I'm turning 57 this year. I don't think my mind agrees with my chronological age because I still can't get a grip on it. Three years short of 60, assuming I make it to that age.
About the best indicator is being addressed in the proper manner based on my physical appearance; bald and whatever hair's left is gray. Then there's the proverbial aches and what-have-you associated with aging and playing competitive basketball when I was younger.
The other factors are the heavy traveling in the 90s and living the life back in the good old days. Now I'm asleep by 9 pm. I don't go out much. Not even to the mall and that's only if I need to buy something which can only be had there.
No maintenance meds for me because I stopped eating pork and beef a long time ago. Pork by choice. Beef because of budgetary constraints. That's what happens when your partners screw you out of a business. You lose everything and you're forced into a new set of priorities, with survival at the top of the list.
But I made it out of that dark place. It wasn't easy but I did it anyway.
My first stint in government was in 2019 at a public educational institution. That gave me deep insights into what's wrong with the system. I also learned how pervasive corruption is. Even in the education sector hasn't been spared. Degrees for sale and faculty members behaving more like crime syndicates than the teachers they're supposed to be.
I am back in government again at a cabinet department. I thought it would be different than the public educational institution but it's the same and in some respects, worst. I've a firsthand look at why we are being left behind by our regional peers.
No matter what the President says about digitalization, it will be a miracle if the cabinet departments are digitalized by 2028. If you want to know how bad it is, we don't even have a PABX system and even that is obsolete now as far as inter-office communications goes.
We have plantilla position, co-terminus and contract of service officials and employees who are barely qualified for their posts and there are some who don't even bother to actually work while in the office. They just sit, eat and make chismis the whole day, day in, day out, from Monday to Friday.
Let's just say that it's progress if a department can achieve at least twenty percent of the targets it has set for one year. Anything over this would be stellar. But that is rare in the government bureaucracy.
Speaking of the bureaucracy, that's another factor why goals aren't achieved. To get an activity approved and the procurement aspect accomplished is already work in itself aside from the actual activity. It's like being in a UFC cage match; you against the bureaucracy.
I have been active on Twitter since 2019. It used to be that there were more people with common sense before. I don't think that's the case now, specially with the Marcos loyalists who can't see Marcos doing anything wrong.
Even before my stints in government, I've believed that the only way to reform the bureaucracy is to change the political structure. Marcos has again done a flip-flop on constitutional amendments, just like with his supposed independent foreign policy.
It's doesn't take a genius to figure out that investors won't be lining up to pour money in the country no matter how many billions or trillions of investment pledges Marcos receives on his foreign trips as the country's number one salesman, for as long as the reforms aren't in place.
The laundry list of foreign investors hasn't changed. High power and labor costs, lack of infrastructure, bureaucratic red tape and corruption and the absence of consistency and continuity in government policies are the reasons why they prefer to invest in our neighbors such as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Vietnam has overtaken us. Indonesia has a trillion dollar economy and is the newest member of the G20. Thailand is the vehicle manufacturing hub in the region. Vietnam is the alternative to China in tech manufacturing. Thailand and Vietnam are amkng the world's leading exporters of agricultural products. We buy rice from them.
Marcos' US pivot will definitely have economic consequences with China. Hopefully the US steps up trade with the Philippines in this event but based on historical record, we can't take that to the bank. Japan has been providing us with soft loans for infrastructure development but can't replace China as our top trade partner.
The other day, Singapore's defense minister sounded the alarm over intensifying tensions in the region caused by increased American presence in terms of patrols and diplomacy aimed at putting more pressure on China. He mentioned the increased number of US bases in the Philippines as one factor.
At the Philippine Military Academy homecoming, Marcos assured the PMA alumni that he will not allow one inch of territory to be lost under his watch. This put smiles on the faces of the predominantly pro-US AFP officer corps.
Would investors flock in droves given the these heightened tensions with the country certain to be caught in the middle if ever a shooting war erupts between the US and China over Taiwan?
We must remember also that China is one of the important sources of agricultural imports. The current agriculture crisis stems from our high population growth, neglect of the agricultural sector and the increasing prevalence of smuggling by cartels who started out with the illegal importation of rice.
So far, no high-ranking members of these cartels have been identified and charged even if their identities aren't secret. There is also the issue of government policies in agriculture being inconsistent and the department being rife with corruption, being in cahoots with smugglers.
This is why inflation continues to be high because it is mostly food-driven now and not caused by the supply chain issues during the pandemic lockdown and the Russia-Ukraine war.
While the pro-US pivot further weakens the opposition, it also puts the burden on the greater majority of Filipinos who will bear the brunt of the effects of Chinese economic sanctions when they come. This will have an effect on the 2025 midterm election. It will also be a factor in the ruling coalition, specifically the PDP-Laban led by FPRRD.
Duterte has refrained from commenting on Marcos' performance in deference to Sara being the VP. However, he can't keep his mouth shut for the duration of the administration. Like it or not, he remains popular and still has a following. He can influence the two next election cycles.
But whatever happens, we can't replace time that is lost with all these posturing. Our regional neighbors are more focused on what they need to get done to become progressive. We are not. Between the politicians and the oligarchs, we don't stand a chance of competing.
We have problems to deal with the seafaring OFWs and the BPOs what with the advances made in artificial intelligence. The BPOs probably have ten years max before AI becomes the norm for the services we provide today become the territory of chatbots.
This is why any critical-thinking Pinoy will come to the conclusion that there is no future in the country anymore and it's best to get their children out for them to have a better future.
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