I had originally intended to compose a synopsis of a speech I delivered last Feb. 26 at the Second Annual Arangkada Forum of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce, hoping thereby to make my life easier. However, the Management Association of the Philippines featured virtually the entire speech in the March 4 issue of the Inquirer, and while I felt honored, I also realized that my lazy ploy had been thwarted.
THE FIRST clear reality that predicates the question above is that it’s a far different world now from what it was even as recently as five years ago. The world economy was once much simpler and, thus, governable when the Bretton Woods agreements were established, giving rise to, among others, postwar global institutions and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, namely the IMF and the World Bank.
As presidential rallying cries go, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” could rank among the more memorable ones. There are, of course, various reasons why people and things become memorable, including notoriety. Some may still remember Marcos’ “This nation can be great again.” And who can forget Erap’s “Walang kaibigan, walang kamaganak”? The latter two probably fall into the notoriety category because, in the case of the former, Marcos unfortunately took a turn away from greatness after an arguably fine start, and in Erap’s case, flaunting the exact opposite of his well-received rallying cry is surely a major reason for his fall from grace, however interestingly temporary it is beginning to seem.
“Incredible India,” “Remarkable Indonesia,” “Malaysia Truly Asia.” These are among the catchy tourism slogans that bombard our sensibilities as we watch CNN. Like many of you, I watch with growing impatience about when we would come up with our own such catchphrase, knowing well (bias notwithstanding) that the Philippines can more than be able to compete on even terms with any country in the tourism arena. We did have “WOW Philippines,” which was okay, but perhaps just that—okay, but not compelling. And, of course, “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” was stillborn for good reason.
About a month ago, Forbes magazine, in its annual listing of the world’s billionaires, indicated that the Philippines reached a milestone in 2011: doubling its number of billionaires from 5 in 2010 to 11 in 2011. Their combined wealth was a whopping $24.4 billion or an average of about $2.2 billion each. The magazine further [...]
EVERY NOW and then I find myself invited by various groups—civic, business, or academic—to give talks or briefings on the state of the Philippine economy. More often than not, particularly during the last decade or so, these talks would inevitably be burdened with bad economic news rather than brightened by tidings of joyful ones. Even [...]
