Bad politics, corruption, and overpopulation pulling our country down

Yesterday, we presented here a comparative analysis of the 10 ASEAN member nations, based on statistics from the World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Index. Our conclusion was that the Philippines's performance was dismal and very sad, compared to Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. We really cannot catch up to Singapore, but what astounds me was that we were almost beaten by Laos.

We were number two in population, but number seven in per capita income. The following will lay down the details of where we failed. Let us accept these with humility and reflect on their far-reaching implications. There is still time to recover but we should start with admission of all our excesses and ineptitude. Let us continue to do a comparison. This time, let us not include Singapore and Brunei which are too tiny and yet too rich. And let us not count Myanmar and Cambodia because they are way down the cellar. Let us just compare the Philippines to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. This small player, Laos, PDR or Peoples' Democratic Republic is a communist country, like Vietnam but it has gradually embraced capitalism under the tutelage of Singapore. Its performance is nothing less than amazing.

In terms of GDP, the rankings are: Malaysia (first), followed by Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines (fourth), then Vietnam and Laos. On the human development index, Malaysia is number one, followed by Thailand, Philippines (third), then Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos. This index includes education, housing, healthcare and social services. In the prosperity index, Malaysia is number 41 in the whole world, Indonesia, 63; Thailand 66; Philippines, 84, (fourth among the six); Vietnam is number 85 and Laos 116. On the quality of roads and highways, Malaysia is number 19 in the whole world, Thailand, number 55; Indonesia, 60; Philippines is 88 (fourth among six) one point higher than Laos, number 85 and Vietnam 103. I'm getting uneasy and embarrassed by our performance, thinking of the billions pocketed by pork barrel congressmen and their cohort contractors.

The security index including crime rates as well as threats of external attacks and internal rebellion, the Philippines is the lowest as number 148 in the whole world, compared to Laos, 60 (the safest); followed by Malaysia, 85th; Vietnam, 94th; Indonesia, 96th; Thailand, 128th. Do we wonder why, even before the pandemic, we could not attract more tourists? We suffer from image problems. In fairness, we are doing well in democracy index (take note, human rights advocates), Malaysia is number 43 in the whole world, Philippines is 54 (second among the four), followed by Indonesia, 64; Thailand, 68; Vietnam, 81; and Laos, 154. In corruption, Malaysia is 53rd worldwide, followed by Indonesia, 87; Vietnam, 100; Thailand, 105; and the Philippines is number 116 (fifth among the six) followed by Laos, 131.

We do well in education though, where Malaysia is an enviable number eight in the whole world, followed by the Philippines, 99 (distant second among the six), then Thailand, 100; Vietnam, 114; Indonesia, 115, and Laos, 153. In terms of healthcare, the top performer is surprisingly Thailand, number 35 in the whole world, followed by Malaysia, 39th; Vietnam, 42nd; Indonesia, 97th; then the Philippines, 101st (number 5 among the six), and the lowest is Laos, 123. On salaries of workers and employees, including executives, the highest are paid by Thailand, followed by Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines (number four among the six), followed by Indonesia and Laos.

In terms of cost of living, the best is Thailand, followed by Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines (fourth), Indonesia and Laos. On ease of doing business, the best is Malaysia, followed by Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines (fifth), and Laos. On internet speed and cost, the best is Malaysia again, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines (fifth again) then Laos. Over-all ratings are first, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines (too slow, too costly), and Laos. Bad politics, corruption and too-high population rate are the culprits. But the ones I blame most are the corrupt and incompetent trapos. They are the ones bringing our nation down.