I don’t really know if I should say this in this column. Data isn’t overwhelmingly present such that a conclusion may not be warranted. But, even in the paucity of facts, I’m somewhat emotionally affected by what I observed. More than my hurt personal pride, what has touched me apparently carries some national or even transnational angle. So, out of an abundance of caution here is what I want to ask: How poorly does the Philippines compare to Vietnam?
I formulated this question from a break in the COVID-19 coverage of an international cable channel. Shown in that break were the efforts by certain business conglomerates operating in different countries. A scene hit me. An industrial giant in Vietnam named Vinfast, which manufactures cars, was featured to be making ventilators. Vietnam, of all ASEAN countries! In dire contrast, no company coming in the Philippines was cited.
I have to ask that question above because there was a time when the Philippines claimed to have a rousing economy, second only to Japan throughout Asia. At that time, Vietnam, despite its historic past, was still fighting to free itself from French domination. It was then a colony identified as the French Indochina. Let’s not forget that that struggle against the French ended in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954. The years of war destroyed Vietnam physically.
Vietnam’s woes didn’t end with the defeat of the French. That country was divided into north, perceived to be controlled by the communists and the south, under the supposed protection of a superpower called the United States of America. The sight of kilotons of bombs poured daily by Hawaii-based American B-52 bombers on both northern and southern portions of the country is frightening to revisit. Military records tell us that those airplanes were escorted by fighters flying out mainly from the Clark Air Base and secondarily from the Mactan Air Force Base, both in the Philippines. Still, the Vietnamese drove the Americans out in 1975.
So, let’s talk about cars, not to reminisce glory days but to point a glaring comparison. Vinfast was reportedly established only in 2017 in Hanoi. It has just been making cars for a little over two years. Yet, its corporate direction is both nimble and decisive as to respond quickly to COVID-19. It has shifted its gears to fight the pandemic. Whereas, we do remember that there was supposed to be a model, in Asia, of the car manufacturing industry. Named as the Progressive Car Manufacturing Program (PCMP), it was set up in the Philippines in 1973. PCMP, had it not been scuttled for diverse economic reasons, would have been almost half a century ahead of Vinfast.
Economists can rattle off a number of indicators showing the growth of Vietnam seemingly outpacing us. Of course, our own planners have been telling us that prior to COVID-19, we were part of the emerging tigers in Asia. This is why I mentioned above that I am emotionally affected. My Filipino pride is impaled. Why should a country devastated by wars just few decades ago be the home of a conglomerate that puts up a fight against COVID-19? Why not the Philippines or any of our leading industries?