begin with as it demands one side self-flagellate while on the other side radicalizing reasonable people into extremists. In the US oppression politics has been an expression of a White elite cosplaying victimhood and hijacking minority movements. In the Philippines the Filipino elite cosplay as victims and saviors of the poor masses. Either way, focusing on oppression probably is the wrong way to look at things. I’m looking for ways to uplift people who need to be uplifted. Feeling like a victim even if one is a victim is no way to gather power and agency.
that is true, as the Laguna copperplate was discovered by a Dutchman, and the biggest work based on archaeology in the Philippines is Raiding, Trading and Feasting by Laura Lee Junker – also a foreigner.
pretty much how many (not all) ilustrados used European trappings, and many pensionados of the US period used American trappings to “flex” back home. Part of the hostility some Filipinos have towards foreign ideas come from that packaging, not by their being bad per se.
now that sounds weird at first, a bit of an indigenized version of “White Man’s Burden” but that might be the key to understanding a lot of stuff over there. Also the reality that there is not much of an old elite in the Philippines, and even the ilustrado period wasn’t that long ago.
Let’s not forget William Henry Scott, whose books I devoured decades ago. I sometimes think Filipinos as a whole only raise up the foreigner when the foreigner validates the Filipino, or the foreigner is someone to be envied. In the social media age this is expressed in the numerous reaction videos of foreigners being “amazed” by pinoys. I’ll take serious interest over fake praise by influencers or, in a prior time, “researchers” who were pushing weird theories that validated their own preconceptions of race as much as fans in the Philippines that tried to force that square block into a round hole to validate their own views. Prof. Peter Bellwood of the “Out of Taiwan” model I referenced in my last comment has been for years by invitation of Vietnamese academia researching ancient culture in Vietnam. There was an enigmatic SEA history blogger by the nom-de-plume of “Lê Minh Khải” who turned out to be Prof. Liam C. Kelley, a historian and Vietnamist I follow who has written extensively about ancient SEA peoples, including Austronesian peoples. Prof. Kelley, like Prof. Bellwood, are both highly respected in Vietnam despite some of their findings going against the old nationalist narrative taught in Vietnam for years, and have been invited by Vietnamese academia many times. There is a general sense I get from Vietnamese academia being quite serious about understanding ancient Vietnamese culture, and the culture of other peoples living in and nearby modern Vietnam, and how it all fits into the modern Vietnamese identity. I wish there was more of that in the Philippines rather than the heavy legacy influence of revolutionary nationalism. It is important to understand ourselves as who we are now and how we got here in order to create a future, rather than trying to force a romanticized past that is probably not true in the first place to justify the present.
About using external accoutrements in order to appear more superior, have you considered that this may have been how power was gathered in a datu-centric system? That’s how Taiwanese aborigine society worked prior to influence from massive Han migration of Chinese republicans following the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War. That’s how Champic society worked as well, though the Cham rajah-of-rajahs was strong enough to impose a mixture of Chinese, Vietnamese, Tamil system of government for most of the Champa Empire. In period of Champa’s decline Cham society devolved back into warring barangays led by local chieftains who wielded objects of magic, usually ancient Tamil or Vietnamese weapons, or other foreign items, or so they thought were magic. This use of external items only works on a populace that is unfamiliar with the mundane nature of such objects. I guess in the present day the object of power is the iPhone. It’s hard for me to explain to most Filipinos that in the US iPhones are very common and are owned by even poor people and no one thinks about what model another has unless the phone is noticeably old (like an iPhone 8 still being used in 2026).
As I mentioned before there is a lot of influence and cross-pollination between the US and the Philippines at a more elite or affluent level, more than people recognize. The American left and Philippine left (what we generally think as liberals) regularly exchange ideas. The same goes for the far-left on both sides. The reaching of cure-all fixes and lack of effort in hard work for the basics seems to be a feature of both the Philippine and US side. The same goes for Identity Politics which originated in the African-American intellectual movement and was warped by well-meaning affluent White Americans who want to be saviors yet victims at the same time. The American neuroscientist Sam Harris, who I find myself increasingly agreeing with despite not agreeing with him in the past, has mentioned that humans innately want to participate in struggle and the emotional rewards which a successful struggle brings; the affluent and elite classes, which mostly don’t need to struggle, develop a para-emotional relationship with the struggle of those lesser citizens to obtain personal validation, a relationship that is one-way.
70s to 80s Araling panlpiunan or Social studies text books do not teach about Out of Taiwan.
I recall
Out of Africa land bridge crossing Aetas or negritos were the earliest inhabitants recorded followed by the Malays and the Indonesians.
I do not recall how they inserted Sankrit influences.
The Out of Taiwan Model was proposed in the early 1980s by Prof. Bellwood and began to gain support by the late 1980s. In the 1990s I recall my textbooks still referring the Out of Sundaland Model, so your textbooks when you were in school probably weren’t updated yet.
The Out of Sundaland Model is only half-wrong though because the Aeta/Negritos did come from Sundaland. Early to mid 20th century anthropologists lumped Australasians and Negritos together, which was where the error arose. The Negritos originated closer to the Adamanese and Nicobarese people, Papua New Guineans, and Australian Aborigines. Interesting fact thrown in is the Hoabinhian culture of Vietnam, Mainland Southeast Asia and Southern China was probably Negrito. The Hoabinhians had advanced stone tools and agriculture for their period and were transitioning from hunter-gather to sedentary lifestyle. Interesting that by the time some Negritos migrated across Sunda to the Philippines they lost their technology and went back to subsistence hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
(Tamil) Sanskrit came to the Philippines indirectly via the Indianized Majapahit and Srivijaya, through trade and lesser nobles migrating and becoming chieftains of local Filipino tribes. The Indian influence continued through the spread of Hinduism, Buddhism and later Islam (Islam was also spread by Arab and Persian traders who came first today Indonesia, Malaysia). That’s how we have titles such as datu, rajah, which are Indian noble titles. Other stuff like the cooking pans kawali and kalaha derived from Tamil kuvalai and Hindi karahi, respectively. Most Philippines foods are also non-native, rather descending from Tamil/Indian, Hokkien Chinese, and more recently Spanish/Mexican/Nahuatl/Mixtec, but have all been made fully “Filipino” over time. To have an idea of what the original Austronesian food might have been like take a look at Oceania/Polynesia food where root crops, breadfruit, whole pig and chicken are cooked in underground in an earth oven called umu/imu. Taiwanese Aborigines also cooked their food this way until quite recently, and still use this method for fiestas.
Thanks again for this boufet smorgasbord food for thought
Here is my merging of your 2 comments Joey.
—
IRizal and the Filipino Search for Meaning
The Philippines has a deep and complex history, yet public engagement often favors narratives that feel affirming over those grounded in evidence. This tendency—valuing validation over understanding—has shaped both historical interpretation and contemporary culture, reflecting an enduring struggle with national identity.
José Rizal exemplifies this tension. He was forward-looking, but his thinking was constrained by the intellectual frameworks of his time. His interest in Pan-Malayism was not a political program but a provisional attempt to address the uncertainty of Filipino identity under Spanish colonial rule. The “Malay race” concept, circulating in Rizal’s era, emerged largely from European racial and linguistic classifications, notably Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, and later migration theories that cast the Philippines as peripheral to Indonesia and Malaysia. Modern archaeology, linguistics, and genetics, however, support the Out of Taiwan model, placing the Philippines as a central node in early Austronesian expansion. Rizal’s assumptions were therefore inaccurate, but understandable in context.
Rizal’s engagement with Malay identity was symbolic. Spanish colonial society denigrated the indio; identifying with a wider pre-colonial world offered an alternative genealogy and a sense of dignity. He did not advocate a Pan-Malay political movement, propose a shared Malay state, or advance Malay as a national language. Even his attempt to learn Malay during exile in Dapitan remained personal rather than political. Pan-Malayism functioned as a transitional scaffold, not a foundation.
This pattern—seeking legitimacy through external association—appears across Southeast Asian history. Pre-colonial societies often reinforced authority with exotic goods: imported weapons, ornaments, or ritual items that conferred prestige. In fragmented polities, such objects sometimes carried symbolic or ritual significance. While belief in “magic” is interpretive, the broader point is clear: unfamiliar external items often served as markers of authority in societies where power rested on personal legitimacy rather than institutions.
Modern parallels exist. Consumer goods or technologies may become status symbols when they signal wealth, modernity, or global relevance, even if they are commonplace elsewhere. The object matters less than what it appears to represent. Similarly, elite intellectual and activist circles exchange ideas across borders, often amplifying moral narratives and symbolic solutions while avoiding the hard work of institution-building. In both past and present, gestures sometimes substitute for systems.
Rizal’s legacy lies not in the accuracy of his anthropology, but in his refusal to accept imposed inferiority and his insistence on Filipino intellectual capacity. Overvaluing affirmation—through myths, foreign approval, or symbolic markers—repeats the historical insecurity he sought to transcend. A mature national identity requires clarity about evidence, history, and self-understanding. Recognizing who we are, where we come from, and what narratives serve or mislead us is essential for building a durable future.
–
that is a truly noteworthy summary. Let us not forget that even the youngest among the mainstays of this blog, Giancarlo, is older than Rizal was when he died. Somehow it is amazing how far he already thought at an age where a lot of Gen Z’s nowadays are still adulting – probably with Francis as a notable exception. As for overvalued affirmation, I have attached an example picture of typical “Pinoybaiting” below. A lot of vloggers still manage to finance part of their trips to the Philippines by such stuff on Youtube which is quickly shared, and one of them said openly there are more Filipinos who subscribe to such stuff than Thais. The other excessive affirmation is fake or OA stuff about the Philippine past such as vlogs about Filipinos 40 thousand years ago outdoing Vikings..
Those deported or to be deported Russians were Pinoy baiting by bashing.
Thanks Karl, this makes sense
Welcome
In general Ateneo seems to be more interested in the truth (and in a variety of views, including foreign ones) than UP, though there it differs by department. There are also parts of Ateneo that seem to be ideological, given how Leloy Claudio was run out of there – and later La Salle – and now teaches at Harvard.
Treating how the past is to be interpreted as dogma, including assigning almost teleserye-like hero, villain and victim figures to different groups (the old, now fortunately dead debate as to whether Rizal was too elitist while Bonifacio was the truly brave man of the masses is an example, though giving an excessively kontrabida role to Aguinaldo – and recently Quezon – is the same cliched thinking) is how the Pinoy mindset often seeps into academe.
Laura Lee Junker used the kind of jewelry – Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai (I think in exactly that order as equivalents to iPhone, Samsung and ???) – found at Visayan sites to classify how wealthy barangays were at that time.
The book I am reading now mentions how amber from the Baltic was seen as magical in the ancient Eastern Mediterranean.
Just finished the chapter that also mentioned how silk from the early Indian Ocean trade route became an object of wonder in the Roman Empire of the 1st and 2nd century A.D. – and of course further down the road we know how exotic spices made Western colonialism start.
Prof. Vicente Rafael of Seattle or the author Ninotchka Rosca who is based in New York are part of that exchange of ideas. Prof. Rafael is more on the liberal side while Ninotchka Rosca is far left. I try to ignore Ninotchka’s politics while I like how she observes things which is part of her being a novelist.
from what I gather, Angat Buhay prefers to gather people who are willing to actually work on projects to those who just want to donate – even as there is apparently no want of the latter and of course Angat Buhay needs donations to work.
During the 2022 elections, there were both virtue signallers as well as those willing to go door to door among the Pinks. Of course in the long run, the kind of understanding of the struggle most Filipinos have is important for credibility. The story of the Angkas driver who took VP Leni to a campaign because she was late and was “converted to Pink” shows that sincerity is felt – even as kb has just hinted at how hard door to door was especially in Cebu.
Oversimplification can also be a sign of an inability to conceptualize the abstract. On this baseline one cannot fault the “Filipino thinking” as exists in the Philippines, as the “default mode” of the human species is to interact with the five senses — the literal or reality of what one can see, hear, touch, smell, taste. By the way Filipinos seem to be rather intuitive with the five senses, which is a strength. I have long considered that the (even elite level) struggle with abstract concepts as a battle to understand how such concepts relate to reality itself. There is a tendency to take things literally and then transfer the literal understanding to dogmatic belief that is repeated and reinforced. We can understand Rizal’s explorations and musings in this way. Along the same lines, we can also understand how those who followed Rizal and elevated him to martyrdom only saw things literally rather than as Rizal growing in his understanding of a world that was rapidly opening up to the Philippines at the time.
Jewelry, pottery, weapons among other things were important items of prestige in many less advanced cultures. Of course, items from abroad would be valued higher, as evident in the more recent Pacific cargo cults of Oceania. AFAIK Austronesian cultures valued such items as markers of prestige and items might be given or gifted to raise another’s prestige and/or to raise one’s own prestige as the one “who has the stuff.” By the way there is a lot of recent archeology in Vietnam on the Sa Huynh culture, who had an organized proto-state, which was the predecessor of the Cham people and Champa Empire. The Sa Huynh people had developed trade networks across Maritime SEA by the 500s BC to trade their goods which have been found as far as Taiwan and Kalanay, Masbate. The lack reciprocal trade at this point can infer that the Austronesians in the Philippines were at a less advanced level of development than Austronesians in Mainland SEA. The Sungai Batu were Austronesian contemporaries in Malaysia of the Sa Huynh in Vietnam and also had similar technology (pottery, metalworking, organized agriculture). It seems that at the time of the Spanish conquest only Maynila and Tondo had craftsmen, agriculture, and organized trade as both were influenced by Brunei while the rest of the Philippine archipelago were at a much lower development level. Hoarding and capturing valuable items is not unique to pre-modern cultures that had not developed an ability to make stuff themselves yet.
There are Wikipedia articles written by Filipinos titled like “cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines,” which is quite OA as I haven’t seen any similar articles being written about other cultures. Those articles are so obscure in the West that the Wikis aren’t heavily enforced. In one such article until recently there was the old “yo-yo as a historic Filipino weapon” claim, lol. To be quite honest my personal view is there is nothing to be ashamed about one’s culture having not developed as far as envied cultures. That is the past. In a sense as I’ve said it can be an actual benefit to be able to start from scratch so to speak, as there is a lot less cultural and historical baggage to hold the effort down. It seems to me that the Filipino narrative often seeks to justify greatness at the same level of those who are envied (somehow), which ends up creating artificial baggage that confuses and weighs down the entire effort of advancement. That tendency might also have a connection to having or lacking (and coveting) prestige (items) of others and feeling inadequate that the perceived prestige is not obtained. Others built their own prestige, as they also built their own goods that were traded as early as the Sa Huynh and Sungai Batu, so maybe it’s time the Philippines does the same, in a Filipino way. We live in the present, with limitless access to knowledge and know-how. I guess it goes back to “you don’t know what you don’t know,” and the only way out of it is to learn. Clearly many Filipino elites don’t know and don’t care to learn, and their prestige just consists of fancy exterior accoutrements like pre-Spanish nobles who hoarded foreign stuff. I hope there are more “Angat Buhays” to teach regular Filipinos, who I’ve always found to be eager to knowledge that would help their own lives become better.
very possibly it is because those teaching Filipinos abstract concepts were a bit like in this joke: https://www.jokebuddha.com/joke/What_is_Politics
And often the elite use abstract concepts like some Pinoys use Bible verses, as something to show off with, not something to actually do.
maybe one further reason why a lot of Filipino non-elites are suspicious of learning is exactly the way the learned over there often used it as a “flex”, like the UST “filosofos” Blumentritt mentioned.
I have seen recent postings on FB by Xiao Chua where he writes about how some at UP see him as mediocre and he writes that he does not even claim to be an intellectual at all, just a public historian serving the people – so is being comprehensible like Xiao a sign of “mediocrity” there?
Is it surprising then that a lot of masa Pilipinos prefer some weird tito and kuya Youtube channels to well, what Heydarian also shares on Youtube?
Summary of one of my draftd
Summary
The essay argues that the Philippines’ democratic challenges stem less from political illiteracy than from a deeper problem of conceptual weakness rooted in the education system. While many Filipinos are informed, emotionally engaged, and morally invested, they often struggle with abstract reasoning, systems thinking, and long-term institutional analysis—skills essential for democratic judgment.
Education for the majority prioritizes compliance, memorization, and employability over inquiry and conceptual understanding. Reforms like MTB-MLE and K–12 are well-intentioned but poorly executed, expanding access and instructional time without strengthening cognitive depth or abstraction. Even higher education, particularly General Education, fails to integrate philosophy, history, politics, and ethics into a coherent framework for civic reasoning.
As a result, political discourse becomes personality-driven, moralistic, and short-term, reflecting conceptual thinness rather than ignorance. Filipinos feel strongly about politics but lack the tools to analyze trade-offs, causality, and institutional constraints.
AI presents both an opportunity and a risk: it can democratize access to complex ideas and support systems thinking, but without strong conceptual foundations, it may also amplify superficial reasoning and misinformation.
The essay concludes that the real democratic deficit lies in educational under-conceptualization. To strengthen democracy, reforms must focus on building abstraction and reasoning skills early, linking lived language to institutional thinking, reinventing general education as civic formation, and using AI as a cognitive scaffold—not a substitute for thought.
“To strengthen democracy, reforms must focus on building abstraction and reasoning skills early, linking lived language to institutional thinking, reinventing general education as civic formation, and using AI as a cognitive scaffold—not a substitute for thought.” – Karl
Wow, now that is a mouthful, Karl. How about this:
“I hold that the education of the people, the elevation of their moral character, and the development of industry and work are indispensable prerequisites to liberty.” – Rizal, Manifesto to Certain Filipinos, 1896
Might be easier to digest for someone who “struggles with abstract reasoning, systems thinking, and long-term institutional analysis” (quoting Irineo) like myself. 🙂
To knock on Heydarian types, Heydarian went directly from graduating at UP-Diliman (2009) into immediately teaching at AdM (2010). Sure, Heydarian is an academic, but he literally has no real-world experience in most of the things he opines on. Heydarian speaks in buzz words which are mostly meaningless and attract a certain audience while going right over the heads of most other people. That audience that is attracted to novel words rather than the pedestrian words people have always used to explain things are the exact type of people who engage in one-upmanship and flexing rituals. If one does not have any experience in something, why would they be respected to explain those things to others (unless their audience are similarly unqualified people). Anyway sometimes I’m too harsh on Heydarian as he seems mostly well-meaning. He’s one of the best the Philippines has — for now.
Regular Filipinos seem to enjoy people who are willing to show them directly without judging or acting superior. Getting hands dirty doing regular tasks while swapping kwento. Being able to chill at inuman or chat around the boodle fight. I don’t think most AB Filipinos would be willing to do those things, so the distance is natural in that situation.
I don’t see oppression as an overt political act by the US. And I’m not echoing complaints from Filipinos, as I’ve heard none. The rote education practiced in the Philippines is oppressive, whether it was initiated by US good intentions of mass market education or evolved through Filipino educators knowing no different. It is teaching Filipinos transaction thinking, not critical thinking. The authoritarian mindset of government agencies doubles down on obedience as a mainstream power play. Oppressive. I think very few Filipinos feel victimized because the mind meld of social oppression succeeded by extracting perspective, inspiration, and conceptual reasoning from their lives.
Of course no one is oppressing the Filipino. Rather to put it into another sense it is the system, which descended from datu-ism, that Filipinos are familiar with and comfortable with that oppresses through mini-power centers arbitrarily interpreting the rights and laws. My point was more on shying away from the post-Vietnam era Western left’s (i.e. mostly American) interpretation of oppression through the US-centric White-Black discourse, further colored by old Soviet fake anti-colonialism agitprop. So in my mind we’re basically agreeing here. We are just approaching the topic from different angles due to being of different generations.
What you said always say about “you don’t know what you don’t know” is also true, and is a large component of why the Philippines can’t seem to progress ahead to what her people aspire to be. The solution to this requires hard work, but is a lot simpler than generations of Filipino elites make it out to be. Basically a solution would be to create more jobs, and whatever it takes to generate and facilitate jobs, e.g. education, infrastructure, ease of doing business, and so on. Countries that industrialized early had to go about doing all this alone. The benefit the Philippines has in being late to the game is that there are plenty of examples of success and willing capital investment that would speed up development as opposed to cultivating domestic-only growth.
As more Filipinos gain economic autonomy they will start to want to protect their gains. One who has a need to protect one’s economic status suddenly worries about one’s rights. In order to protect one’s rights one will be inclined to elect officials who would be a representative to do just that. Filipinos will start to demand better infrastructure and services, not just put up with second-rate broken down government. Once the ball gets going it tends to be a self-reinforcing cycle, as long as maintained, just like the current Filipino condition is a self-reinforcing cycle. The only danger is what the US experienced in a minority capturing LGUs and purposely depressing education to generate compliant citizens and a grip on minority rule, though the Philippines has a unitary system that would not be as vulnerable to this aspect of American federalism. Anyway each system has its own strengths. Francis elucidated all this perfectly, and as he seems to be much younger than me (probably half my age) I think as long as Filipinos such as he exists the Philippines will get there sooner rather than later.
Excellent bringing together of things.
Francis first appeared here IIRC around pandemic times, mentioning that he was a student, and now mentioned not wanting to be 60 in 2060 and seeing the Philippines still behind. In a blog where Giancarlo as a millenial is the de facto bunso among the mainstays, I am happy that we are reaching even just ONE like Francis, though I wish that crowd could be more.
The Third Republic crowd (sonny from Pangasinan who migrated to Chicago, the late Edgar Lores based in Australia but also Ilokano born in Hawaii to a father who worked very hard but always made sure his shoes and those of his sons were perfectly shined based on the family fotos I have seen, the Chinoy PhD engineer NHerrera who is now in Canada with his migrant kids IIRC) or the early Fifth Republic crowd (the 1986 veteran Will Villanueva, the post-1986 migrant to Australia Cha Coronel Datu, the former activist turned US migrant Juana Pilipinas who is of Kapampangan but also Swedish origin, the lurker Chinoy Wall Street banker caliphman, the enthusiastic yellow Mary Grace Gonzales, the Bikolano island dweller Bert who hasn’t been here at all for years) all have left their mark here.
We have the minor annoyances who made interesting contributions before they became major annoyances, and occasional gadflies like jameboy who did contribute. Popoy, the professor who sometimes went on an arc about his 1960s London experiences, was occasionally annoying but often very interesting.
Every “era” (in the Taylor Swift sense I guess, not historically) of this blog has recorded and commented Philippine current events in its own way. From the old days when Manuel Buencamino and Joeam were in heavy dialogue, to the era when Edgar Lores shaped many minds including my then only partly trained mind, to the time when Karl and myself wrote “Going Home” to what came between and finally the present series of articles by Karl (“Home Alone”? – no not quite)..
In the end, what matters is what is understood and out of what is understood, what is put into action. Sonny once removed my doubts about whether being here made sense at all by giving me the analogy of the mustard seed, very much part of his Catholic education. Of course there might be future characters like i7sharp who treat TSOH like he treated the Bible, completely literally with barely any reading comprehension. Though I recall how Andrew Lim, also part of the Fifth Republic crowd and one of the few who still contributed her post-pandemic, wanted to write an article about conceptual weakness being the major issue with Filipinos. Possibly it was too much of a hot iron, it is something I am reluctant to touch, but we can see how pilosopos in the Philippines fail to grasp what they are actually talking about. I am anyhow grateful to all who actually understand what we are trying to understand here.
In 2060 I’ll be in my late 70s. I know I do harp on my annoyances of the Filipino elites as much as I have deep sympathy for regular (poor) Filipinos. I also have my deep annoyances with the penchant to consume information uncritically as if the average Filipino mind is controlled by a one-way box (populist speeches, then media, now social media). The silver lining is that yes, occasionally there will be seeds planted in still-impressionable minds that may later grow into an impressive tree. A positive take is that OFWs sent back remittances which opened up more possibilities for their families, and now the process is being supercharged with BPO workers being local. There are pioneers who had to work as a helper or cashier in the Middle East then were able to help a sibling or relative become a nurse or engineer at a private school. The process repeats, upgrading each time, which is progress. Of course it would be better if there was an actual government policy to accelerate things, but development also happens organically regardless of government effort or non-effort. The biggest limiter to the advancement of Filipino natives before the Spanish was isolation and lack of trade (i.e. ability to obtain new information). Lack of access to ideas is no longer a limiter, even if not all Filipinos have taken advantage of the opportunity to obtain knowledge yet. But they will, eventually.
yes, exactly. The major flaw of Filipino thinking that attempts to create fictions of past grandeur is that “galing” is innate. History shows that people who were at crossroads tended to progress earlier, and that nobody invented everything.
The Philippines was suddenly at a new global crossroads after Magellan crossed the Pacific in one go and Urdaneta discovered the way back, the tornaviaje. Of course being a sitting duck to a foreign power was a consequence of having been less prepared than for instance the Javanese and Sumatrans who were only conquered by the machinery of the Dutch East India company, or mainland Asia which was colonized by the time Europe was industrializing.
there is a proliferation of Pinoy channels on Youtube similar to the one shown below which show that there IS a hunger among Pinoys to learn about the world – in the case of that channel also how the women are like in other parts of the world, though that isn’t really surprising or new in human history. At least that one isn’t DDS-leaning like so many of the kuya and tito channels tend to be. There are also indications of evolving understanding, like YT channels about trains in the Philippines where I have seen migrants living in Japan or Thailand commenting, comparing what they have seen and experienced there with what the Philippines has or is building. That would be the intuitive aspect of the Filipino you mention in another comment. A better capacity to connect the conceptual to reality among Filipinos would of course accelerate the process of learning from the world. Concepts are like clothes-hangers and closets to order observations.
It has always been apparent to me that it is the elite class and those who strive to be would-be elites are the ones concerned with fabricating a grand past, probably to justify their own notion of self-greatness. Most Filipinos today, and probably the natives before the Spanish arrival, just smile and go along with it.
Here’s something funny, I watched a lola diligently plant kamoteng kahoy haphazardly and asked through her granddaughter “why not rows?” The reply was that the lola knew exactly where the kamoteng kahoy was planted, and besides, the tuber was right below the foliage above. This seems to align with the swidden agriculture that was observed in the Visayas by Wang Dayuan in the 14th century, later by Spanish friars, confirmed by William Henry Scott. This random wherever-one-feels-like-it farming was also practiced by the Polynesians. I was able to convince the lola of the benefits of planting a row not by easier weeding (there is no need to weed around kamoteng kahoy), not by easier irrigation (the rain watered the plants), but successfully explained that she would not need to wander around her plot as much and it would be easier on her elderly hips. Point being, as resistant as people are there, if something beneficial is explained in a way a regular Filipino recognizes as beneficial, they are more than willing to adapt.
I’ve found that the more social power a Filipino has, the harder it is to convince them if they didn’t think I was great or famous enough. There also needs to be a modicum of respect and patience, which how power operates in the Philippines often does not allow. I’m gladded by the positive reception to Angat Buhay. Angat Buhay is really the model the Philippines needs, not the elites bringing in McKinsey-type “consultants” to do the thinking for them. Filipinos seem to appreciate people with experience, with more perceived “power” yet are willing to mingle with regular people and are willing to share how to do something. One who is willing to get one’s dirty showing the one to be helped directly seems to be even more appreciated.
Looks to me like a discussion on the title of Nick Joaquin’s essay, rather than on the essay itself. Did I miss something? 🙂
Thanks for your feedback, Joey. We are in agreement on a lot of your points.
“Plenty of corrupt countries that were able to attract exponentially more FDI than the Philippines.” – Joey
Perhaps, and yes, we can always emulate what they have done to generate FDI if we want to. I would not be averse to that.
“Ease of doing business has more to do with infrastructure, energy, licenses/permits, stable political environment.” – Joey
Exactly…and most of our population would probably be surprised at the effect a good “PH-Road” (Philippine version of Estonia’s X-Road) system on “infrastructure, energy, licenses/permits, stable political environment.” Do you disagree with that?
“Good intentions don’t matter if the leader is indecisive and does not pick competent advisors.” – Joey
Totally agree, no argument from me there. If a leader with good intentions is indecisive and does not pick competent advisors, I would say he is not “magaling” to use ISK’s word (one of three words0 in describing a good president.
“Also, insistence on empty moralizing that is not practiced is a bane there.” – Joey
You won’t get any argument from me on that either, though I am not sure what exactly you mean by “empty moralizing.” We have a lot of articles in TSOH. Are any of them “empty moralizing?” How about the one that this thread is on: “Do not go Gentle Into Performative Governance?” Is it moralizing? If yes, is it empty moralizing? Like I said, I’m not sure what you mean by it.
“Words like magaling, magiting, mapagmahal sa bansa mean nothing if not lived.” – Joey
That goes without saying and has been touched on many many times in articles posted here in TSOH. Again you will get no argument from me on that point.
“The best way to set into motion change is to actually do it. Otherwise it’s just like a bunch of tomador drunkenly shooting the shit at inuman on subjects they are not qualified to talk about.” – Joey
Totally agree.
What I think is after time spent on exhausting explanation you still don’t understand what X-Road accomplishes for Estonian government and how a similar concept can be applied vis a vis the Philippines.
I am a technologist and business consultant who has deployed numerous data exchange systems over decades. I have led multi-million dollar data transformation projects to move data from legacy systems to more modern ones for major enterprises. X-Road is not something magic. X-Road is simply a data exchange system that applies principles used in major enterprise to government. In itself X-Road did not radically transform Estonian government, and in my view X-Road is an important ENABLER but a relatively MINOR part of the Estonian story.
Why does the thinking always prefer magic bullet solutions despite not understanding the underlying process? As if magical bullets would solve all the problems? That is the single largest failure point in thinking as educated *there.*
I have known Filipinos to be amazingly intuitive people, but intuition can only get one so far. Intuition is great for simpler problems. Intuition is not so great for problems that approach even moderate complexity that requires an understanding of moving pieces and how systems interact. In order to complex systems one needs to start by understanding the unseen, dismissed smaller components and what problematic elements exist at lower levels that contribute to the BIG problem one can see. And to do so one needs to actually slow down, have patience to learn from those who know what the heck to do and how things work, and only then act once knowledge is gained. Alas, the penchant is an attraction to the most extravagant looking cure-all fix, for shooting from the hip, for acting first thinking later. I assure you, the problems of the Philippines originate at much lower levels than in Manila. So start there.
“What I think is after time spent on exhausting explanation you still don’t understand what X-Road accomplishes for Estonian government and how a similar concept can be applied vis a vis the Philippines.” – Joey
Actually I have explored it extensively, and even looked at the Georgia experience which though similar is quite different from Estonia’s. Georgia, in fact, was a failed state when the USSR collapsed, unlike Estonia. Also, though still tiny compared to the Philippines, it was twice as large as Estonia in terms of population. And the challenges it faced were different, but no less daunting.
“X-Road is not something magic.” – Joey
Oh everybody knows that. It took a lot of work by Prime Minister Laar and his team, including mental work. Don’t be fooled.
“I am a technologist and business consultant who has deployed numerous data exchange systems over decades. I have led multi-million dollar data transformation projects to move data from legacy systems to more modern ones for major enterprises.” – Joey
Great. That knowledge would be helpful if we here in the Society want to go deeper into X-Road or PH-Road as the case may be. I asked Irineo, a systems person, to help out explain the technical aspects, but he deferred to you because of your qualifications.
“X-Road is simply a data exchange system that applies principles used in major enterprise to government. In itself X-Road did not radically transform Estonian government, and in my view X-Road is an important ENABLER but a relatively MINOR part of the Estonian story.” – Joey
The claim out there is that the X-Road system of Estonia (now I am not talking about the PH-Road), as a simple data exchange system, enabled a largely non-contact with a human in the government system. The authors of the X-Road determined that the opportunity for corruption (and its consequences like delays, theft and plunder, sabotage, etc.) mainly occurred when there was contact by the Estonian public with a human being, whether in government or even the private sector.
To address that, the created a simple data exchange system that practically eliminated that. Whether it is a simple data system, or a complex one is to me irrelevant. I actual prefer a simple data system because I think it is more likely our Pinoy kababayans can adopt and learn it….also, it might be easier to maintain and fix.
Now you can explain that simple data exchange system to us better than I (or maybe even Irineo) can given your credentials as you have declared them. Amen?
“In order to complex systems one needs to start by understanding the unseen, dismissed smaller components and what problematic elements exist at lower levels that contribute to the BIG problem one can see.” – Joey
Exactly, which is why I recommended a delegation of Filipinos go to Estonia (and not just on a junket) and that a knowledgeable Estonian delegation come to the Philippines “in order to complex systems one needs to start by understanding the unseen, dismissed smaller components and what problematic elements exist at lower levels that contribute to the BIG problem one can see.”
To achieve results I believe we need good leadership (“magaling, magiting, at mapagmahal sa bayan” – ISK). You and I have had our differences on the role of a strong leader. As I see it…if the Philippines is to implement PH-Road on a national level, then the president would have to buy into it to lead it.
If we only have a caretaker president, that won’t do. Is it possible to start smaller, like in Vico Sotto’s Pasig, or Leni Robredo’s Naga City? Those cities have leaders that MAYBE fit the “magaling, magiting, and mapagmahal sa ciudad” qualities. Who knows?
“And to do so one needs to actually SLOW DOWN, have patience to learn from those who know what the heck to do and how things work, and only then act once knowledge is gained.” – Joey
One problem with slowing down is that you give the opponents time to figure out how to sabotage the whole thing. Going slow is the modus operandi of a lot of things in the Philippine government. Examine it closely and you will see why. Those “little bosings” do not want to lose their little fiefdoms, which thrive in the lack of transparency, the delays, the multiple layers of approvals, etc. etc. It has been discussed extensively here at TSOH both in the essays and in the comments.
Francis expressed concern at our falling behind our neighbors. Is it because they go slow?
Ultimately, it is the choice of my countrymen…to go slow, or to go fast. In the 1930s, Quezon said “because we can fix it.” After 1946, we were in charge of fixing anything that was broken…and in our typical fashion we went slowly. The result is moving from no. 2 in the region to probably now last in the region. If we want to continue that slow pace, it is up to us.
As you have pointed out, the X-Road is a simple data system. That is great…I don’t think we are ready for anything complex. But it is not my choice that matters, nor yours really. It is for the Filipinos back home to decide.
Let me end by repeating Karl G.’s call in this current essay “Do not Go Gentle…”:
>>Final Call
Do not go gentle into civic sleep.
Do not confuse patience with wisdom.
Do not mistake resilience for consent.
This nation has carried houses on its shoulders before.
It can carry institutions, too—if it chooses to stand up again.
The Philippines does not need a miracle.
It needs proof.
And proof only moves one way:
Forward.<<
Wrong on the reasons in Georgia.
My apologies, I was not aware you are a data systems architect and subject matter expert on enterprise content management systems. Since it is the case that you have such expert knowledge, you should avail your services to as a special assistant to the President or as a legislative staff to the Congress in order to implement your suggestions.
“My apologies,….” – Joey
Apology accepted. Of course I am not a data systems architect and subject matter expert on enterprise content management systems. I was just using common sense.
Meanwhile I just learned that unbeknownst to me, my suggestions that the Philippines send a delegation to Estonia to see what they have, and if they like it, invite a delegation to the Philippines to see if their X-Road system can help the Philippines have already been implemented. I think the first Philippine exploratory delegation went back in 2023. Now, if my information is correct, the Estonians are in the Philippines working with Filipinos to install a version of their X-Road system.
As I said to Kasambahay in another thread – dumating si Batman!
I’ll be monitoring their progress (and I mean the combined team of Filipinos and Estonians) with cautious and hopeful optimism.
Ok
even Alexandra Trese has to say tabi-tabi po in places where otherworldly gatekeepers exist.
Karl has anyhow also written about how IRRs are watered down by agencies who don’t want their prerogatives taken from them.
I once asked Xiao Chua whether my impression that UP departments barely manage to cooperate is correct and he answered “don’t get me started”.
But hey, I have read about how barangays upstream of old Manila blocked rice shipments to the Bruneians there to extract a higher cut.
And we know how Metro Manila towns each have their own rules, I guess the Philippines is still the land of many little “bosings” after all.
I have considered that one way to enforce compliance is to take away funds from local authorities that don’t comply. But that may open up a new “can of worms” as provincial and national government is essentially an ever-reconfiguring alliance of localized powers. It had been long clear to me that it is the local powers that reinforce bad governance up the power ladder to protect their own prerogatives, not the other way around.
I had also considered that a possible model would have LGU leaders recognize the essentialism of better governance. Quezon, Pasig, Makati, Baguio, Naga. Calabarzon as a whole. But then that would likely lead to internal migration towards those LGUs, overwhelming local resources while keeping in place the apportioned powers of less well-governed LGUs who continue to leech off the whole and hold everyone else back.
But ultimately hard decisions might need to be made. Here in the US “blue” states which constitute the majority of the population and economy have long subsidized underperforming, badly governed “red” states out of a sense of national unity to the ideals of the US. Both the US (federal system) and the Philippines (unitary system) constitutions seek to protect the rights of rights of the minority, but what to do when the minority terrorizes an impedes the majority? At some point the majority would need to stand up and say STOP. Hard to do with an ill-informed and ill-educated citizenry.
in philippines, ill educated and ill informed citizenry is not really a problem, though they can be too noisy and irritating. what is problematic are those that egged (and funded) ill educated and ill informed citizens to do the unthinkable. else they are quite pliant and accepting of their lot. though there are those that have reached their limit and turned feral.
post edsa, as regards the minority here that may impede or terrorize the majority, those minorities dont usually go far. the maute terrorists did try but were repulsed after 5months of fighting with our armed forces, leaving marawi in ruins. rallies of activists that seek to overthrow our government may be given platform to vent their all consuming angst, but that is mostly all. their ardor usually fizzle out, gone like the wind. they may talk of coup but dont really know how to do about it, the technicalities escaped them. or maybe because they want others to risk their lives for their cause, not their own and in return, others yet expect others to risk their lives, and in the end, no lives were lost. no coups eventuate.
Ah KB I was referring more on underperforming LGUs, not fringe groups.
underperforming lgus still have party list representations in congress, and are most watched. most citizens there are 4Ps recipients and must report for social welfare checks. but as soon as makaahon sila, they are out of the system on the assumption that they are now able to fend for themselves. then new batch comes in and the cycle goes on. sometimes, members of underperforming lgus bleeds into the fringe groups and vice versa. dept of social welfare and public health rarely gives distinction and anyone in need is catered for.
*And we know how Metro Manila towns each have their own rules, I guess the Philippines is still the land of many little “bosings” after all.* – Irineo
Exactly, and as I have read in many articles here in TSOH, we really do not have the political will to change that. This idea of many little “bosings” is not efficient, hence Francis’s observation that we continue to fall behind our Asian neighbors in economic progress.
So one of the key objectives of any good solution is to change that culture of many little “bosings.” I am pretty sure that the number of “bosings,” though formidable, is tiny as a percentage of the total adult population. If that majority see a different way, they might just tell those little “bosings” to jump in the lake or in Manila Bay and let this different way take over.
Wishful thinking, I know! 🙂
I think it was Karl in one or more of his essays talked about our tendency to just accept things as they are. I think his point (and Karl can correct me on this) is that we should consider not defaulting to that fall back of just accepting.
pls understand that in philippines those little bossings are maybe lgus, the elected local and regional officials and have mandates to impose ordinances they see fit for their own localities. the governors, vice governors and their board members, the mayor and vice mayors and their councillors, etc. they also have their funds handed down from central govt in manila, for lgus to manage their own affairs. in rome be a roman, works also in our townships. each town may have different set of rules and regulations, and if you dont agree with any of them, dont come.
local govts can also enter into business enterprises with other lgus, govt agencies, and other countries, and pay tax too.
local ordinances are legal but may have short life span as subsequent officials may overrule previous ordinances made, much like what is happening in other countries where state and territories create their own laws until such are repelled due to succession of new incumbents.
we locals are aware that we can change and challenge local ordinances in the courts of law and may appeal the result in the appellate court. for us locals, it pays to be aware of what is going on in our surroundings and to act accordingly, let and let live. and as much as possible, to live in harmony with our neighbors. be good neighbor, better that way, less hassle.
Yes indeed. LGUs run land use and traffic and (some) taxation and business permits and road building and storm preparation among other things. Dynasties control several hundred LGUs, but not all. The barangay is a valuable government unit putting the people and LGU face to face. The US lacks this formal structure.
thanks, joeam.
Thanks, Kasambahay. I am sorry to say that if I lived in the Philippines, I would have the exact same attitude as you – “less hassle.” No hero here.
The sad thing with the “less hassle” status quo is that the common tao pays the price. The “bosing” also pays a price, but not as much. When a tricycle driver must return to the municipal hall three times for a single permit, that is not just how it is in Rome. That is a hidden tax on the Triycle driver’s productivity not to mention wallet.
When I lived and worked there, I did what was needed to survive(I was in my 20s, no special skills or even connections or “kilalas”) I paid those hidden taxes because of the “Roman way” and I was not going to be a foreigner in Rome…para iyan, “Bahala na si Batman.”
The PH-Road as Joey and I have coined it, will not overhaul the LGU. But if executed well, it should strengthen the LGU to better serve more in the community, not just those w/ “power” or “influence” or “kilalas” etc. etc. I’m not a technocrat like Joey, so I cannot spell out the details of how it works. Apparently, Pinoys in Estonia have witnessed a “Cadillac” version of this “PH-Road” and it seems they like it. Batman arrived in Estonia and did his thing.
Should Batman visit the Philippines, with all his “magaling, magiting, and mapagmahal sa bayan,” things will change and the playing field will get more level for folk like that tricycle drivers. Until then, we will have to wait and tolerate the current hassles.
lately, tricycle drives are required to carry drivers license, most licence is for 5yrs. though the permit to drive tricycles is renewable after 3yrs. the permit allows them to drive on certain prescribed routes only.
I think, if batman visits the philippines, he will applaud and appreciative of what we have done. but if he starts muscling us around, we will run him out of our country! the way the beatles were run out of our country many years ago, haha!
“lately, tricycle drives are required to carry driver’s license, most licence is for 5yrs. though the permit to drive tricycles is renewable after 3yrs. the permit allows them to drive on certain prescribed routes only.” – Kasambahay
What is the process like for getting a driver’s license and the process for renewing one? How long does it take? Can the driver do it from his smart phone or a computer at a public library or any public building?
What is the process like for getting a tricycle permit? How long does it take? Can it be done from a smart phone or a computer at home or at a public library?
“I think, if batman visits the philippines, he will applaud and appreciative of what we have done.” – Kasambahay
This is how Karl described what batman would see on a visit in the opening essay at TSOH:
**Tired of traffic that steals years from our lives.
Tired of institutions that promise reform and deliver excuses.
Tired of elections that feel consequential—and governance that does not.**
He would applaud that? Wow. Kaya pala “Land of Happy Fools.” 🙂
ah, but batman should feel at home here, his gotham city is not much better. it seems to be always shrouded in darkness! and give rise to villains as the penguin et all. and look at the size of those bats, I can only imagine the guano. gotham city must be smelly.
anyhow, if you are really into tricycle drivers, check out their association’s web page.
Salamat, Kasambahay. Yes I did check out the webpage and other sources. Thank you.
BTW, I think the Joke would applaud things in the Philippines, hehehe
Oops..typo…I meant Joker, not Joke.
Good to know. Thanks.
“In the Philippines, there isn’t a direct local implementation of X-Road (the secure, decentralized government data exchange layer used in Estonia and other countries). However, the Philippine government has developed its own equivalents and building blocks for secure data interoperability, digital identity, and whole-of-government integration that serve similar purposes: Philippine Equivalent to X-Road…” – Karl G.
“Good to know” – JoeAm
You can see that there already is some expertise in the Philippine population to use this new computer technology and further grow the PH-Road system (adaptation of the X-Road to Philippine conditions) to benefit more Filipinos. We won’t be starting from scratch.
Caution should be exercised not to settle for “puede na” which many in the Society have pointed out and discussed very very frequently is the tendency of us Filipinos. Focus, momentum, and continued focus and continued momentum until the job is done is important.
The benefits – improved livelihood and standard of living for millions of Filipinos AND hopefully success in the battle against corruption.
Another benefit is that the PH-Road system should outlast personalities. The public’s buy in should ensure that. A change in presidents should not stop the momentum.
That last point is very important. Continuity of progress.
Exactly, JoeAm. Just look at your experiences as you described…taxes on your Condo, driver’s license 10 years, etc. Would you like to go back to the old ways with a change of administration? Heck no! That is buy in.
Exactly, JoeAm. Just look at your experiences as you described…taxes on your Condo, driver’s license 10 years, etc. Would you like to go back to the old ways with a change of administration? Heck no! That is buy in.
By the way, LCX hat tip.for the title.
https://joeam.com/2016/07/14/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/
I read it again and came up with this article, though it is another frankensteining, if you will.I have been frankensteining a lot with my articles.
I wonder where “old” LCPL_X went. His old articles are well reasoned and draw from his own life experiences. The last 10 years of Trump and Duterte coinciding with the rise of too many people falling into “algo-think” selling outrage has sure done a number on the ability to hold common discourse.
He is still on X.
I threw him out. He was swarming the blog with so much crap that real content could not get through. He’s a part of the reason why readership is down. Irrelevant content.
Yes, I’m aware of what he became due to being sucked into the X algorithm. Still, reading his old content it feels like reading a completely different person. Well-reasoned, thoughtful, open-minded. Like many people were before algorithms hooked into their brains. I’m glad I stay off of social media for the most part.
Wise. I’m retreating, too. It’s narrow and emotionalized nonsense.
Social media is still useful as a raw information source provided the feed is generally and one knows how to interpret that information. I liberally block stupid stuff and stupid people which helps to keep a cleaner feed.
Agree. I used to input a lot but have tapered off. Others are more engaged and in the loop of news and people. I still read.
I barely look at X (a few minutes daily) and Facebook is a place I go to once or twice a week.
Most of my listening to music is now on Spotify and not on Youtube anymore.
It is quite annoying that one has to tell it 2-3 times when one doesn’t want to see a channel.
I am still slogging through the “read a book to the end challenge” I put to myself since Christmas.
Scary how my capacity to read the old way got reduced and I had to go on self-imposed cognitive rehab.
Cognitive rehab. You should do a You Tube channel on it. 😂🤣😂🤣🍺🍺
just my curiosity, have the germans caught the person/s who cause the power outage that cause berlin to lose power for a week! apparently, berlin came to a halt in the middle of a very cold winter.
It wasn’t all of Berlin but it was a pretty large swathe of the Southwest of the city, some of the richest parts of town. What became visible is who among the rich were the kind that had their own generators, something not too common as blackouts are extremely rare over here – though I suspect that the government district in the center of Berlin has its emergency generators and the big Embassies also do but that area was not affected.
There is a suspicion that it was some crazy Far Leftists, the kind that have torched luxury cars in the past etc., a group as crazy as the climate change activists that stop people from going to work, in this case out to punish the rich people for being rich, but no one has been caught yet.
thanks.
YouTube for music has its plus sides. I discovered new Asian pop (Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai) that I otherwise wouldn’t have known. Unfortunately I had hit “do not recommend” on the P-pop stuff though.
Bluesky is okay. Reminds me of early Twitter, though I need to block a lot of commies. Better than X with all its Nazis, Russian and Chinese bots.
I consume books at a decent rate. I find reading to be useful to keep my mind sharp. Being able to speed read while still digesting normally helps. I wish technical manuals were still a thing. Finding a code snippet or example diagram on Google helps immediately but often doesn’t help with deeper understanding.
I am in general trying to cleanse my feeds on all social media of TOO MUCH Filipino stuff. What you noted about Filipinos “feeling main character” is true, too many people in the Filipino online space acts as if the world revolves around the archipelago which it doesn’t. That is something I already found a weakness of how Philippine history tells the story of how Magellan and others came to the Philippines as if some evil aliens in a comic book decided to invade earth, when in reality they were just off course a bit on the way to the Moluccas, and might not even have had a business case for colonization without Bolivian silver. One reason I wrote Reflections After Shogun here was to emphasize how what happened to the Philippines was just part of a greater wave.
Currently reading a book which is sharpening my view of what really happened in the Mediterreanean and Western Europe, a topic I also tackled in “The Philippines, from the Edge to the Middle of Things” but with one major flaw, assuming that the siege of Troy was historical fact. I tend to think of Odysseus as the Datu Puti of the Med by now, from an era when “istoryahe” (IIRC the Visayan word for tall tales) still dominated on this side of the world.
For most Philippine stuff, the rough overview I get here at TSOH is usually more than enough for me at this point.
I also am trying not to get affected too much by the OA aspect of the Philippine scene that Joey mentioned and that a long dormant contributor here, Cha Coronel Datu based in Australia, described as a penchant for teleserye style drama.
The noise around the flood control stuff and the slow pace of consequences in general were a last straw for me. Time is too precious for this 60 year old.
Though I am happy to see Bong Revilla in jail. I truly found his budots defiance of rules the peak of shamelessness. Though I won’t believe that that will lead to anything until it actually does.
The only way to cleanse one’s feed of excessive OA Philippine content is to aggressive prune it. However one accidentally auto-played video would quickly flood my feed again, which is annoying. Hence my sarcasm about how many Filipinos accidentally learned how to be SEO experts but use that talent to “gain fame” and ad affiliate payments rather than towards useful ends. A lot of “P-slop” have hundreds of thousands of views, sometimes millions, so clearly millions of Filipinos are hooked on consuming this content all day long.
Btw how about the blurring of fantasy and reality that happens in the Philippines? In other cultures, such as the European epics like The Odyssey, it’s clear that the Ancient Greeks viewed such epics as teaching allegories into real life in addition to being entertainment. For example The Odyssey relays concepts of: 1.) Loyalty (pistis), 2.) Duty (philotimo), 3.) Transformation (metamorphosis), 4.) Perseverance (hupomone), 5.) Hospitality (xenia). Epic stories originating in a simple man made larger than life in death in other cultures across Europe, Africa, Near East and Far East have similar purposes. Both William Henry Scott and H. Otley Beyer had commented that the Datu Puti in the Maragtas was probably based on a historical figure as well, so that’s not an issue. I do wonder if the understanding of Maragtas focuses on its more important themes of wise leadership, establishing structure from tribal society, and negotiation or the initial rebellion against Makatunaw. Perhaps the ideals of Datu Puti and his fellow datus were glossed over for “action,” like how a teleserye is often fast-forwarded to the dramatic and action parts.
I budget hearings sometimes a pilosopo civil servant wil get the 1 peso threat as in your department will only get one peso.
They also do that threat during senate investigations.
The most prominent recent incident of a legislative body providing a near-zero budget as a punitive measure was the House of Representatives’ vote to give the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) a ₱1,000 budget for the year 2018, not a ₱1 budget. This was primarily driven by the then-House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and the motion was made by then-SAGIP Party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta, due to the agency’s criticism of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.
Historical Context
Commission on Human Rights (2017): In September 2017, the House of Representatives, in a vote of 119-32, approved a ₱1,000 budget for the CHR for 2018. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez defended the decision, claiming the CHR was “useless” and only interested in protecting criminals’ rights. The Senate ultimately vowed to restore the CHR’s proper budget, as constitutional bodies cannot be defunded by Congress.
Economic Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (EIIB) (1989): During the Corazon Aquino administration, the entire Congress slashed the EIIB’s budget from P121 million to just ₱1. The move was widely seen as an act of revenge by a majority of congressmen after the EIIB, led by then-Commissioner Jose Almonte, resisted pressure to fire a deputy who was cracking down on smuggling operations that allegedly involved some lawmakers.
Of all the faults of Recto he has to credited for his initiatves and advocacies.
Ralph Recto, in his roles as a legislator and subsequently as Secretary of Finance and Executive Secretary, has consistently advocated for streamlining the Philippine bureaucracy to improve efficiency, enhance transparency, and reduce red tape.
Key Initiatives and Focus Areas:
His approach, particularly as Finance Secretary, combines digital adoption with strict fiscal discipline to improve the government’s overall responsiveness to public needs.
I think, the law that president bong marcos signed, the konektadong pinoy law, should make digitial access faster and easier for everyone.
Of all the faults of Recto he has to credited for his initiatves and advocacies
there may be a court case looming for ex finance chief recto, for having illegally transferred billions of philhealth fund to other govt portfolio. supreme court has ruled recto’s action as unconstitutional. last I heard, house committee members are gathering materials/evidence for filing case vs recto.
He must pay because god knows hu das not pay.
Recto on MUP pensions.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto has adopted a cautious stance on Military and Uniformed Personnel (MUP) pension reforms, prioritising the government’s “social contract” with active members while acknowledging the long-term fiscal challenges.
Recent Updates and Stance (2025–2026)
Key Policy Positions
Context of the Reform
The current MUP system is considered a “fiscal time bomb” by economic analysts because it is fully funded by taxpayers with no contributions from the personnel themselves. Pension amounts are also indexed, meaning they automatically increase whenever the salary of active-duty personnel is raised. Recto’s predecessor, Benjamin Diokno, had pushed for more aggressive reforms, including mandatory contributions from active personnel, which Recto ultimately veered away from.
mup must not be indexed but should be means tested. those who are already richer than rich should received only part pension like when they live in mansions worth millions, their family businesses are booming and earning heaps, etc. it not fair for example the likes of imelda marcos who is receiving pension for being a military widow, (I dont know if she really did donate her pension to the poor!) should only be receiving part pension as she has already so much money hoarded, lives in a mansion, owns properties like lands, expensive cars, jewels, etc.
and I hope the military family of the garcias, (not your relative I hope!) and the ligots who still have to return millions of money to the government as part of the court ruling for having been found to be doing something illegal like dipping their hands into military funds and helping themselves with military purchases in the procurement of overpriced military equipment like the premium kevlar vests that were not bulletproof and padded only with shredded paper.
I think, I’ll shut up, I have said too much!
Recto on MUP pensions.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto has adopted a cautious stance on Military and Uniformed Personnel (MUP) pension reforms, prioritising the government’s “social contract” with active members while acknowledging the long-term fiscal challenges.
Recent Updates and Stance (2025–2026)
Key Policy Positions
Context of the Reform
The current MUP system is considered a “fiscal time bomb” by economic analysts because it is fully funded by taxpayers with no contributions from the personnel themselves. Pension amounts are also indexed, meaning they automatically increase whenever the salary of active-duty personnel is raised. Recto’s predecessor, Benjamin Diokno, had pushed for more aggressive reforms, including mandatory contributions from active personnel, which Recto ultimately veered away from.
While the Mandanas-Garcia doctrine was initiated by former congressmen, many current lawmakers have expressed significant concerns or “disagreements” with how the ruling is being implemented, specifically regarding the “full devolution” of services.
Key Concerns from Lawmakers
Judicial Dissent during the Ruling
During the Supreme Court’s deliberation on the case (G.R. No. 199802), several justices—whose perspectives align with common legislative arguments—formally dissented:
Summary of Legislative Stance
Lawmakers generally do not oppose getting more money for their districts; however, their “disagreement” lies in the executive-led devolution that forces LGUs to take on expensive national programs without adequate preparation or a truly “unfettered” share of the tax base.
Ya not my relative. Despite my dad being military before he died he kept ppenjbg up that pension ticling timw nomb much to the chagrin of colleagues.
thanks, hindi na ako kabado.
Sana naintindigan mo typos.
no worry with typos.
Buti nabasa mo hehe
Though some of the measurents for implenentation and outcomes are yet to be measured. The governmeny my agorementioned tools.
In the Philippines, many government agencies use the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and Strategy Maps primarily through the Performance Governance System (PGS), a local framework managed by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA). Additionally, the Governance Commission for GOCCs (GCG) mandates these tools for state-owned corporations.
1. Agencies Using Balanced Scorecards & Strategy Maps
These agencies use the BSC to align their daily operations with long-term strategic goals:
2. Implementation of KPIs and OKRs
3. Oversight and Frameworks
Would you like to see a specific Strategy Map or Performance Scorecard template used by these Philippine agencies?