What's the Use of Filipino Athletes Scoring Medals in the 2024 Olympics When Economic Charter Change isn't Prioritized?

Tatler Asia

In elementary, I remember how the Sibika at Kultura (Civics and Culture) subject talked about Filipino achievements abroad. Some great Filipinos mentioned in our classes are the late Lydia De Vega, Lea Salonga-Chien, the late architect Leandro Locsin, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Raphael "Paeng" Nepomuceno, and Eugene Torre. It's effortless to gloat about Filipinos achieving this and that. One may even notice that these names get mentioned in a Buwan Ng Wika program. By the way, I think Buwan Ng Wika feels more like it should be renamed as Buwan Ng Filipino instead. I mean, the programs tend to raise awareness of one's Filipino heritage and history, more than the Filipino language!

The recent wins of athlete Carlos Yulo should be something to be proud of. I see it on my Facebook feed and I feel happy for Carlos, even if I don't know him personally. These days, I've already accepted that I'm a Filipino. Sadly, some Filipino "natives" still think I'd naturally side with China, all the while they're probably still shouting "Pinoy pride!" for Jollibee. I have nothing against Filipinos winning and I can feel pride for it, even if most of my grandparents were Chinese immigrants. I've been assimilated into the Philippines. Who are those racists to say that I'm not "truly Filipino"? For Carlos himself, it's my first time to hear of him. I'm no sports enthusiast. I prefer to do basic exercises for maintenance. It's not wrong to be happy with Carlos' achievements in sports. After all, the contestants represent their respective countries. Carlos' win is a win for the Philippines in the sports arena.

However, here's my problem. It's already 2024 and why isn't economic charter change even done yet? It doesn't matter if Filipinos will even win all the gold medals in a sports event. Why am I saying that? This isn't to drag down my fellow Filipinos or say, "Well, you don't deserve it." Instead, what I'm addressing is the uselessness of Filipinos winning gold medals, if the Philippines still suffers from a jobless problem. What's the use of rejoicing at Filipinos winning competitions abroad if these wins don't translate into wins? A Filipino woman can win the Miss Universe but can that crown produce jobs that Filipinos need? Can the medals, trophies, and crowns produce local jobs so more Filipinos don't have to become OFWs? The answer is really no. It can be a source of pride but not a source of job production.

Several Filipinos still misunderstand what allowing 100% FDI share ownership means (read here). Some people even confuse FDI with borrowing money from abroad (read rebuttal here). Even worse, when I talk about the late Lee Kuan Yew on Facebook, someone is prone to say, "Why don't you follow him to the grave?" or "Never forget Flor Contemplacion." arguments. I bet Joel Torre's business might get boycotted by anti-Singapore Filipinos, for simply opening in Singapore! It's full of logical fallacies such as Ad Hominem, Guilt by Association, Red Herring, and Non-Sequitur arguments just to make a point. They have done it to Senator Robin Padilla more than once. I didn't vote for Senator Padilla but he's doing better in pushing badly-needed reforms. They probably think that Jollibee's opening in other countries means conquering other countries. For the nth time, we seriously need to abandon the concept of FDIs and OFWs as invaders (read here)! Even worse, some even operate with the Filipino vs. foreigner dichotomy or false dilemma (read here). What's more hypocritical is that I read such stupidity on my Facebook feed!

The Philippines has become a venue for foreign events more than once. Did the countries where the foreign events get rid of sovereignty? Why wasn't a 60-40 rule applied in any Miss Universe events held in the Philippines when it came to the judges? When a non-Filipino won in the Philippines, did it shake the national sovereignty? The same goes for FDIs in the Philippines, which aren't restricted by ridiculous equity limits. These foreign businesses are hiring Filipino workers. Grab and FoodPanda in the Philippines, are hiring Filipino drivers. Has the presence of foreign companies stolen jobs away from Filipinos or given them more job opportunities? The Philippines is open to FDI but it's not as open as its other ASEAN countries.

Filipinos can go ahead and join foreign competitions. They can go ahead and win in these events. However, what must be kept in mind is that, as said earlier, their wins don't translate into badly needed work for Filipinos. What will produce jobs are businesses. It's not enough to rely on Filipino business owners alone. People say that the restrictions are for "security reasons" (read rebuttal here). However, it's not as if the Philippines can legislate or amend the constitution in things like national security, fair competition acts, or any laws to protect institutions doing business in the Philippines. When the Philippines opens more of its doors to FDI like Vietnam did, it can expect to have a huge demand for jobs. In turn, a huge demand for jobs will fill the supply-demand gap, which in turn will cause salaries to increase in the process (read job market discussion here).

What Filipinos need is real economics, not Pinoy Pride Economics. Pinoy Pride Economics is a term I made to describe viewing economic activities only through the lens of Pinoy Pride. The Filipino First Policy should be viewed as the foundation of Pinoy Pride Economics. In real economics, it doesn't matter if the source is local or foreign, what matters is that it helps build economic foundations.

Comments

Don't Complain About the PHP 500.00 Noche Buena Remark While Supporting the Filipino First Policy

It's that stupid when I read the remarks of DTI secretary Cristina Roque made a really tactless remark . Sure, the remark had people angry because, in reality, the whole noche buena at PHP 500.00 for a family of four will not match, given these ingredients: ham, P170 to P945; fruit cocktail, P61.76 to P94.41; all-purpose cream, P36.00 to P72; “nata de coco,” P52.50 to P62.50; “kaong,” P76.50 to P84; “queso de bola,” P210 to P470; cheese, P16.50 to P310; and mayonnaise, P20.40 to P245.85. /dda As I read through the list above, I'm reminded of how much I don't like December because it's the season of abounding toxic positivity . The song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is in full blast, even after Andy Williams died of old age in 2012 . I tend to drive the road and when traffic hits, I always think about the problem of last-minute Christmas shopping , and scream it, "Isn't it any wonder why the Philippines doesn't improve?" It...

Accepting Foreign Investments Isn't About Relying Solely on Foreigners

One of the biggest common mistakes about foreign investments is that it's all about "relying solely on foreigners" or "it's not going to develop the national industry". I agree that relying solely on foreign investments is not good. It's because if there are no local suppliers of local raw materials--foreign investments may have to rely purely on importation which isn't a good thing. Meanwhile, a nation will develop its agriculture and the like to provide raw materials for all kinds of buyers. It's pretty much a two-way street when it comes to investment. The late Lee Kuan Yew also talked about greening up Singapore along the way before it progressed. Singapore accepted foreign investments while it was still a third-world. However, it didn't neglect its own local industries. Reading through Chapter 4 of From Third World to First will tell us lessons about foreign investments. Lee saw them as the opportunity to bring in jobs, teach new skill...

Profood International Corporation's Calamansi Ginger Grean Tea Concentrate

I'm someone who always buys local and imported food products. However, I tend to buy local where I go because eating local is usually more beneficial. I was buying some stuff last Sunday. I found this product which I haven't heard of yet. It's called Calamansi Ginger Green Tea. If South Koreans have their Honey Citron, then maybe we can say Filipinos have Calamansi Ginger Green Tea concentrate, which also contains honey. I gave it a shot, and it gives some relief for the throat. I drank Ginga Ginger Brew after I caught Omicron. That was the time when COVID-19 would eventually "get us all". I was looking for Ginga ginger powder but I wasn't able to find it. Fortunately, this food product ws available and it's helping me. I tend to get throat problems whenever the weather changes too much! I would drink it either lukewarm or cold, due to the weather conditions. The combination of ginger and calamansi helped me feel better. I would like to recommend this foo...

Are People Complaining About Inflation in the Philippines Because They Feel the Need to Celebrate Christmas LAVISHLY?

Philippine Star Christmas is just in a few days, right? I'm reading Facebook comments about the ongoing inflation. There are those so-called thought leaders like Silent No More PH that have been putting, "Merry Christmas" while addressing inflation. It's no secret that the prices of noche buena (Christmas dinner) items have been increasing. There are a lot of virtue signals on Facebook which makes me wonder, "Do they realize that inflation has many factors ?" Do those whiners realize that prices in the grocery are more expensive than if you bought in the public market? I feel that those people complaining over social media about price inflation may have felt the need to make their Christmas celebrations lavish or it ain't Christmas. I could remember how prices soared after the Odette disaster. The simple answer is all on supply and demand . The prices of distilled water increased. The prices of vegetables increased. The storm destroyed a good supply of i...

Kabataan Partylist Seriously Needs to Learn ECONOMICS from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union

Vietnam National University, Hanoi Kabataan Partylist, is that you? No, it's actually the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (Đoàn Thanh niên Cộng sản Hồ Chí Minh), or alternatively, it can be called the Vietnam Youth Union . The color blue may remind some of Kabataan Partylist. Both Kabataan Partylist and the Vietnam Youth Union are involved with recruiting youths into the organization. However, there's a crucial difference between Kabataan Partylist and the Youth Union in how they view economics. The Kabataan Partylist Laguna's blog even writes this: It believes that the Philippines, as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, is plagued by a system which allows foreign and big business interests to dominate, while the majority of our countrymen are left poor and hungry . We are living in a society where foreign subservience, peasant landlessness, and rampant corruption are the top three ills. To that end, Kabataan Party-list strives to galvanize the Filipino youth in u...

Four Basic Chinese Conversational Questions, Grade 1 Style

I could remember how useless the Chinese classes were, not because Chinese is a useless language (there are actually over a billion speakers worldwide), not because the Chinese teachers were stereotypically very strict (Grade 2 was strict, Grade 3 was even stricter than Grade 2, Grade 6 was said to be the strictest ), but because of the way Chinese was to be taught. That's why I got encouraged to write about learning Chinese through meaningful conversations, not parroting . Fortunately, those old Sinjiang textbooks are no longer available except for museum purposes (read here ). Just looking at this question and answer sweet from Ling Ling Mandarin's Instagram account--I remember what my Grade 4 Chinese teacher said, "If you want only one bon toi (question and answer), go back to Grade 1. But I don't think Grade 1 only has one bon toi." The problem with the old class was that we had to learn Hokkien before learning Mandarin. I confess my Hokkien is really bad. Th...

Instead of Hating Successful Chinese-Filipinos, Why Not LEARN from Their SUCCESS Instead?

It's Chinese New Year and I can remember some crazy stuff back in my childhood. Right now though, there are still some Filipinos of brown descent (either Malay or Indonesian) who still have their typical bitter attitude towards successful people. I was reminded of someone who blamed the rich, rather than their poor attitude towards money, as to why she had to work as a working student. There are still some who have their attitude of hating the rich for simply being rich . I don't deny that some rich people deserve hate. But why hate the rich person who has gotten rich through honest gain and hard work? Why not learn from good rich people who can offer sound advice instead of being bitter about their success? Some Filipinos of non-Chinese origin may feel too proud about their being "Pure Filipino". However, any study of Filipino history will reveal that their brown skin isn't too unique. We can see Malaysians and Indonesians tend to have brown skin. Some of the ea...

I'm Trying to Understand the Recent PSEi Decrease from 7,000+ to 6,800+

Business World Online The Philippine Stock Market Index (PSEi) has had another decrease. The score reached 7,000+ and I was getting pretty excited. I was thinking, "Should I sell my stock index or should I continue averaging into it?" I'm still holding some funds because I'm going to invest more in the long term than do day trading. I agree with Charlie Munger that day trading is nothing more than a speculative orgy . I got through Google News and found some factors that caused the recent decrease. I'd like to do this not as an analyst but as a lay investor and blogger. Profit-taking before key data The Business World website sites that there was profit-taking before key data . I was reading through and found out that there was indeed some profit taking The score that went from 7,000+ to 6,800+ can be affected. Here's an excerpt of the report which caught my attention: “Philippine stocks were sold ahead of the January inflation print tom...

My Personal Opinion on the Recent Universal Robina Incident

I was doing some news readings and I found out about the death of a certain Stephen Corilla. The incident happened in the Universal Robina Corporation's factory in Mandaue a few days ago. It really chilled my bones to read these details which I'll share from Sunstar : POLICE are set to investigate a food and beverage plant in Barangay Tabok, Mandaue City after one of its workers was killed on duty while cleaning a pulverizer machine Thursday afternoon, June 2, 2022. Cpl. Glenn Bordalba of the Mandaue City Police Office Station 3 in Barangay Basak who is leading the investigation told SunStar Cebu Monday, June 6, that they will visit the Universal Robina Corp. (URC) Mandaue City plant in Tabok on Tuesday, June 7, to investigate the matter. Bordalba added that they have not started the investigation yet as they were not allowed entry to the site by the URC management after the incident was reported to them. An approval from the corporation’s consultant is needed for the police to...

Learning About Reversible Chinese Words

I wanted to write more about Chinese education. I did write about the constraints that hit Chinese education . I had problems with how too much memorization became the focus. With Chinese, there's also the world of reversible words which change in meaning . In English, we can compare that to the anagram where switching letters change the meaning . For example, evil and vile may be synonymous but live and evil aren't. In Chinese, we can have two characters getting swapped which may either change the meaning entirely or change to a related meaning. Remember that they may be related but they don't have the same meaning. I could remember how the Hokkien calls visitors lang ke and while we called the customer ke lang. Both are people but both have a different purpose. I got into the LTL Mandarin School website and found reversible Chinese words. I won't tackle it all here because 164 words would mean I'll have to write an entire lecture. I think one of the biggest probl...

Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

Search This Blog