Gaps in Nation’s Progress (GNP) in the Philippines

This is one of those times when I am not entirely happy being right. In my earlier post titled “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” I emphasized the general observation that while the Philippines is getting richer as a country, Filipinos in general are getting poorer.

Recent statistics from the National Statistics Office (NSO) as well as from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) confirmed this depressing truth. Using recent statistics from the NSO, one can see that while the Gross National Product (GNP) — any modern nation’s barometer of progress — continues to  go up, family income as measured through Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) showed that Filipino families in general have been earning less for the past four years.

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Learning From India and Japan

And it goes on, unabated. Corruption. Bare-face lies. Unabashed display of wealth and power. Patronge politics. What are we missing? Why do we keep missing the boat to good and responsible governance?

Transparency and vigilance are supposed to be our best weapons against anomalous contracts such as ZTE’s National Broadband Network and Cyber-Education Program. But without institutionalized mechanisms to open transactions like these to public scrutiny, excuses will always imperil investigations and thus, we will always be left without anybody to persecute and prosecute. And the most frustrating fact is, we always encounter the usual suspects. And they remain scot-free. What can we do then?

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Inday and the Left

Inday is making waves. And those from the left are not surfing.

In the recent Inquirer story, our friends from the left do not find the Inday jokes funny at all. I wonder what is Inday’s take on this latest attempt to discredit her growing popularity. Maybe Inday herself should explain why the left does not find her amusing. Taking note of one of Inday’s most recent encounters, my friend Sam Zarcas notes:

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly — The Philippines from Today’s Headlines

It is both interesting and disturbing to read the headlines in a number of newspapers today. First, the good news. The Philippine Daily Inquirer today speaks of the milestone reached by the Philippine Stocks Exchange when value turn over of stocks for the year breached the 1 Trillion level from January to September. Whoa! Just imagine that! 1 Trillion worth of shares in just nine months! This is 177 percent higher during the same period last year.

Second, the bad news. In Business World, the headline says hunger incidence in the country is at record-peak as 3.8 million families experienced hunger during the past few months after June. My dear friends in case you missed it, these are families, not individuals. Multiply the figure with 4 or 5, which is the average Filipino family size then you’ll know what I mean. But then, things get worse when you relate this number to the official government stand that a family of five that has a budget of more than P 350 a day (all inclusive of food, shelter, transportation, leisure, health and medication, etc.) in Metro Manila are considered “above the poverty threshold line” and hence, should not be considered poor — at least in the eyes of the government.

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