The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Philippines can't seem to catch any break. In the heels of having the worst airport in the world, the country finds itself as one of the worst place to do business. There are three reasons for this. First, "Corruption" is a simplistic, but accurate explanation. Second, corruption coupled by a feudal culture exasperated by a politics driven by cult personalities feeds a culture of incapacity. And so, third, in spite of being a free market on paper, protections on power, water, infrastructure, communications remain.

To merely say that the last decade under the Arroyos was the one source of corruption or the Philippines' current predicament is a misnomer. To say that under the Arroyos didn't exasperate the situation is likewise folly. Survey after survey by business leaders have identified corruption, the lack of clear cut policies, and unenforceable contracts as top on the list of why the Philippines is bad for business. It didn’t start during the Arroyo’s time, but as the government is now attempting to do is to answer the question: how much did corruption increase in the last decade?

This was why among other things, President Aquino won an election. A war on Corruption does resonate with voters. It is a cancer eating at the soul of a nation.

But that's not enough is it?

President Aquino is on the right track. Right path in terms of looking at the ship of state and patching holes. He started with the budget, and started with the Wang-Wangs, and agencies like MWSS, and his continuous struggle to bring the Arroyos to justice. We need big fishes, we need politicians accountable and we need to see the system work.

So where is the administration weak?

Is that the right question?

I come now to my second point— that corruption together with a feudal culture and a politics driven by cult personalities feeds a culture of incapacity. The armed forces doesn’t have funds to buy bullets or tanks or airplane, and soldiers live in crummy housing, but you have generals enjoying multimillion peso retirement. Nothing gets done if the Palace doesn’t say so. Nothing is built if the Mayor doesn’t move. Education at the college level is an entitlement bestowed upon every Filipino— even when it shouldn’t, at least not at that level. And you have a culture that basically says the government is the answer to every plight. It is the padrino system, writ large.

Anti-Wang-Wang, and Anti-Epal bills are good places to start. As a people, we really should stop having a mentality that every problem in the world is solved by the government, and that in our communities we have too have that ability.

Another reason why the Philippines is a bad place to do business is the unenforceable contract. Notice how in the Philippines, payment date and terms of agreement are moving goalposts? Everyone does it big or small. Notice too that when contracts are disputed it could drag on and on in years? This lack of justice is one of the factors why the Philippines isn't the best place to do business and it leaves an impression Filipinos are not trustworthy.

So the judiciary must act. It must within its ranks solve the problem of corruption. More so, court cases shouldn't drag on in years, and that the law shouldn't be bent and be used as a weapon to bend the universe to one's own side. The chips must fall as they land.

Another thing is this. There is a genuine climate prevailing in the country that isn't pro-business. This starts with myriad paperwork to get new businesses big or small to operate. There is no one place to get all paper work done for example. This isn't a function of the national government. Many of this should work in conjuncture with the local governments. So to say that this is all President Aquino's fault is a misnomer as well. Local governments and business groups have equal opportunity to change things.

What else? How about the national government?

In a larger sense there needs to be a focus to design the future. Take the Internet. It makes businesses function in the 21st century. Slow Internet make it harder to share presentions. Websites need updating of media and to upload them requires fast bandwidth. Books are now going digital so students are exchanging their textbooks with tablets. but the laws and strategies governing communications remain archaic.

That's not all.

There remains high electricity in the Philippines. This should have been solved during Arroyo's time but it wasn't. Building new power plants or a way to make electricity cheaper isn't easy or could be done overnight.

So yes, corruption is the biggest factor in why the Philippines is a bad place for business. Clearly, there is room for improvement, but as I mentioned, there are things the national government ought to do. There are things local government ought to do, and the judiciary as well. There are things we the people ought to do. The question is, will we stand around “analyzing”, and then “blaming” the government, or are we simply going to act? This after all is an age of less analyzing, and more about doing.