In December 2005, the Philippines was included by Goldman Sachs as among the next 11 emerging industrializing countries or the N-11—Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea and Vietnam. They had large populations which meant greater consumer market potential. Their high growth rates meant their markets would expand rapidly, providing even more customers.
Their potential would make them as important globally as the so-called BRICs—Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The BRICs and the N-11 were supposed to become among the world’s largest economies in the 21st century.
In listing the N-11 nations, Goldman Sachs used the following criteria: Macroeconomic stability, political maturity, openness of trade and investment policies, and the quality of education.
The N-11s are large economies. In billion dollar purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, the biggest is Indonesia with $3,027 billion ($3 trillion), making it the eighth largest economy in the world in PPP terms. It is followed by Mexico $2,306 billion; South Korea $1,928 billion; Turkey $1,669 billion; Nigeria $1,128 billion; Egypt $1,092 billion; Pakistan $982 billion; Philippines $831 billion; Bangladesh $620 billion; and Vietnam $592 billion.
Comes now our own National Economic and Development Authority, President Duterte’s supercabinet for economic policy making, with its own Ambisyon Natin 2040.
Compared with what Goldman Sachs has projected for the Philippines in 2005, Neda’s Ambisyon Natin goals are simply underwhelming—a strongly-rooted, comfortable, and secure life.
An overwhelming majority of Filipinos aspire for a simple and comfortable life (79 percent), followed by a smaller segment of the population who want an affluent life (16.9 percent) while a very small portion aspires for the life of the rich (3.9 percent).
For Filipinos, a simple and comfortable life is described as having a medium-sized home and enough earnings to support everyday needs, ownership of at least one car/vehicle, capacity to send children to college and to go on local trips for vacation.
“In 2040, we will all enjoy a stable and comfortable lifestyle, secure in the knowledge that we have enough for our daily needs and unexpected expenses, that we can plan and prepare for our own and our children’s future. Our family lives together in a place of our own, and we have the freedom to go where we desire, protected and enabled by a clean, efficient, and fair government,” says Ambisyon Natin 2040.
Frankly, do we have to wait for a quarter century to enjoy those amenities? Can we not get or enjoy them—now? A car, education for our children, and a few junkets locally?
Just how much money will be needed to enjoy them? $3,000 per capita? We enjoy that now. In fact, each Filipino on average is already earning closer to $4,000 a year—and this is in a nation where 25 million Filipinos, a fourth of the population, barely makes $1.50 a day.
A car. A college education for your teener. Trips. Whether Filipinos will aspire for those goals or not, they would be realized—even if the Philippines had the most incompetent and corrupt government in the world.
Can we not aspire then for higher, nobler goals? Like removing from our political milieu the four or five families that have ruled this country in the last half century? Like removing from our economy the 100 families that have ruled our economy and business in the last 100 years? Like installing for once, a truly democratic, pro-freedom, and honest, competent and inclusive government?
Like being the greatest nation in Asia. In the 14th through the 16th centuries, and even up to the 19th century, the Philippines was already No. 1 in the region, next only to China, then our country’s best friend. We had Asia’s best industrial product, beer. San Miguel was founded in 1890.
And we put up Asia’s first Republic, Asia’s first airline, first bus company, first taxi fleet, first shipping company, and the first newspapers. We were also the first and for a while, the only Christian country in Asia. How is that for greatness?
And yet, after 500 years, what we want in life is just modestly paying job, a car, an education for Junior, a house, and a flight on Cebu Pacific? Common, we Filipinos were nation builders before these material things were invented.
The Ambisyon Natin survey was supposed to have been started by Neda in 2015 under President Aquino by asking some 10,000 respondents what they want in life by 2040. Hence, the 2040 because you add 25 years to 2015 and you get 2040.
Our police and our law enforcers as well as our thieving politicians have a culture of impunity.
As for our economists, planners and thinkers, they have a culture of puny-ty. A culture of smallness.