Spain colonized us for our rich natural resources, not to Christianize us as we were made to believe. Or else, why is it that since colonial days, the Filipino masses have always been poor. Why has no government ever embarked on a sustained anti-poverty program to give the teeming majority a decent life as our non-Christian neighbors, ironically, have given to their people.
There are a number of ways to explain this. My take is that poverty of the masses can be attributed to, among other reasons, our having been run, ever since, by the whims and caprices of the elite who pursue power and wealth mainly for their families. From their social behavior, it requires an insane degree of mental contortion to think they are in office for a purpose other than self-interest.
On the national level, when a President takes office, he routinely comes up with a five-year development plan. But when a new President takes over, he comes up with his own development plan without it necessarily jibing with that of his predecessor.
All our presidents belong to political parties that are bereft of any social philosophy or ideology. Thus their development programs cannot be anything more than what their family’s (dynasty’s?) socio-economic interests dictate. This is confirmed by the one common thread running through their programs... they are all for maintaining the status quo on socio-economic structures that give them exclusive access to the country’s wealth and power.
If we look at neighbors whose economies have passed us and left us biting their dust, they are all run by parties that consistently pursue a specific line of political and economic development. When a party’s program doesn’t quite hit the spot, they elect not another individual but another party philosophy and program.
On the local level, Cebu City government is a prime example of government by the caprices and whims of elite rulers. The program to make Cebu City Singapore-like is on closer look nothing but the whim of a socially disoriented individual. He happens to be the mayor and so he gets to power his whim through with the help of loyal political appointees that must kiss his ..s to be able to keep their lucrative positions.
He cannot be expected to come up with anything more than a whimsical or capricious idea because he heads a political party that subscribes to no social philosophy and style of governance and is a mere aggrupation of individuals focused solely on winning an office. He thus is able, as he does now, to come up only with a whimsical and capricious approach to the city’s problems.
We will continue to be the economic basket case of Asia for as long as we allow elitist individuals to rule us by their whims and caprices. Self-interest-dictated fantasies do not improve people’s lives. This happens only with a sustained anti-poverty program by an ideology-or-social-philosophy-grounded political party.