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The Philippines will NEVER Get Richer by Blaming Its Richer Asian Neighbors

Gemini AI

Updated: September 27, 2025

It would be nice to talk about the typical blame game in the Philippines. I could remember that, as a child and a teenager, I had this habit of blaming people I disliked for my failing an exam. The reasons are mostly imagined. What I remembered in my later college years was when I met a couple of super irresponsible students. They had this attitude to say something like, "My parents don't care if it'll take me 20 years to finish my bachelor's degree." Some people even say something like, "It's the fault of the rich that we are poor." It was a backfire when I told such people, "Isn't it any wonder why your finances are down? It's because your parents don't even value the money when they don't care if it'll take up to 20 years to finish college!" 

Understanding the blame game and why it feels so good

Psychology Today presents this on why some people will always blame others. These findings can help understand the study of the blame game:

Study 1 findings: Poor emotion regulators “made more false other-ascriptions of self-selected unattractive activities (FOAself) when experiencing negative affect.” This supports the view that individuals who have difficulty coping with negative emotions tend to blame other people for their own bad choices. Good emotion regulators, in contrast, were not affected in this way by negative emotions.

Study 2 findings: Poor emotion regulators “made more false other-ascriptions of self-selected unattractive items (FOAself) when reporting high compared to low subjective anger.” In contrast, good emotion regulators’ “FOAself rates for unattractive items were unaffected by their level of subjective anger.”

Study 3 findings: Negative feelings appeared to “lead poor emotion regulators to project their own poor choices onto someone else.” After recalling a negative (versus positive) event, only poor emotion regulators “made more false other-ascriptions of self-selected unattractive items (FOAself).” Not surprisingly, blaming others appeared to reduce negative feelings.

I would think of the number of times I blamed others for my failures back when I was in elementary to high school. It's stupid that I accused someone of "stealing my brain". How can my brain be stolen literally or even figuratively? I know it can't be done but it sure feels good to accuse someone no matter how absurd it is, right? The study at Psychology Today really speaks volumes and my experiences can testify to that. There was this placebo feeling that I had when I blamed someone for my failures. That's even if the said person was no longer studying in the school. It was pointed out that the person is no longer there so why am I still blaming the person? I cooked up a very foolish excuse that the person "cursed me" to justify my failures. I even got angrier when I was told that I should man up and stop blaming others. Yet, blaming others is the easy way out, isn't it?

Just looking into Facebook in the present, I'm not surprised at people who respond using insults to distract the topic. I remembered being told to just laugh off insults because it proves the insulter is insecure. Not surprisingly, a study shown by CNN Philippines proves that most Filipinos are among the most emotional in the world. That might explain a lot of stupidity on Facebook such as commenting without understanding, posting nonsense on their Facebook walls and pages, and they don't even bother to read without commenting. The Philippine Star even sadly pointed out how reading comprehension is that bad last 2019. 

A lot of anti-reform Filipinos tend to be overly emotional. The peak of their pyramid of learning goes from mere insults to actually fist-fighting. So much for claiming to be decent individuals. They would talk this and that. How can they prove a point by either insulting the opponent or even punching the opponent? Name-calling and fist-fighting don't prove a point at all! Their comments are built on emotional butthurtrather  than actual intellectualism. I wonder where their sources are, if ever. I even remembered asking something like, "Who in the world is Merkado CTTO?" CTTO doesn't make a good argument compared to having differing reliable sources.

Can anti-reform Filipinos blame richer ASEAN countries for leaving the Philippines behind?

After that lengthy discussion (sorry if you got bored) I felt the need to make some informal intellectual talk. I'm no big-time business scholar myself. However, I felt the need to make that diatribe. Can anti-economic reform Filipinos really blame richer Asian countries for their lack of development? That would be a very interesting question to ask. I did mention earlier that some people blame the rich that they're poor. Now, it's time to really do what I might call hard talking to such loser mentality.

If my memory serves me right, I talked to someone about why Singapore is rich and the Philippines is poor. The person just chose to use the cover your ears gesture to irritate me. What happened next was this person said, "It's the fault of Singapore that we are poor!" Apparently, such people think that you multiply wealth by getting from the rich to give to the poor. They probably still think that all rich people are establishing their wealth through exploitation. They probably also think that maybe, just maybe, the Marcos Wealth made Singapore rich when the late Lee Kuan Yew already disproved that statement. Reading From Third World to First by LKY has it that the late former Singaporean prime minister even refused to loan money to the Marcos regime. If they make that claim, that claim was already shot down as much as the claim that Singapore (or any richer Asian country) 

I did run into people who blamed South Korea for North Korea is poor. I always answered that the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea (how ironic) or North Korea has poor economic policies. Maybe, they might come up with a really dumb reason where South Korea has been wasting the natural resources of North Korea. It's almost like two business partners who have been working together. One business partner wastes his money. The other business partner uses the money wisely. The wasteful business partner blames the other for allegedly stealing from him. They might say tht South Korea's bright lights is the reason why North Korea is so dark at night. Maybe, they can also say that all the propaganda of South Korea encouraged better economic activity. When asked for solutions, they can come up with, "North Korea must invade South Korea to clai what is theirs!"

I wouldn't be surprised if there are more countries they will blame aside from Singapore. They might say that years of Communist China's claim over the West Philippine Sea caused the Philippines to be poor. They might say that Communist Vietnam got rich by stealing from the Philippines. They might say that Japan got richer from the Philippines because it stole all the wealth back in the Second World War. Please, Japan got so poor after the Second World War that it had to be rehabilitated by the United States of America (USA). I could really keep writing all the nonsensical blame that maybe, just maybe, I'd end up writing this post with one million words! Let's better stop there, right?

I did remember when some of my classmates told me, "Who told you not to listen and not to study?" I did get defensive, but they had a point. In my adult years, I could fire back at people who blame richer Asian countries for the Philippines' lack of development, saying, "Did the richer Asian countries encourage us to become protectionist? Did the richer Asian countries tell us to create that silly 60-40 equity rule? Did the richer Asian countries tell us to be hostile to FDI, treating it like an invader?" I guess they'll become even more immature than I was as an angry high school student. They might say, "That's just your excuse! You're now defending thieves like (insert names)." I can only expect more red herrings and Ad Hominem arguments from such people.

I wouldn't be surprised if some people would blame Starlink for Globe and PLDT had some downtime. Downtime is very normal, especially if only two telecommunication companies are providing for an entire archipelago. It wouldn't be surprising if some blame FDIs for any deterioration by local Filipino investors who refuse to take social and corporate responsibility. I even remembered someone saying that FDI caused Egypt to become a desert. I'm really laughing at how preposterous the blame game can become.

The reality of the blame game is that nobody gets better by doing it. The blame game is nothing but the easy way out. It's like blaming the muscular person you're overweight. If you want to stop being overweight then start engaging in healthy habits like healthy eating and exercise. The Philippines will never get its economy better by always blaming other countries. It can go ahead and keep blaming China, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, South Korea, India, etc., but the economy will never get better. All the blaming will not make the Filipino First Policy effective, plus I did write why it has no place in the Asian century. 

No, the Philippines will not get richer by the blame game. If blaming made one wealthy, those lazy moochers rallying down the street would've been richer than the rich people they hate. Instead, they are still poor because they are moochers. Rich people who used to be poor never got rich by the blame game. Instead, they worked hard and they worked smart. The Philippines needs to adopt economic policies from the richer countries and learn from them. As Warren Edward Buffett says and I'll paraphrase it, "Surround yourself with better people instead of hating them." In this case, the Philippines should surround itself with better countries and learn from them instead of hating them. 

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