Generals in ASEAN's 'laggard'

Generals in ASEAN's 'laggard'

Updated 09:39pm (Mla time) Oct 27, 2004
By Juan Mercado
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the October 28, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


TODAY'S uproar over graft committed by some military officers has retailored an old Indonesian joke: What's the four-point formula for hitting the economic jackpot? Answer: American capital, Japanese equipment, Filipino manager -- and Indonesian general.

Sadly, it's a local wisecrack now. Former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) comptroller Major General Carlos Garcia's corruption cases recall, for some, Sir Conan Doyle's question: "Do we have here Napoleons of crime?"

Unfortunately, the cases and essential investigation blindside the AFP, a critical institution where most soldiers remain "straight arrows." The majority retains professionalism, despite the "Rolex 12 Syndrome" of systematic suborning of the military by the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. People, therefore, gag when Representative Imee Marcos or Senator Juan Ponce Enrile strut as manicured "reformers."

But citizens share with soldiers a sharp sense of betrayal. The People Power Constitution, after all, designated the Armed Forces as "protector of the people and state." Nothing exudes more stench than tainted honor.

Unfortunately, we are a people with short memories. Our attention, critics insist, flits from scandal to scandal. "There is only silence or scandal," Andre Maurois once wrote. Thus, a Joseph Estrada, necklaced with plunder raps, banks on amnesia to offer straight-faced an "alternative leadership."

Will reforms emerge? Serial scandals also blot out equally critical issues. In June, manual voting and a filibuster-marred canvass traumatized the country. And in September, 11 professors of the University of the Philippines (UP) jolted us with "The Deepening Crisis," a study on runaway deficits and public debt.

Since then, overdue electoral reforms have "fallen by the wayside." It seems that only a drastic downgrade of our international credit rating will jerk our attention back to that economic rescue package. There's danger we'll again be distracted by Advent Season scandals.

We continue to need "voices in the wilderness" -- people who refuse to be discouraged, and strip away our complacency.

The UP Eleven did that. Inquirer's Solita Collas Monsod does it with panache. Peter Wallace's trend tracking -- in the 1960s, when we ranked second to Japan, to today when Vietnam is overtaking us -- helps.

Now comes Dr. Romulo Virola. The National Statistical Coordination Board secretary general's article, "ASEAN: Where Do We Stand -- or Wobble?" reveals nothing new. But it provides context by stacking our problems alongside our ASEAN neighbors.

"After 20 years of Marcos, and two decades after People Power, we lag behind everybody in the original ASEAN, except possibly Indonesia," he writes. The newer members, known as "Plus Five," are catching up. "Unless we wake up ... we'll be singing in bars as the ASEAN Minus One!"

Our future hinges on human development, especially in education, health and appreciation for science, Virola stresses. Here are some indicators (some updated from the Human Development Report 2004).

Literacy here is 93 percent. But students from "Singapore, Brunei and Thailand read better." We had higher expenditures for education, compared to Indonesia, Lao PDR and Malaysia, but lower than Thailand and Singapore. And only 79 out of 100 of our children who enroll reach Grade 5, beating only Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar.

We're saddled with the fifth highest infant mortality rate: 29 out of 1,000 Filipino children born alive did not survive beyond a year of age. Maternal mortality rate is about five times that in Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Thailand.

Filipinos do not have as "much access to essential drugs as citizens in Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia. But they're better off than Cambodia and Myanmar."

Wedged in the middle among 10 ASEAN countries, "we are now about ‘kulelat’ [in last place] among the original five, although we're still generally ahead of the 'Plus Five': Myanmar, Brunei, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Vietnam."

Poor economic performance partly explains the lag. Food production per capita was fifth lowest, gross domestic product growth fourth lowest in 2002. We had the highest unemployment rate among seven countries at century's turn.

All countries except for Myanmar (no data) were in fiscal imbalance in 2002. But Brunei, Singapore and Thailand got out of the red in 2003.

Here, "out of every P100 we generated through exports, P17 went to payment of our debt." That's significantly higher than everybody except Thailand.

The number of personal computers here was fifth highest: three per 100 of the population. But that's way below 62 for Singapore, 15 for Malaysia and 8 for Brunei.

Ranked sixth most attractive tourist destination, the Philippines attracts fewer than two million tourists. Compare that with Malaysia's 10.6 million or Thailand's 10.1 million or even Vietnam's 2.4 million.

"We're in bad shape," Virola reminds all. "And we'll be worse off, hit by the ravages of global competition, statistics on our preparedness for fierce competition tell us."

A coup d'état would only embed these problems -- and the four-point formula for economic jackpots for a few corrupt officers, we add.

The future is collective responsibility for citizen and soldier. "There is hope," Virola insists. The alternative is to wobble into ASEAN's basket case.