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Alice Guo's Conviction Should NEVER be a Call to Shut Down Constitutional Reform

The Alice Guo saga seems to have come to an end, right? That's, unless of course something happens and she escapes again. This always made me laugh when I realized that, as I was writing my articles, I came across a Vietnamese girl named Ha Thi Thu Trang, aka Ha Trang, who resembles Alice. Right now, Ha Trang could come to the Philippines for a vacation and not get mistaken for the same person. Back on the topic, I would like to point out that I actually wrote a post on whether or not using Alice's controversy should be a call to shut down constitutional reform.

Alice's now in jail, what's next?!

I would like to let people know in advance, I'm not here to demolish Senator Maria Theresa "Risa" Baraquel-Hontiveros' efforts in getting Alice arrested. In fact, I feel grateful (in part) that Risa managed to expose Alice's lies, along with Senator Sherwin "Win" Ting Gatchalian in exposing Alice's dubious records. However, I'm going to express my disappointment that Risa, for whatever intelligence she has, is still pretty much against charter change. Instead of focusing on structural reforms, Risa's now focused on the anti-dynasty bill. If anything, while Risa did something terrific with the Alice Guo case, I have to point her as a stubborn Gen X, after the stubborn Generation Boomer era. After all, 1964 to 1966 isn't a lot of time, compared to the 1970s vs. the 2000s vs the 2010s vs the 2020s!

This would also be something from Risa herself, from her Facebook page, which I translated into English for people for non-Tagalog speakers:

If we only want foreign investments, it would be better if we first strengthen the confidence of investors here. We need to build confidence in governance by eliminating corruption and improving our business environment, not by creating more instability through ChaCha.

Besides, amending the Constitution to open more of our most crucial industries — like public utilities, education, and advertising — to 100 percent foreign ownership will only expose us to security risks and weaken our national interests in a time of global unrest.

The proposal’s ultimate objective of stimulating and attracting more foreign investment is already addressed by present laws because the major part of our nation’s economy is already available for foreign participation, such as through the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Foreign Investments Act, and Public Service Act.

And yet, even now, China’s 40 percent ownership of the state grid operator, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), has brought many headaches — from security risks to poor service. That is a giant red flag we should not ignore. It is very obvious that this ChaCha will not put an end to this, and other economic woes.

This is just crazy because, for one, how in the world can China have a 40% ownership in the NGCP even solve the problem? That doesn't address the bigger issue. Seriously, how can Risa miss the crucial issue that the lack of power plants is really the problem? Even if the NGCP were 100% Filipino-owned, the same problems may persist more or less. The NGCP is a transmission highway, not a power plant! The real cause of the rotating brownouts is that there's too much demand for electricity and too little supply. It's a basic economics lesson! 

Addressing people who may want to say #NotoCharterChange because of Alice's conviction

I made a post where I discussed how the Filipino First Policy may be encouraging dummies. For some added humor where I christened Ha Thi Thu Trang as "Alice", due to the uncanny resemblance to Alice Guo in that same post. I would like ot address the fact that Alice is but the symptom of a bigger problem. 

What's the real problem or problems? Perhaps, it would be good for me to evaluate the common problems often overlooked, either on purpose or just plain inattentiveness:
  1. Whether you want to admit it or not, the 60-40is a huge discouragement factor. After all, people who think it's not a "big deal" need to try renting a space where they can only own 40% of the business!
  2. Corruption is indeed a problem. What's often overlooked is how the 60-40 policy actually benefits the corrupt (and the oligarchy, too) more than it benefits the people. One of the best ways corrupt people stay in power is by keeping people poor.
  3. The Filipino First Policy has ignored the fact that not all Filipinos are business-oriented. 
  4. Red tape in the Philippines actually encourages criminal activity, which is a conflicting algorithm with the call to combat crime.
  5. Do we even bother to realize that 100% FDI isn't about takeover but the ownership of shares? With this one in mind, foreigners who want to invest will simply take dummy identities more and more, which means removing one dummy (like Alice) may only have more dummies replacing Alice right now. That means any "healing" the nation has right now is temporary at best.
In short, these points bring up the high cost of Pinoy Pride economics. It should be funny because they're typing all their nonsense using imported equipment. I can expect their usual mockeries, where I should just stop them from giving an answer. If they give an answer, I can expect them to say, "We have no choice but to use imported equipment, because the foreigners unfairly own the means of production." Well, all I can say is, "Whatever! I've heard the same excused and the Filipino First Policy proponents, citing Davide, Monsod, whoever, are broken records. 

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