Whatever this or any other crop of politicians vying for the hallowed vote of the Filipino say, it is evident that the Philippines continues to fall further and further behind most measures of success. The standards are being set by its neighbours in the otherwise vibrant southeast Asian region.
For one thing, the Philippines’ competitors are giving themselves ambitious goals. Indonesia, after recently announcing the start of construction of its first bullet train which is to link its capital city Jakarta with the city of Bandung 160 kilometres away, has reportedly expressed a goal to “dominate the ship market in Asia”. It seems to be on track to make good on this promise after completing the first of two Strategic Sealift Vessels (SSV) built by its state-owned shipbuilding company PT PAL to be delivered to the Philippine Navy in late 2016.
The Philippine Navy’s new SSV BRP Tarlac built by Indonesian shipbuilder PT PAL.
(Image source: Philippine Navy)
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Indeed, regional current affairs journal The Diplomat proposes the possibility of an “Indonesian defense revolution” under current President Joko Widodo. Widodo considers self-reliance key to achieving their strategic military development objectives and is embarking on a programme to ensure military technology is aggressively acquired by Indonesia’s state-run military equipment manufacturers.
[Widodo] said Indonesia should stop its habit of chasing after foreign weapon systems without making efforts to boost domestic production. He also added that the focus should be on building integrated defense equipment systems. Predictably, he also found a way to work in his global maritime fulcrum doctrine, emphasizing that the country’s shipbuilding industry should be able to produce non-military equipment as well like commercial ships. The whole point of this defense transformation, Jokowi stressed, is to ensure the industry is “developed for long term use, not only for one or two years.”
Filipinos should start asking their leaders and, more importantly, themselves if they are up to the challenge of foisting the same kind of ambition upon themselves. Indeed, in the case of Indonesia’s military goals, the self-reliance doctrine that is central to this mission is “reflected in the 2012 Law on Defense Industry, and is central to realizing the country’s goal of developing the Indonesian military (TNI) into a minimum essential force by 2024”.
Do Filipinos have ambitious goals that are as specific and as absolute as those of Indonesia’s?
An essential ingredient to putting the Philippines on a path to greatness is articulating a clear direction. Truly grand visions are built upon a solid foundation of just a handful of key fundamentals — rule of law, social justice, strong economy, and a government sector focused on public service.
Unfortunately, many of the promises laid out by virtually all Filipino politicians do not go beyond these basics. They pitch justice, economy, and service as ends by themselves rather than stepping stones to more lofty dreams. Filipino voters, for their part, have long been conditioned to expect very little of their leaders and of themselves. As such, the results of both their collective efforts and the efforts of their leaders consistently fall short of achieving these mere basics.
The current crop of presidential candidates reflects this abject mediocrity in aspirations. Rodrigo Duterte’s promises do not go beyond the 6-12 month horizon. Indeed, he invites Filipinos to “kill him” if he fails over that short period to meet his shortsighted promises. Liberal Party candidate Mar Roxas has turned his party tagline “Daang Matuwid” into his campaign mantra, yet is unable to tell Filipino voters in specific terms where this supposedly “straight path” leads to. Current Vice President Jejomar Binay who is also running for the presidency is content with simply proving he is not a crook. Filipinos will likely vote for him if he succeeds in persuading them to see beyond all that. The other candidate, Grace Poe, suffers from a crisis of citizenship and will likely spend the presidency defending her right to be called a “Filipino”.
Nowhere in the political “debate” is any semblance of strategic vision discussed. The minds of even the country’s top opinion-shapers are imprisoned by the small square that ringfences the landscape of the Philippines’ political discourse. One social media “activist”, for example is caught up in a futile campaign to convince Filipinos to vote for Mar Roxas on the back of the lame threat of a Binay presidency if Roxas loses.
That sort of thinking can hardly ever compare to the foundational thoughts applied by a new crop of southeast Asian people who have set their sights at nothing less than taking their places at the top of the global food chain.
Will the Philippines ever let go of its mediocre and defeatist style of thinking and join its forward-looking peers in the region?
For now, these elections and the candidates playing in its field do not offer a promising answer to that question.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Will the Philippines ever let go of its mediocre and defeatist style of thinking and join its forward-looking peers in the region?
***
NO ……………
It (Failippines) can “let go of its mediocre and defeatist style of thinking,” once the people honestly admit to themselves that they are a product of country that has a corrupt value system and way of life. The Failipinos cannot move forward until they realize that they are “all” (not just certain ones) at fault on why their country and people are screwed up.
The Failippines cannot escape the works of the Economic Hitmen of Japan who successfully cooperated with these 32 MadPnoy in bringing down from a first world status country of Apo lakay Marcos masagana99 legacy to a third world country, where the 400 million loan bataan nuclear plant guaranteed to stifle it to its 30 years of foreign service loans in order these yellow scourge greedy oligarchs family is removed.
Blaming Japanese businessmen when it’s the Filipinos themselves who allowed those things to happen will surely make a difference right?
/sarcasm
My father while studying in Europe noted that the Indonesians all bought their Embassies in the 1960s while the Filipinos kept renting. Indonesia always was more strategic – not even Marcos who had the chance to be strategic was inspite of all the years he spent in power.
But in terms of residential homes, the Marcoses were no slouches. They bought, (not rented), houses in Long Island , and Manhattan, New York.. for themselves. They were so smart; they became models for latter day politicians to emulate. The Philippines has been screwed since then.. and this new crop of politicians seems to have acquired more efficient methods to do so.
Our government’s leaders, from the President, through the Senators, Cabinet Secretaries, Chiefs of the Army and the PNP, and on down to the Barrio Captain, seem to view their positions as an ‘end’ rather than a ‘means’. There is an absence of “determination and resolve”…and purpose…in the way they address their jobs. It is as if they had arrived at the hard journey’s end, and are now simply entitled to the perks and privilege..and ‘opportunities’ of the position, (which, in fact, most had come by through patronage). In other countries, say, Singapore, Korea and India, government positions are seen and treated as the ‘means’ to achieve an ‘end’… that of attaining their country’s objectives… because they do have national objectives. Not surprisingly, they view their positions with respect. They buckle-down to seriously and methodically apply themselves to the job at hand. They carry on as if they need to qualify for their jobs on a daily basis. Given this picture, it is easy to see whose motivation is the more effective..and which country will become more progressive.
There are no plans presented by any of the candidates, for the improvement of the country. There are programs to address the recurring problems of the nation.
No plans to create jobs; establish some industries . No plans even to be self sufficient in rice production. We will continue to import rice, whoever is elected.
These clowns are just talking about themselves; their egos; and about their party.
…There are no viable programs to address the recurring problems of the nation…(corrected)
Our main problem is to get rid of this yellow family of these japanese collaborators , who now ask for a 500 million loan to make the more failappines
May as well target Chinese and Korean for setting up shop here you racist.
Question, do you really want a powerful Philippines? Here is the answer. 1. Get rid of provinces and the local spoken languages. Make Tagalog the national language. The Chinese understood earl in their nation that local spoken languages and local provinces cause pride in the province and not the nation. There is no nation with internal province discrimination that is considered to be powerful. Look at India for example. 2. Make education mandatory and free, start fining parents when kids are not in school. Money always makes people come around. The better your public school system, the better your people will become. 3. Change the voting process. Make it mandatory and change terms to a four year limit. This makes people engage in the election system. 4 last but not least. Learn to say Hindi Po. I have never seen respect used to destroy so many good ideals and thoughts like I have seen in this country. Microsoft=Bill Gates, Apple Iphone=Steve Jobs, and even Michael Jordan would not exist in this country. MJ was told he was not good enough to play high school basketball when he was a freshman in high school. He came away thinking I will do whatever it takes to prove you wrong. Iphone was considered to be a stupid ideal. Steve jobs did not said hindi po. Many Filipinos go overseas and make other countries better, because no one here will stand up and say hindi Po. I will make my own business and destiny on my own.
Show me the heroes that the youth of your country look up to, and I will tell you the future of your country.
How about President/Mayor Joseph Estrada,Vice-President Jejomar Binay, Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, Lito Lapid, Juan Ponce-Enrile, Tito Sotto and Gringo Honasan?