Asian Development Bank said “BOBO AT WALANG UTAK ANG PINOY” Compared to HK, China and Korea – Prove it if Not!

Failure of the Philippine government for decades

How sad to be called as "shallow knowledge" or "addle-brained" which simply means "walang alam", "walang laman ang utak", "Bugok", "Bobo" but according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), "Bobo ang Pinoy" compared to Hong Kong, China; Japan; Korea; Singapore and Taipei in the Asian countries.

But how comes to be called as "Pinoy is Bobo" if most of the countries mentioned are just relying their manpower from the Philippines from rank and file to executive positions to run their companies?

This could be a challenging news so that the Philippines will wake up, and a worst news for those emotional people to cry and give up.

Proven by a weak government in chasing the corrupt lawmakers and Senators who are sitting down for billions of stolen wealth from the government coffer through the Pork Barrel, millions of constituents suffer from hunger and living under the bridges and shanty houses, bunch of proud people but jobless, etc how could you describe the country?

In spite of the riches in the Philippines from oil to natural gas, gold, chromites and other minerals, spectacular natural landscape and beaches, abundant of arable lands and all the natural resources; it is so confusing why many are still hungry and remained so poor!

In spite of the call of the masses to the government to invest in "manufacturing" to create jobs – the government remains deaf and let the Billions of Dollars fall to the pocket of the corrupt politicians that only benefit the few in power while pushing down the poor to hunger and death and say "NO BUDGET".

Notable failures of the Philippine Government to create an inclusive growth and Development:  

• The Philippine government is so relaxed and less ambitious, passive and lack of knowledge ("addle-brained")
• Philippine politicians are selfish – They don't care even if the country will suffer as long as their pockets are full. This is backed by the continued existing PDAF or Pork Barrel even it is the main root of the massive corruption in the country.
• The Philippine Government keeps insisting that "no budget" but Billions of Pork Barrel fund is awash and ready to be pocketed by the senators and congressmen who have access in it.
• The Philippine Government doesn't want to initiate in establishing a well funded Research and Development Center (R&D) but just to rely from the output of the other countries as end users.
• The Philippine government just relied on foreign investors to setup their factories in the Philippines to create jobs while the country's money in the coffer is awash and they don't know how to spend them

It would take days to mention all the failures of the Philippine Government so it's the reader's part to list them one by one in our comment box.

To the Poor: Blame yourself not the Government could be "Wrong"?

Law makers and Senators who do not want to be blamed by the fate of the country usually blame the people for their misfortunes and called them as "Lazy" that's why they are poor and hungry.

Hard working individuals who successfully broke the wall of hardships sometimes insist "Blame yourselves lazy" and challenge the others to follow their footsteps.

In spite of the availability in the Philippines for all the resources needed by a certain country to be the richest and the most powerful in the world, why it is still very hard for every pinoy to break the wall of hardships?

If you will analyze, the sufferings encountered by our successful hardworking individuals now are just so much for the people who came from this very resource rich country.

It just simply means the failure is in the government not on the people or the individuals.

Why the hardworking farmers and Fishermen remains the poorest in the Philippines if only being "hardworking is the only way to break the wall of hardships"?

Try to visit the remote part of the country such as the mountains in Cebu and Mindanao, the remote Islands of Palawan which is not even reached by the signal of the AM Radios so you would really know what happened to the ordinary people like them.

• Farmers could plant fruit bearing trees and harvest the fruits then let them rot because they could not transport their products to the market. The fact is there is no "real" farm to market roads exists opposite from what the government boasted that they spent Billions for the farm to market roads.  Farm to market roads would be only available and passable during election campaign period so the Luxury cars of the politicians would be able to have access to the remote areas for their campaign then leave the road shattered by the floods after the election leaving impassable so "simply no maintenance" done by the part of the government. The Farm to market road is just for election period and maybe right to be called as "Election Campaign Road" as it is more appropriate base in its uses instead of calling them as "Farm to market Roads" which actually could not be use by the farmers to transport their products.
• Fishermen could have a good catch but leave the fish rotten in the shore and spoils the air because their catch is just so much compared to the demands of the afford people to buy fish for their daily meals. Many could not afford to buy because they are jobless.
• Small bibinka (rice cake) vendor stopped their small business because people are jobless and they could not afford to buy the delicious bibingka, so most of the thing are just for the eyes only for the jobless people.

The fact is pinoy are "NOT BOBO and NOT LAZY"

The failure is just in the government part to create jobs. Being Jobless is the main root of hunger and crimes in the Philippines.

Our question is why the Philippine government is hesitant to invest in Manufacturing or factories to create jobs? Is it true that "Bobo ang Pinoy"? or only the people in the Government are Bobo?

Why the Government is keep on taking the risks to spend Billions for the Pork Barrel while they could not take the risk of spending even million for the Research and Development?

Why the Philippine government ignored the call of the pinoy scientists to fund their inventions for mass productions?

Why the Philippine Government is not interested to help the Pinoy inventors?

Why the Philippine government will just pass the DOST inventions to the private investors instead of establishing their own manufacturing plant for mass production using the government fund?

If the Philippine government is serious in creating jobs for the jobless, then why there is no plan or budget for establishing factories to create jobs?

Philippines urged to focus on manufacturing

The manufacturing sector remains critical for Asian countries like the Philippines to prosper and avoid the middle income trap, according to a report of the Asian Development Bank.

In one chapter of Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2013, the ADB's flagship annual statistical publication, the multilateral lender noted that a progressive manufacturing sector was key to highly productive service sector, technological innovation and in modernizing agriculture in Asian countries.

"Historically, no economy has reached high-income status without reaching at least 18 percent share of manufacturing in output and employment for a sustained period," ADB chief economist Changyong Rhee said in a statement issued Wednesday.

"Right now, as services boom in the region, it's tempting to reject industrialization, but it will be a serious mistake if a country wants to be prosperous," Rhee added.

The report noted that several economies rapidly industrialized to become high-income countries. These included Hong Kong, China; Japan; Republic of Korea; Singapore and Taipei.

Other developing Asian nations—such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines—are changing even more slowly, have created fewer manufacturing jobs and are shifting from agriculture to services.

The Philippines, which has had less success at building a manufacturing sector, will specifically need to develop a much deeper industrial base to complement its service sector to avoid being caught in the middle-income trap, the ADB said.

Bobo ang Pinoy compared to HK, China, Japan and Korea

According to the report, several factors help explain why the Philippines failed to industrialize, despite attempts to do so in the 1980s.

The ADB said the Philippines' shallow industrial base was nearly decimated by the ensuing internal and external crises. The Philippines remained constrained by narrow export specialization, import dependence, and a shallow knowledge base. The reasons include macroeconomic policies, flawed incentive structures and lack of nationalism among the "captains" of industries.

Added to this was the discord in trade, investments, domestic regulation, human resources, and science and technology policies that were supposed to complement the industrial programs in the 1960s to 1980s, the ADB said.

Written by Prince Dan We / Amy R. Remo-  Inquirer News