Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

  It's no secret that I had bad grades in elementary and high school. There's always this distinction between huan-a (which may no longer be offensive, and refers to anybody of the Malay-Indo race ) and the lan-nang (our people). However, I prefer to call myself hua-lang (華人, Huárén) over lan-nang. Early last year, I wrote about why the old Sin Jiang textbooks were written the way they were . Barely anything can be understood by the non-Chinese speaker! It's funny but true! Honestly, we were even forbidden from romanizing, and we had to use Zhuyin Fuhao--something no longer applicable with Standard Chinese! Taiwan is still left using Zhuyin. Zhuyin may be best rendered as obsolete as the Alibata for standard writing or inputs. The Chinese schools in the Philippines all operated under a single standard. Learning Chinese was often characterized by the "死記硬背 sǐ jì yìng bèi" or "Memorize to the point of death" mentality (read here ). People had to learn Hokk...

I refuse to comment too much on former president Atty. Rodrigo R. Duterte's arrest. It's better to let due process take place. However, I would like to address the contradiction. Many times, I hear people think that 100% FDI equals violation of sovereignty. People say that I'm an idiot for going against the Filipino First Policy, that I'm selling the Philippines to (insert foreigner), or they act like as if China is the only source of FDI. That's why I wrote a blog entry that open FDI isn't equal to China . What's ironic is that people who say, "100% FDI means giving up sovereignty!" may also be supporting Duterte's arrest in the ICC. Instead of focusing on Duterte's arrest, I would like to think about the irony of practicing Filipino First Policy while wanting the Philippines to return to the International Criminal Court (ICC).  This is a meme I found over on Facebook. Whoever made this meme highlighted the supreme hypocrisy. One could tal...

  It's already bad enough that political expert Richard Heydarian. I'm amazed that Heydarian compared Mindanao's HDI development to Sub-Saharan Africa ?! Finding it on my Facebook feeds just made me think if he truly bothered to do any research. Source: Nestor Necesito I would like to share data from Facebook Netizen, Nestor Necesito :  Representing the west coast of Sub-Saharan Mindanao, I'm Nestor from Zamboanga City, Asia's Latin City and the Sardines Capital of the Philippines! Based on the available data, here's a comparison of the Human Development Index (HDI) for regions in Luzon and Mindanao, along with averages for Southern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Philippine Regions by HDI: - Luzon:   - Top Regions:     1. National Capital Region (NCR):        - 2024: 0.851 (Very High)        - 2019: 0.859 (Very High)     2. Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR):        - 2024: 0.758 (High) ...

PEH.ph It was on March 17, 1995, when Flor Contemplacion was executed in Singapore. I've noticed that I've been addressing her as the late many times, even if the late is a statement that may be ony appropriate if the person has been recently deceased within 10 years. It's about to become 30 years since Flor was hanged in Singapore. However, generational hatred would've been passed down from 1995 up to 2025. Some people are still tagging #JusticeFor Flor. These traits may be passed down from the Batang 1990s to their children in this generation. It may also be passed down from parent to child, even if the child was born in the 2000s to 2010s. Somebody born in 2000s and beyond might even say, "Papa and mama told me about Flor Contemplacion! That's why I hate Singapore!" Talk about a child born in 2004 who's probably angry with Singapore, because his parents kept telling him about how Flor was supposedly "unjustly treated" over there.  Some tim...

  Chinoys of my age (and older) may remember these textbooks. I called them as the "symbol of trauma". It was memorizing something without understanding it . One would just memorize (without understanding it) because it was typical. Not being able to memorize what was assigned? Get a bad grade? One can expect physical punishment like hitting the hand with a ruler or chili in the mouth. Chinese language teachers are stereotypically strict . The language textbooks (above) are what were used during the 1990s to the early 2000s. As I wrote it, the Sinjiang textbooks aren't effective in teaching Mandarin , in a world where Mandarin has over a billion speakers!  There's a Chinese proverb that says, "死記硬背 sǐ jì yìng bèi" or "Memorize to the point of death". That's exactly what those textbooks are. Memorize to the point of death! Okay, it may sound exaggerated. However, that's how Chinese language teachers in the Philippines were made to teach the ...

  Yes, we should never forget what history teaches us. A classmate of mine, back in high school, wrote a simple and blunt essay called "History: A Teacher". I doubt he still has a soft copy, given it was already more than 20 years ago. I'd like to quote Duterte critic Andrew James Masigan wrote this in  Philippine Star --something that should remain relevant: I would never undervalue the 1987 Constitution. It dismantled the legal framework of a repressive regime and established the democratic institutions we enjoy today. For this, I am grateful. The 1987 Constitution was crafted with the best of intentions. It sought to put the Filipino first in all aspects of governance and to level the playing field amongst sectors and peoples.  But it is far from perfect. It failed to consider the importance of foreign capital and technologies and the stiff competition we would have to face to obtain them. In short, its economic provisions were short-sighted . So despite the Constitut...

Today is Valentine's Day. I feel Valentine's Day is plain overrated. Some people just get a date for the sake of it--even if it means enduring that materialistic girlfriend or abusive boyfriend! Isn't romance a year-round thing? A few Valentine's Day ago, I wrote about Filipinas marrying foreigners and that FDI doesn't include Filipinas dating foreigners . This time to add some comedy, I wrote this post. It's something to say, "Yes! Somebody is married to a foreigner!" It's the hype to get job opportunities abroad or to marry a foreigner. Blossoms Why do Filipinos want to marry foreigners? The Blossoms blog writes down the following: Love and Affection: Love is often the primary reason for marriage, and Filipinas who marry foreigners may do so because they have fallen in love with someone from another country.  Financial Stability: Some Filipinas may marry foreigners because they believe a foreign husband can provide financial stability and secur...