Would You Rather Die of Thirst and/or Heatstroke This Summer Than Accept Quality Water and Electricity Services from MNCs?

Looking at the IBON Foundation's page can be laughable. One may notice Atty. Neri Colmenares, someone who fortunately lost the senatorial race twice. I remember arguing about people who'd believe in the lies that Colmenares would propagate about FDIs. There's the call to stop water privatization (the call for the nationalization of the water industry) and the constant opposition to allowing foreigners to own 100%. Do they even get that 100% FDI ownership is all about share ownership and not land ownership? As the summer heat intensifies due to the El Niño, I decided to write this entry. A good question to ask now is, "Would you rather die of thirst or a heatstroke than accept quality water and electricity services from MNCs?"

What organizations like the IBON Foundation and Migrante International insist is on national industrialization over the acceptance of FDIs. The question is how do they expect to industrialize the nation based on doing everything on their own? A lot of people already tried it. Mao Zedong tried to do so with his Great Leap Forward program. Some people try to whitewash it, never mind some Chinese people who survived the incident, tell how horrible the results are. Do Filipinos really have the machinery and equipment needed to create the self-industrialized nation they dreamed of? The notion was abandoned by Deng Xiaoping and Nguyen Duy Cong aka Do Muoi.

It's foolish how these people insist on stopping the privatization of public services. I wrote an article discussing why I reject the nationalization of public utilities. It all comes forth with the simple economic law of supply and demand. Again, what should I expect from people who keep insisting on #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba (translated as raise salaries, lower the prices) because salaries are part of the cause of production. I show then a basic accounting table and all I get is a laugh emoji. If all utilities were owned by the government, and everything is just provided by the government, the results will say otherwise. Supplies will be lessened in a government monopoly. Even worse, can the government even have the machinery purely made in the Philippines to carry the dream out?

It's no secret that electricity rates and water crises have hit. The demand for electricity and water is really high. You'd really get thirsty faster in hot weather. You'd really require more electricity to turn on the air conditioner. That's why I had to buy a UPS for my PC because the fluctuations aren't going away any time soon. The problem is rooted again in supply and demand. As the supply goes lower and demand goes higher, companies providing these services need to increase prices to keep the companies going. How much more if the government makes over all the supplies. Do they think that the government can handle everything better than several people who provide the services? Again, what do you expect from people who believe in economics hocus pocus? It'll take magic to allow #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba to happen.

When there's competition, prices will go down. It's because supply and demand gap will be closer. Who would be foolish enough to sell at an unreasonably higher price than one's competitor? Sure, prices will need to be raised when there will be longer working hours. However, economies of scale can happen when the cost of production will be lowered. Ever heard of surplus stores sell lower priced goods than regular stores? A surplus is an excess in production. If there's a surplus in water and electricity, you can expect that the cost of services for both will be better.

However, some people will still insists in MNCs are evil, that they're invaders, etc. My challenge to them is that they should practice what they preach. Right now, they should only draw water and cool themselves with Filipino products only. Can they make something to draw water with without imported products? Can they cool themselves with electric fans and airconditioners made only in the Philippines? They would need to start everything from scratch. The biggest question is would they have all the time do so as the heat continues to scorch on?

When the Education Cares TOO MUCH About Grades, Schools Produce Idiots Instead of Intellectuals

During the pandemic, I was left in limbo thinking about my poor performance under K+10. It was something to think about that a classmate of mine who was both a summa cum laude and an honor student, ended up posting on his wall, "Students cheat because the education system cares more about grades instead of learning." The class salutatorian of our batch even commented about the good old days. I always had that feeling of insecurity and envy towards people better than me. But as Warren Edward Buffet would say, "Don't hate successful people. Learn from them instead." One of them is currently a teacher and the other is in Canada. I thought about my insecurities especially when I used to believe I was descended from a fine scholar and my family was a family of scholars. I remembered the time I was taking MBA and got conned. I was asked, "Is that what MBA taught you?" I got touchy and ended up admitting, eventually, that I was only taking MBA for the presti...

My Thoughts on the NOT So Surprising Downfall of "Axie Infinity"

llustration: Daniel Guerrero Fernandez for Bloomberg Businessweek I remembered some time ago when I wrote about Axie Infinity . One article I wrote about why I never bothered to enter the Axie Infinity arena was the poor security . I compared it to a cockfighting game--a game where so few win and so many lose. A previous article I wrote was all about why play-to-earn games are too good to be true . What's not too surprising is the collapse of Axie Infinity . It's pretty much too good to be true. A casual gamer can testify that they buy online passes not to earn but to play . It's like buying a Playstation Plus card to play online for an entire year. You buy games out of the money you earn. You don't earn money out of gaming. What truly never surprised me was how Axie Infinity crashed. It promised riches but onoy resulted to disaster. I even wrote that there could be an ironic moment somebody says that AXA is a scam while playing Axie Infinity thinking that it's an...

Piracy is Almost Impossible to Defeat Thanks to the Filipino First Policy

Disney Let's face it piracy is hard to combat, right? For Filipinos, it's time to be honest that people have been engaged in piracy in some form. It may be pirated video games, CDs, VCDs, DVDs, etc. There are laws passed against piracy. However, one must ask why piracy is so hard to combat. Piracy bypasses through legalities. It's a common practice to have a pirated version of this and that application, because of the price . Installing MS Office and Windows 11 can be costly. It can cost PHP 7,000.00 for Windows 11 Home and PHP 5,400.00 for MS Office. Back in college, people would do anything to get the MS Office and Windows 11 because they needed it for their projects . It doesn't help that some well-to-do boomer are stingy instead of thrifty. It doesn't help either that some people just can't afford to buy the original software--given their income bracket . It's easy to raise the Filipino First Policy by saying, "Tangkilikin ang sariling atin!" ...

Getting Nuts About Standard Chinese, By Learning About the Chinese Names of Nuts

Hanbridge Mandarin In pursuing the need to teach Mandarin Chinese, it's important to deviate from the old-fashioned Chinese language education (read here ). Instead, we need to get people interested in basic vocabulary. This would be a good exercise to learn from basic sentence making and conversations. Here's an example of what's called bon toi back in my day. Let's think of learning Chinese through nuts. Question: 你想要巴西坚果、核桃、杏仁还是腰果? (Nǐ xiǎng yào bāxī jiānguǒ, hétáo, xìngrén háishì yāoguǒ) Translation: Do you want brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, or cashews? Answer: 我想要杏仁，非常感谢. (Wǒ xiǎng yào xìngrén, fēicháng gǎnxiè.) Translation: I want to have almonds, please, thank you very much. However, there's a mistake in the chart because the coconut isn't a nut. Instead, it's a coconut fruit of the coconut tree, of the coconut palm family. The song was written by Filipino musician Ryan Cayabyab. Now, it's time to enjoy learning Chinese through learning about n...

The STUPIDITY of Insisting that Equity Restrictions in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines Exist for "National Security"

As the call for economic charter change goes on, I feel the need to educate some people with common sense . I'm reading comments on Facebook that 60-40 (or any similar ownership restrictions) is for the "security of the Philippines" or that certain sectors can't be allowed 100% ownership on the part of the MNC. Once again, do I need to remind people for the nth time that 100% FDI ownership is all about share ownership ? Sadly, many Filipinos misunderstand what 100% FDI means (read here ). What 100% FDI ownership means is that MNCs don't need to look for a Filipino partner, only to be burdened with having to give up 60% (or more) of the net profits after taxes and they only keep 40% (or less). That's why I called such an arrangement as overpriced rent (read here ). Some of these people I ran into on Facebook (of all places) are too beholden to Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. It was last 2018 when Davide Jr. also said that the Philippines may become a "colony ...

My Experience with Pyramid Scams in College Up to Present

Often, a pyramid is often confused with a Ponzi scheme. Both are illegal schemes but there's the difference. A pyramid scam emphasizes on recruitment and selling of products. A Ponzi scheme guarantees high returns for short periods. Both operate similarly but scam people differently. Both should be shunned and be considered defective baskets. I remembered my college days at the University of San Carlos-Main Campus (USC-Main) when I was still a newbie with money. It sucks really when high school didn't teach us financial literacy and people seemingly need to take commerce to do so. One of the biggest scams that hit even graduate school students was the pyramid scam. Even worse, some of those who got suckered with ongoing financial scams were graduate school students of the School of Business and Economics! The Investor.gov website from the United States of America (USA) would tell us these are the hallmarks of a pyramid scam: These are some of the hallmarks of a pyram...

How I Believe the Public Service Act of 2022 Will Benefit the Philippine Business and Economic Environment

One of the greatest news for the Philippines is the Public Service Act of 2022. The following can be read from the Philippine News Agency regarding President Rodrigo R. Duterte's signing of the new law into action: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Monday signed into law a measure amending the Public Service Act (PSA), allowing up to 100 percent foreign ownership of public services in the country. Republic Act (RA) No. 11659 or "An Act Amending Commonwealth Act No. 146 otherwise known as the Public Service Act” as amended was signed by Duterte in a ceremony at the Rizal Hall, Malacañan Palace in the presence of lawmakers and other officials. Under the amended PSA, the telecommunications, railways, expressways, airports, and shipping industries will be considered public services, allowing up to 100 percent foreign ownership in these sectors. Duterte also led the ceremonial presentation of newly enacted laws namely RA 11647 which amends the Foreign Investments Act; RA 11650, whic...

"Filipino First Policy" Has NO PLACE in the Rising Asian 21st Century

I guess nobody saw the Asian 21st Century coming, right? China was once a poor nation but look at it now. Vietnam was once a poor nation but look at it now. Singapore was once a poor nation but look at it now. The late great Lee Kuan Yew wrote his book From Third World to First . I'm afraid some people have been using it to go against the presidency of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. while ignoring what else Lee Kuan Yew had to say. Lee Kuan Yew described the Filipino press to be rambunctious on pages 304-305 which I agree. I'm afraid that the Filipino press may have had a hand in getting rid of any economic or political reforms that could help the Philippines. Yet, one policy has been holding back the Philippines for decades and yes, it's the Filipino First Policy . Reviewing the Filipino First Policy and why it has no place in the rising Asian 21st century I remembered how the values education subject taught Carlos P. Garcia's stupid Filipino First Policy as a Filipino value...

Bacolod Sugarcane's Industry and Its Massive Business Opportunity with Japanese and Taiwanese Investors

Trying the delicious Okinawa Milk Tea from ITealicious makes me think of the delicious Okinawa brown sugar. I thought about researching Okiwana brown sugar on how it's made. Certain details reveal why the Japanese product is used by certain milk tea establishments around the world. The method of making the Japanese brown sugar is described by Dore by LeTao as follows: Can you guess the origin of this Brown Sugar? Yes of course it is from Okinawa! It is from sugarcane that is grown in Okinawa. Okinawa is famous for their beautiful place, beach, and their longevity. It is well-known that Okinawa’s climate is perfect for sugar cane. W ith strong southern-island sunlight and minerals delivered by the ocean spray, make Okinawa perfect for growing healthy sugar cane ! Production begins with a healthy sugarcane crop then continues to a slow cooking technique to process the sugar cane juice (this method is referred to as kokuto). This method makes them healthier than the usual brown...

Don't Become That Infamous LOAN Ranger or Risk Becoming the LONE Ranger

Nothing is wrong with getting a loan. However, it can become a real problem when one becomes the infamous loan ranger . This is a term that might be best described for someone who likes to borrow money but not return it. With Christmas being very near, the Philippine holiday debt trap is certain (read here ). Many people tend to live a life that's debt-driven because they're notoriously loan rangers. I even wrote an article where I discuss how a Merry Christmas can lead to an unhappy New Year . I'll recall some failed business deals I made back when I was younger. Somebody owed me money and never paid me back until now . Some people have been conned even of millions and have not been paid until now. Maybe, even the best entrepreneur will confess that at one point, they have lost the trust of someone because the person owed them millions and never paid them back . I could recall how banks would seize assets if people couldn't pay. It's because when a person borrows...

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