What is the secret of the Philippines for having effortlessly and gracefully maintained its charming status as a “developing” nation since that ancient period—the Edsa 1 Age?
A host of reasons, which are no secret, explain our nation’s extended sojourn in the “On the Way to Economic Take Off” land. But surely, a decent regression analysis—never use the politician’s alternative statistical method—will reveal that a chronically reduced capacity of the country’s leaders to think creatively is among the top reasons.
I mean, it’s been decades, and still, they are unable to design and implement creative and durable solutions to the many problems of the third world—seriously speaking, I don’t like the euphemistic term “developing”—Philippines, which has been wallowing in undeserved abject poverty for the longest time.
Same Old Story
By our “nation’s leaders,” I mean past, present, and—spoiler alert—future luminaries, all prolific contributors to their best-selling narrative of consistent underachievement.
How to tell? Easy. Compare them with their counterparts in countries like Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. I know they hate to be compared, as they are like rusty tricycles with flat tires being compared with a brand-new Ferrari. But it’s precisely what every voting and non-voting citizen should do to them. The no-comparison policy applies only to siblings and schoolchildren.
Trapped in Their Zones
It’s not that highly political leaders’ capacity to think creatively in addressing recurring and growing problems, concerns, and challenges is permanently impaired. But our leaders, regardless of the political colors they wear, are not driven enough to go beyond whatever zone they seem to enjoy being trapped in.
When asked why they can’t catch up with their sharp-minded counterparts overseas, they have a whole library of excuses, mostly dusted off and linguistically made over to keep them looking fresh.
Attempts to solve the recurring problems were made. But when they didn’t work effectively, the leaders settled for a band-aid on a bullet wound. For decades, this was essentially the brand of the elected government officials’ public service.
Not Incapable, Just Comfortable
“Reduced capacity to think creatively” does not mean permanent incapacity to generate real solutions to stubborn problems. But what else could be said when the chance of finding ways to solve the issues that burden their people seems to border on the hopeless?
Such incapacity is a chronic preference for the comfortable momentum of the status quo. But it’s worse than how it appears to common sense. The disease is voluntary submission to the cozy embrace of unsolved problems.
Why stress over things you can’t effectively solve when it could barely hurt you anyway? Just give up—but not openly. Create a semblance of an attempt to address the people’s problems. Simulate effort. Conduct yourself like you’re leading, like you’re doing something.
This is what happens when leaders are not creative enough to push themselves beyond mediocrity and their comfort zones. They yield to the complexities of their task, and finally admit—whether out loud or not—they’re not imaginative enough to find the solutions to the many problems besetting their constituents and their nation.
Perpetual Gloom
The Philippines is still basking in the same economic gloom its leaders have promised to replace with a climate of unstoppable economic revival.
Clearly, this is no longer just a delay in progress. It’s beyond the level of any failed leader’s spin doctor’s warped narrative. All the spiels and canned explanations failed leaders could pull out have already lost their magical power to soothe and assure the people that they are on their way to the promised state despite the many twists, turns, and bumps.
There is no more doubt now that the post-first-Edsa-revolution history of the Philippines is a long tale of its leaders’ colossal and sustained failure to solve the country’s third-world problems. The leaders’ failure to solve these problems should not be accepted, but rather should ignite a sense of accountability.
Not the New Normal
Widespread poverty, blood-coagulating traffic, misfits running elective public offices, overpopulation thriving like a well-watered weed, inadequate public health services, teenage pregnancies and parenthood, juvenile delinquency, perennial flooding in flood-prone areas, rise in crime rate—the list goes on.
These are not the new normal. They’ve been sold for ages, and rather quietly, as part of being a Filipino. A convenient fiction made real by the failed leaders of our country. The chronic nature of these issues should not be accepted as the norm, but rather should ignite a sense of urgency for change.
Silence as Submission
Today, you are an outsider if you dare to voice your dissatisfaction over the country’s state of affairs. You don’t fit in, which, by implication, is something you should be ashamed of if you’re a Filipino citizen.
For instance, many Filipinos have learned that it’s un-Filipino to complain about endless queues, unsafe and filthy public spaces, widespread unemployment, wages that would make a medieval serf raise an eyebrow, and poor quality of public education.
The societal pressure to conform to the status quo is palpable. “If you don’t like it here, then leave!” That’s the standard answer to expressions of dissatisfaction, disapproval, dissent, disgust, and indignation.
To protest that something needs to be done about the problems is to be finicky or dramatic. The national mantra is acceptance. Embrace the unsolved. Celebrate demonstrated resiliency.
Resilience, Not Progress
After years of staring at the box, our highly imaginative and creative leaders have finally figured it out. The answer to our national woes is resilience, not progress.
This happens when our leaders finally develop the habit of succumbing to the unyielding problems that burden our nation.
