The AIDS Epidemic in the Typical Filipino Workplace, Thanks to the Filipino First Policy

-

Tech Republic

As Christmas is almost near (and I hate the Christmas season in the Philippines but not Christmas itself), I think of why working on papers and shopping from September up to December is a hassle. I hear the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" at all. However, it's ironic that Christmas starts early but Christmas shopping is delayed until the last minute (read here). One of the biggest problems that cause shopping (or any transaction for that matter) to become a hassle is AIDS. No, I'm not talking about the AIDS virus but an Internet slang called As If Doing Something. I learned the term during my MBA days. Part of me is wondering, "Was it worth it to get an MBA in the Philippines?" It's because I never learned how to invest in an index fund in school but through reading Warren Edward Buffett!

I remember some of the worst things in my college days. Some people say, "I'm busy!" in the Cebuano dialect. I update on something and the person says he or she is busy. At first, I just respect the statement. However, what becomes the problem when one's "busy busy" is a lie. It's like there's this typical problem between Filipinos. One Filipino says, "I'm on the way." in their local dialect. However, the person was still at home doing something else! The same goes for people in the office. 

Yes, they're busy but they're busy doing something else. What are they "busy" on? There's a woman who's still combing her hair and applying makeup--while there's a long line right in front of her! There's someone who's using Facebook or playing games during working hours, not during the lunch break. There's someone who's making nonsense texts or nonsense phone calls, during office hours. If the person was really busy dealing with repairs or customers, I can understand. However, if they're "busy" with applying makeup (which should've been done before work), playing games, using Facebook, etc. during inappropriate times then that's something else. 

I blame the Filipino First Policy for this AIDS epidemic in the workplace. If businesses hardly have any competition then why bother working hard? Why bother teaching the staff to be professional to their customers. After all, there's very little competition meaning businesses don't have to worry about losing customers. Why would I worry about working professionally or teaching employees to do so, when I'm the sole person doing the business? 

However, removing unnecessary FDI restrictions (such as equity restrictions) will force Filipino businesses to evolve and compete. It's because Filipino businesses will be forced to be on their toes. Whether we want to admit it or not--we all need some form of healthy competition to keep us running. Jollibee endured competition and it's now in the world market. Filipinos who are saying, "But FDIs will destroy our businesses!" are those who refuse to evolve. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Does Kabataan Partylist Understand How International Marketing Works?

-
Image
I'm amazed (but not surprised) at Kabataan Partylist's economic illiteracy . The group seems to be stuck in the pre-Doi Moi days of Vietnam. Do they believe that Vietnam actually got rich through national industrialization? Thankfully, the Philippine Anti-Fascist League Facebook page (old one) collapsed like the Berlin Wall. However, I decided to look at Kabataan Partylist's Facebook page and found another idiotic statement. Yes, it's by Atty. Renee Co. Right now, with the Philippine justice system being so weak (just remember how the Vizconde Massacre and the Chiong Sisters Case are both, case unclosed ), I'm no longer too beholden to lawyers. There are good lawyers but I don't think Renee is one of them! Anyway, to translate Renee's statements in English, it would be like: The real reason behind the oil price hike is deregulation. The government is no longer in control and they're allowing the oil businessmen to increase prices, whenever they wish. Eve...
Read more

Mahathir Mohamad's Quote on "Never Stop Learning" is Why I Support Economic and Political Charter Change

-
Image
Inspirational Quotes Back when I was in high school, I often felt I "never lived up" to the "legacy" of my family. It's an often bad habit by boomers to put their children under their shadow, brag about how "great" they are, and even talk and talk about the "good old days". Newsflash! An old man had something that would offend boomers. This old man is former Malaysian Prime Minister  Mahathir Mohamad . To avoid the Duterte vs. Aquino dichotomy--I often put the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino III under scrutiny. More likely, put the presidential system under scrutiny! I'll admit Noynoy had his ups, but he too had his downs.  Now, for Mahathir's words that reflect on how surprisingly updated this old man is, compared to stubborn boomers: He said education today was not only about learning history or literature, but more about learning new sciences that are revolutionising the world. “ Even business is now affected by ne...
Read more

#SahodItaasPresyoIbaba Economics May Be Confusing Profits for Revenues

-
Image
A really disastrous decision! As I read through Facebook, the amazing foolishness and economic illiteracy are there. What do you expect from a nation that's driven by an education system where economics was only taught in either the  third year or fourth year , under K+10? What do you expect from a nation where mathematics education focuses too much on theory rather than the wonderful application of the subject? I'm going to write about those who talk about FDIs, that only they will get rich because they will run away with the profits, etc. It's because I'm afraid there's really a lack of understanding of what profit really is.  Most people in the Philippines may be operating with the typical merkado mindset. I remember reading through the arguments of someone who quotes CTTO Merkado. Who in the world is Merkado CTTO (read here )? As I was thinking about it, I heard about how people running businesses in the merkado or marketplace, whether it's the wet market or...
Read more

GrabFood vs. FoodPanda--How Foreign Delivery Services Help Grow Filipino Businesses

-
Image
Moneymax I could remember the pandemic when ordering from GrabFood and Foodpanda became the thing. The COVID-19 pandemic would've totally stifled the restaurant and food businesses, especially before the vaccinations. Right now, I've had my three Pfizer shots in total. As restaurants began to re-open, dine-in was still strictly not allowed until a certain percentage of Cebu City was vaccinated. I began to order some food whenever I need to (or want to) even with such limited choices. This had me thinking about how imported services can help local businesses.  Whether those "nationalists" want to admit it or not--neither GrabFood nor Foodpanda are founded by Filipinos. Instead, GrabFood is founded in Singapore and Foodpanda is founded in Berlin, Germany. If it wasn't for the fall of the Berlin Wall--there would be no Foopanda. Back then, I remembered dining in my favorite local restaurants. However, the delivery service came and there were times I felt too lazy to ...
Read more

Should Noynoy Aquino be a Valid Excuse to Reject Econ Cha Cha?

-
Image
Philippine Star   This may be a touchy post. Politics is often a source of fights during parties. That's why we're told not to talk about politics during parties. Unfortunately, some people on Facebook are now using the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino Jr. as an excuse not to execute even economic charter change. Never mind that blatant supporter of Atty. Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona-Robredo, Andrew James Masigan, supports economic charter change . The late Charles Edward P. Celdran was also an anti-Duterte critic. As I looked at some okay boomer posts, I'm not surprised at people who still use Noynoy as an excuse to shout with all their might, "No to economic charter change!" Somebody posted on Facebook the following. As always, I won't publicly shame anyone. If possible, I will only refer to them by codenames or use the name Anonymous. I want to remain as professional as possible. This person said that under Noynoy there was no econom...
Read more

Using Vietnam to Justify No to Economic Reform is Rooted on ECONOMIC IGNORANCE

-
Image
VNUA Some time ago, I remember the   now-defunct  Philippine Anti-Fascist League Facebook page. One of its administrators (and I heard that it's actually run by a group of Gen-Z brats) berated the CoRRECT Movement. I'll put a screenshot of that statement made by one of the administrators (and I heard one of them was just a 13-year-old brat at that time). For the sake of non-Tagalog speakers (although the Philippines is my default target readers), I will translate what this prick of an administrator wrote on their  now-defunct  Facebook page. Although it's already been taken down, I believe the need to continue refuting their past arguments along with other similar pages. Refute them using common sense and research data from economists from  first-world countries ! The translation goes like this: Vietnam won the revolution, and they had a national industrialization and agrarian reform. What Vietnam's "Open FDI" means that the koriktor (a mockery of Corrector) a...
Read more

Losing Much Money in Stocks Via Impatience

-
Image
The year is almost over and I guess I'll write a few more Season's Beatings huh? Right now, I'm keeping an eye on the PSEi score is around 6,500+ as of late. I could remember the time when the stock market went bloody red and this never left my mind... I could remember all the sarcastic "YEHEY?" from the toxic world of Twitter. There's also such stupidity on Facebook. I could remember arguing with some people who ended up using Ad Homimens in regard to the red stock market scores. Yet, what Warren Buffett says is, "Buy when there's blood on the streets." (read here ) As Buffett would also say, "Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." That's if one talks about market timing . Still, I believe in timing the market and time in the market. It's like if I decide to cost-average during low-tier days and add more money when the value is low. In my case, I prefer to use an index fund (in my case the Philip...
Read more

Does Hilario G. Davide Jr. Know How to Make the Philippines Rise Up in the Asian Century?

-
Image
As talks for constitutional reform is on, Hilario G. Davide Jr.'s quotes on the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines are posted on Facebook. It's an irony that Davide Jr. was once a  UN  diplomat. Again,  UN  as in  United Nations . Then he has the nerve to say that the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines is the "only constitution" that he knows that is pro-God, pro-Filipino, pro-people, pro-poor, pro-life, pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-human rights, pro-women, pro-environment among others. That alone made me laugh because the moment I heard it, I said, "Huh? Has he even bothered to read other constitutions?" The only pro-environment constitution? Please, Singapore has had better environmental laws. Don't tell me that other countries aren't pro-life or what? I wonder what even led him to say that statement? It's at that point that made me ask, "Does Davide Jr. know how to bring the Philippines into the emerging Asian century?" People a...
Read more

I Used to Hate School Because the System Placed More Importance on Grades Over Learning

-
Image
Faculty of Medicine Some time ago, I wrote about the problem of grades over learning education . It's a good thing that someone I knew who graduated summa cum laude from a very difficult course, did remain humble. It's unlike Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel who shouted he was a cum laude in a middle of an argument. The same person posted on his wall talking about the thoughts of why students cheat. I could remember the whole statement that teachers would make, "Your grades will determine your future! If your grades in math and science suck, just take HRM!" Such statements show the Philippines' bad education system (read here ). Why the statement "A good grade is a sign of good character." may often be misunderstood I'm going to stress out my frustrations. I guess it's easy to take what educator Jonathan Gochuico said about not romanticizing bad grades, saying character is better. Maybe, he could be partly wrong but I believe that a good grade (which sh...
Read more

Why I'd Listen to Warren Buffett About the Current PSEi in Red Over Social Media Naysayers

-
Image
Business World Online I was looking at the election results where Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte-Carpio are in the lead. Right now, the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) is open but mostly in red . It's very common to see panic such as when the war in Ukraine started (and no, Vladimir Putin isn't investing in Ukraine, he's invading it). It's very easy to get carried by hearsay. However, we need to listen to the experts about stock market crashes and how to maneuver the recent crisis. We need to talk with the experts rather than the gossipmongers on social media such as Twitter and Facebook to get answers. Learning from Warren Buffett over social media naysayers One such experienced businessman is Warren Buffett. Buffett himself is a stock market legend. If I keep listening to the naysayers then I get nothing profitable. The Buffalo News reveals Buffett's three reasons not to worry about something like the current PSEi being mostly in red: 1. Investing...
Read more