AsiaGlobal Voices

The only upside to the calamity that was Typhoon Egay (known internationally as Doksuri) was that our drying dams were refilled with rainwater. The renewed supply is not going to last us very long, however. Angat Dam in Bulacan, which supplies 97 percent of all of Metro Manila’s potable water, rose by three meters. Before the typhoon struck, water in this dam had fallen below the minimum operating level of 180 meters above sea level (MASL). No water for irrigation was available and the water concessionaires for the metropolitan area warned of rationing.

Nearly all the river systems in central and northern Luzon burst their banks, causing massive flooding. Large farming areas were flooded, leading to loss of crops. Several landslides happened and several roads were cut. All these were par for a super typhoon.

Our disaster response was adequate, if not exemplary. The time and resources we all invested in disaster risk mitigation were not wasted. We must continue this work since climate change will likely bring even more extreme weather in the future.

Without doubt, we need more dams to store our water and help us generate electricity. They will capture water that otherwise uselessly flows out to the ocean. Water for household use is one thing. We also use water for our agriculture and our industry. Rice, our staple crop, uses tremendous amounts of water. Current farming methods require our rice paddies to be submerged. Our paddies yield a lot of water to evaporation, especially during the hot and dry months. It will even be more expensive to pump out water from our aquifers, considering high power prices. Besides, our aquifers have already been overexploited. It will take thousands of years to refill them.

Launched in April 2022, China’s Global Security Initiative, as described by Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian, is “a new security path being promoted by Chinese leader Xi Jinping built on dialogue, partnership and “win-win” outcomes rather than confrontation with other countries. At a reception on a Chinese navy training ship which docked in Manila for a goodwill visit, Huang reminded guests that his country and the Philippines “have lived in harmony and peace for over 1,000 years.”

That is not exactly accurate; Chinese pirates marauded the Philippines in 1574. In those days, though, this archipelago largely traded in peace with merchants from China so the ambassador has a point.

Today, Chinese ships continue to enter the waters of what we now call the West Philippine Sea. Beijing’s claim over nearly the entire South China Sea, leaving other countries with only enough maritime area for beach resorts and small-scale fishing, makes Xi’s Global Security Initiative a tough sell in the Philippines. Beijing does not recognize the arbitral ruling that invalidated the entire claim. Massive swarms of Chinese militia vessels routinely shoo away Filipinos from traditional fishing grounds in the West Philippine Sea and challenge Philippine Coast Guard, Navy and Bureau of Fisheries ships that sale within the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

Bilateral ties of course cover many other areas besides the maritime dispute. A streamer on the deck of the Chinese ship where the reception was held welcomed guests with the words “May China-Philippines friendship last forever”. I share that aspiration – except that the West Philippine Sea keeps getting in the way.

There was a time when “woke” was a badge of honor among young people for social awareness. “Stay woke” was an urgent appeal: to re-examine how institutions of power benefit some while oppressing others; to speak out and act against systemic injustice – whether racism, sexism or economic inequality. In recent years, however, woke has been co-opted as an insult, particularly in US political discourse. Some groups who subscribe to conservative ideologies now use it as a catch-all label for irrational political correctness.

In the Philippines, the expression was not spared from dilution. Woke has been used as a synonym for histrionic, self-righteous and intellectual elitist. The negative connotation is a reflection of how polarized society has become when discussing social inequalities. Critics of “wokeness” tend to emphasize how a culture with heightened sensibilities has led to more divisiveness, rather than progress.

I mourn the diminishing of woke as a huge step backward. The world embraced the term because we caught a glimpse of what it is like to walk in the shoes of people who face injustice on a daily basis, and compelled us to ask how this mirrors our own realities. Whenever we use it in a condescending manner, we belittle its historical significance and undermine all the efforts that have been accomplished since.

To stay woke was never about touting the label and has always been about action. Crucial to this is the willingness to have genuine conversations about what is it that truly divides us. Upholding the integrity of the expression reminds us to be active in uplifting marginalized communities and in challenging beliefs or structures that perpetuate inequality. And in a country where the sins of the past are too easily forgotten, we need all the encouragement for social justice that we can get.

The main agenda of the new administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is economic recovery. Ahead of the president’s first state of the nation address, the finance secretary said that “the government’s medium-term fiscal framework is aimed at reducing the budget deficit, promoting fiscal sustainability, and enabling robust economic growth.”

These policy goals seem perfectly reasonable. The economic picture for the country, however, is more complex, requiring extraordinary leadership, technocratic competence and political finesse from the Marcos administration.

In April, just weeks before Marcos’s election victory, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasted 6.0 percent GDP growth for the Philippines this year and an even higher rate of 6.3 percent next year. Soon, however, it became clear that the new administration would have to deal with a combination of inherited and new economic challenges.

Marcos inherited a ballooning debt, due to his predecessor’s massive borrowing, which brought the debt-to-GDP ratio to a 16-year-high. Then came the triple shocks from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that disrupted global commodity markets, China’s economic slowdown that further disrupted regional production networks and growth outlook, and the interest rate hikes in the US, which dramatically drove down Asian currencies including the Philippine peso. The result is a toxic cocktail of rising prices and declining growth across the world, with the threat of global “stagflation” on the horizon.

It is hard to see how the government can simultaneously avoid tax increases, expand targeted subsidies to vulnerable sectors, maintain infrastructure spending at 5-6 percent of GDP, achieve above-average annual growth rates of close to 8 percent, reduce the budget deficit by more than 60 percent in coming years, and slash the debt-to-GDP ratio from more than 60 percent to just above 50 percent in 2028.

Welcome to real-world governance.

The presidential election in the Philippines, one of the democracies in the developing world, is attracting attention. As neighbors with the best of intentions, we have our small wish list. Top of it would be an unwavering desire for the Philippine economy to prosper, for the sake of not just the Filipinos, but the growth of the region as a whole as well. Philippine economic growth was quite impressive at over 5 percent annually for a few years, but was inevitably dragged into negative territory by the pandemic. It has since rebounded but the country would have to work hard to keep up this momentum.

The pandemic recovery coincides with the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), to which the Philippines and all other member states of ASEAN, as well as China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, have signed on. It essentially creates the world's largest free trade area and common market for its members. The new Philippine leadership, together with its regional counterparts, must put their heads together to take full advantage of RCEP.

As neighbors, we wish that the future Philippine leader would put less stress on ideology and more on pragmatism when it comes to the conduct of foreign and international affairs. There is an outcry for effective regional leadership that would hopefully steady the increasingly precarious regional ship in the South China Sea and beyond. A new Philippine leader should take charge of the rudder amid a turbulent sea of international intrigues. And a new leader must make sure that the very democracy that elected him or her into office is kept thriving and does not backslide into autocracy. The region is not immune from authoritarian or even dictatorial rule, and the Filipino fire for democracy must stay lit.

Some presidential and vice-presidential candidates have been non-committal on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, was asked for a statement, he said he did not have to take a stand because our country was not involved, except for concerns about Filipinos in Ukraine and Russia. His running mate, Sara Duterte, said we should always be "neutral" if the interests of the Philippines are not involved.

This view is erroneous. The Philippines is part of the global economy, and Russia's occupation of Ukraine is already having an impact. Filipinos have already felt the effects. The price of oil is rising. While the Philippines does not import oil directly from Russia, we still have to deal with the higher costs. In February, inflation remained at 3 percent. But gasoline prices rose by 32.1 percent and diesel by 46.4 percent.

In 2020, only 9 percent of Philippine imports of wheat came from Ukraine. Because of the war, wheat production in Ukraine and Russia is likely to be reduced, and wheat prices are rising in global markets. If the price of our imported wheat goes up too much, the price of flour and bread may also increase. 

According to JP Morgan Chase, the Ukraine crisis could reduce the growth of the Philippine economy by 0.4 percent this year. The Philippines has an interest in the Russian occupation of Ukraine. And if we are neutral, are we then essentially siding with Moscow? Yet, our government condemned the occupation at the emergency special session of the United Nations General Assembly.

In May, vote for a candidate who understands the place of the Philippines in the global economy and politics – and above all, one who has a stand. Candidates should not be neutral. 

According to surveys, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr, the son of the late dictator, is the frontrunner in the presidential election campaign. Many would call his recent moves, from refusing to attend presidential forums and media interviews to claiming anyone against him is biased, cowardly. But if you expect these controversies to turn the tide, you need a reality check. 

Marcos will present his actions as part of his campaign against sociopolitical traditions and institutions in which the masses have lost faith. With the Philippines arguably in the worst shape it has been since the days when Marcos’s father imposed martial law, people desperate for change can equate that with the failure of the leaders who followed the senior Marcos after he was deposed to deliver promises of prosperity. 

If voters are tired of leaders and institutions failing them, why are they still choosing to keep political dynasties in power? Is there no other choice out there? The lack of education of many voters is a problem, but we have been dealing with the same issues involving these families for decade. At what point do we start holding accountable those who can see, but choose to be blind anyway?

But maybe the pieces do fit. It is just that political analysts, experts and vocal netizens are analyzing a different game from what Marcos is playing. Marcos and friends have done a terrific job of taking control of the narrative, rewriting it to suit their own agendas. He raises so many red flags but his team focuses on making voters forget them and highlight instead a potential comeback. Now think about it: Why do all trolls and fake news peddlers praise the Marcoses and attack their opponents? Common sense has to kick in at some point.

This same time last year, though we tried our very best to keep up the festive spirit, things were much more subdued and grim. And while a lot has happened this past year, many things have still stayed the same.

If there is one thing we are more attuned with these days, it is rolling with the punches. We have accepted that change happens, and we are now more adaptable creatures. Change can be good when we do not resent it and readily accept it. Change is vital in enabling progress. And sometimes, we need to take a pause to internalize all of this. That is perhaps one of the gifts the lockdown brought us – the time to reflect and to realize. Life does indeed go on if we allow it to, and that the sun shines on us even when we least expect it.

The true meaning of Christmas is a prime example of tradition that will never change regardless of any situation. While the manner in which we choose to spend the holidays can differ, the core and the “reason for the season” will always remain the same.

We will look back at this pandemic as the time when the world literally came to a halt and our views of normalcy and routine changed completely. And although life has started to go on again, the question of whether we will ever return back completely to the normal we once knew still looms. When that day comes, I would like to keep the attitude of resilience, flexibility and open mindedness. This pandemic, if anything, taught me to count my blessings and appreciate the small things.

The country is better prepared today against this variant, following its experiences on the Alpha, Beta and Delta waves. The government has administered 96 million vaccine doses or 86.4 percent of our total population of 111,050,000. Those fully vaccinated (two doses) stands at 38,700,000 persons, or 34.76 percent of the total population. The number of booster inoculations is also increasing. And unlike last year, people can even choose their preferred brands because of the government’s huge supplies.

The highly infectious Omicron variant will have a direct effect on the coming political campaign and its results. Even if found “milder” or deadlier than Delta, disruptions in our daily life will happen. Probably, we will see a repeat of lockdowns, return of face shields/masks and closed businesses due to higher alert levels next year. And this means limited campaigns, political rallies and stricter health protocols for candidates and supporters.

If Omicron is a milder, controllable variant, the administration candidates especially the incumbent mayors will have the advantage, being at the forefront of relief and successful vaccination of their citizens. But if Omicron becomes deadlier than Delta, then the government’s pandemic response becomes an election issue. This administration’s moves will be under microscopic scrutiny by voters. If cases zoom up again because of Omicron and hospitals are overwhelmed, then the opposition candidates in both national and local elections will have a better chance of winning.

When Omicron arrives, it is inevitable that we will again return to strict or very strict precautionary measures. Yes, it will be hard, but unlike last year, we now have available anti-Covid-10 drugs to avoid hospitalization and death. Also, our healthcare system is much now better following its Alpha, Beta and Delta experiences. We all must hope for the best.

The Nobel Prize is arguably the most prestigious award in the world. But in the Peace category, its reputation has been tarnished in much of the world. In some cases, the honor has gone to the polar opposite of the stated ideals such as Barack Obama, who approved the Libya and Syria bombings. The award is routinely used by the US, the UK and the West to divert attention from their own warmongering and to moralize and to create willing proxy mouthpieces to attack nonaligned nations or leaders.

Journalist Maria Ressa does deserve recognition. The Philippine government did congratulate her. Whether we agree with her politics or not, she has shown courage, risked legal cases and financial pressures. but she also receives millions of dollars of foreign money from groups such as the US National Endowment for Democracy.

Julian Assange and Edward Snowden have suffered a far higher price against far more aggressive governments of superpowers, created much greater impact against tyranny, wars, and freedom of information, for humanity and not just one country.

On what basis can the Nobel board consider Maria Ressa or Dmitri Muratov of Russia more deserving of recognition, courageous as they are for criticizing their governments? What about different whistleblowers of US military atrocities who were charged or put in jail for years? What about leaders or lesser luminaries who have actually avoided, prevented or reduced wars? There is a clear conclusion to draw: There can be no heroes recognized when their actions are against the US or Western government.

Nearly five decades have passed since then-president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law. While he claimed this was done to suppress civil unrest and communist threats, it became glaringly obvious that he simply took advantage of the chaos to create a dictatorship that plundered this nation for the next 14 years.

The impact of martial law was so devastating that we are still feeling the consequences today. By the time Marcos was kicked out, the economy was in bad shape from the corruption and heavy borrowing from other countries. Poverty rates drastically increased, the value of the peso went down, and the country's reputation crashed. Truth be told, all of us are still paying for the trillions worth of debt today.

No matter how hard the Marcoses try to make us forget, we remember that thousands were killed or tortured during this time. Their human rights were undoubtedly violated, their families suffered. The dictator's family does not even have the decency to apologize and admit to the crimes.

Nevertheless, arguably the most important fallout from the martial law era is our newfound appreciation of freedom. The restoration of democracy in 1986 gave hope for Filipinos to reverse the wrongs of Marcos, his family, and his cronies, and finally place our country on the right path.

Current President Rodrigo Duterte is implementing the Covid version of martial law right now. Lockdowns, military personnel in places where they should not be, extrajudicial killings, the economy in recession, his cronies getting rich too fast to be hidden.

The fallout from martial law is an issue of national significance. This means that we all are stakeholders, and we have the right to resolve this for good. There is no neutral anymore. Moving on is not an option, not until justice is served.

Two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population is aged 25 and under. This large demographic segment has no memory of the last time the Taliban was in power. They grew up in the relative freedom of US occupation.

A Taliban spokesman shortly after the capture of Kabul tried to assuage the world by saying the new rulers will respect the rights of women within the framework of Sharia law. What that meant was never clear. Few believed the Taliban promise.

All the world’s powers and all the international organizations can only watch in horror as the Taliban begins exercising its gory power over an unwilling society. This is, after all, a movement driven by a primitive ideology trying to drag the rest of society back to the Stone Age.

All the secular powers of the world enjoy no leverage over a mindless movement such as the Taliban. But the Taliban, too, holds no leverage against the secular powers of the modern world. This situation will be harmful to the Afghan people most of all. Cut off from the rest of humanity, they cannot access humanitarian help.

To top it all, most of the world’s countries are busy fighting the pandemic. They have every excuse to ignore the plight of Afghans trying to survive a fanatical regime. Most of the countries around Afghanistan have closed off their frontiers, mainly to discourage a flood of migrants they could not possibly sustain.

The revival of US unilateralism and isolationism will imply huge costs for the rest of humanity. Unfortunately for the Afghans and the other countries threatened with terrorism, no other power is willing to step into the abandoned US role. Enough talk of a values-based global order. We are rushing headlong, not into a multipolar world, but into a basically ungoverned international (dis)order.

The Tokyo Olympics was unlike any other, mainly due to the great uncertainty caused by the pandemic and the amazing performance of Team Philippines.

The host country Japan and all the participants deserve all the accolades for the tremendous efforts to ensure the success of the Summer Games amid fears of another postponement and the Covid-19 restrictions imposed.

Filipinos are thankful the Tokyo Olympics finally pushed through, primarily because of the unprecedented result. The Philippines finally earned its first-ever gold medal, along with two silvers and a bronze.

Our country’s medal haul in Tokyo that surpassed the three-bronze record set in 1932 at the Los Angeles Olympics will certainly go a long way in boosting national pride. Our achievements would undoubtedly inspire the Filipino youth to engage in sports and physical activities. Engaging in sports undoubtedly develops character, self-confidence, discipline, respect for rules, sense of accomplishment, willingness to go through sacrifices. It even helps fight depression and boosts mental health.

There is no dispute about the importance of sport and physical activity. So important indeed that the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) stressed in its International Charter of Physical Education and Sport, adopted in1978: “The practice of physical education and sport is a fundamental right for all.” It also said that “it is clearly evident that physical education and sport are not confined to physical well-being and health but also contribute to the full and well-balanced development of the human being.”

To add more meaning to the Philippines’ achievements in Tokyo, it certainly would make sense for all able-bodied Filipinos to engage in sports and physical activities as soon as the situation permits.

As poor as President Rodrigo Duterte's Covid-19 response has been, so was his last state-of-the-nation address (SONA). A sensible president would have started the speech with the pandemic, the most important issue facing the country. But two hours in, Duterte had still not discussed it. He covered benefits and pensions for soldiers and police, the fight against drugs, and his battle with oligarchs and communists. Same, same.

He did not pay much attention to our economic crisis. He did not mention that the economy is collapsing and that we are again the “sick man of Asia”. He did not mention that nearly 4 million are unemployed. He did not mention that inflation is still above 4 percent. He did not mention that millions are hungry. Instead, he boasted about statistics from before the pandemic such as the drop in the unemployment rate, the increase in government revenue, and improved credit ratings. In the minds of Duterte and his economic managers, our timeline is divided into pre- and post-pandemic. They know their record is dismal. They have nothing to be proud of.

Is it obvious that Duterte does not care about the suffering of Filipinos? The address was empty, with no focus – as if the pandemic and economic crisis have passed.

But there will probably still be a pandemic in 2022, or even longer. So if we want the country to get better, let us all vote right in May next year . 

As depressing as Duterte's last SONA was, the mood rebounded with news of the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal won by Hidilyn Diaz at Tokyo. I cried, to be honest. Faith in humanity was restored. Hidilyn carried not only the barbell, but also the people in a way that Duterte failed to do.

The World Bank (WB) report on the dismal state of Philippine education triggered Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis-Briones to demand a public apology from the WB for shaming the country. In the absence of national performance metrics data that say otherwise, it is more prudent to take the World Bank report on Philippine education as an opportunity to examine what we need to improve and use lessons and insights from it to frame our expectations of the next president come 2022. We badly need an education president!

The world is talking about the emergence of Society 5.0, or the Imagination Society, where digital transformation and innovation in science and technology combine with the creativity and values of people to solve societal problems, promote wellbeing, and achieve economic development. This emerging society and economy require a pool of human capital with different skill sets that are future-proof, disruption-ready, and innovation-oriented.

The election season is about to start. Candidates must be able to offer concrete education programs that will transition the country’s education system to something that will focus on developing the country’s human capital for Philippine Society 5.0.

The emergency remote learning that the country implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic gave us a glimpse into the education revolution that is already underway in many parts of the world. We need school leaders who are imaginative and creative, with enough understanding of the new mindset required to transition our system to be future-ready, data-driven, and innovation-oriented. We cannot afford to have school leaders who will do more of the same things.

But first things first, in 2022, we should choose an education president. Everything else will flow from there. We cannot afford to miss the ongoing education revolution.