“The Philippines could have been another Singapore if the late president Ferdinand Marcos held on to power,” opined Senator Bongbong Marcos. You’ve got to give it to the guy, every son thinks big of his father.
The Philippines as next Singapore sounds convincing if said in the 1950’s when Singapore was a nation in shambles, reeling from the physical and economic ravages of war. Said today, Bongbong would just leave most Filipinos (especially the younger ones) disoriented than enlightened. Singapore is a regional superpower there’s even no point of comparison between it and 1970’s Philippines, Bongbong’s father’s heyday when the Philippines was wallowing in artificial progress under Bagong Lipunan.
But no offense to the good senator, there is really no indication that the Philippines would be like Singapore even if his father ruled longer. If it is any consolation none of the country’s past and present leaders could make us Singapore—not in the last 50 years—not even in the next 50. With the way we handle our nation’s affairs and our past and present leaders’ lackluster performance versus corruption Singapore as an aspiration is way out of our league. We should pick countries our own mettle such as Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia.
We were once “almost there” but corruption got the better of us. The Philippines is a case of riches to rags because of corruption. Those born in the last 2 decades would find it delusional and even smug calling the Philippines “a rich nation” and I can’t blame them. They woke up to poverty where there’s barely any sign that life used to be better.
Luckier (older) Filipinos have lived through our country’s glory days after World War 2 when we were regarded as the second wealthiest nation in Asia, next to Japan. It was only in the 1960’s that we started eating dust as fellow southeast Asian nations sped passed us. And in the Marcos years our economy had further stagnated due to economic mismanagement, political instability, and corruption. These stunted our chances at growth in the Singaporean magnitude.
Economic recovery in the post Marcos years had been modest, but whatever gains made were constantly waylaid by external economic recessions, internal political strife, and of course, lots of corruption. And it’s not to say that the succeeding presidents did a great job at fighting . From the ensuing Aquino, Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo administrations to the great Aquino comeback of today, corruption remains incurable.
Singapore amid all these, had blossomed into the island nation of abundance that we know it today because it is the least corrupt nation in the world according to Transparency International. Our Philippines is at the opposite end of that spectrum and we can’t stress it enough that corruption closes a lot of doors for a country already starving for opportunity. As long as we don't succeed in fighting corruption or prosecuting the corrupt, foreign investors would also skip the Philippines taking progress away with them.
Singapore owes much of its success against corruption and crime to one word-DISCIPLINE. It cracks the whip at the slightest misdemeanors. Singaporeans even call their city, a “fine city” with a host of seemingly normal human activities considered unlawful and violators are slapped with hefty “fines”.
These include smoking (outside designated areas), littering, spitting, not flushing the toilets, unnatural sex and even gum chewing. Note that many Filipinos love to do one or all of the above and there’s no way those acts will be outlawed in our extremely considerate country. We can’t even clamp down on jaywalking, much less graft, tax evasion, plunder, drug smuggling or massacres.
Singapore boasts of its judicial corporal punishment which is consistently and systematically implemented to eliminate basic social ills that weigh down on progress. Singapore may have come under fire for its rigid laws and penalties such as caning and systematic executions of serious criminals are often seen as inhumane but discipline had been responsible in making Singapore the hybrid regime that it is today.
By keeping tabs on discipline, corruption and crime have become an exception than a common occurrence in Singapore which has the highest execution rates in the world (relative to its size). Some 408 people have been put to death in Singapore from 1991 to 2003, according to Amnesty International. This may have instilled fear in the people but it had achieved its end—order, leading to progress.
Our “now-you-see-now-you-don’t” death penalty on the other hand boasts of just one executionee in recent years, Leo Echegaray whose guilt (or innocence) is still being debated upon, probably because our investigations and trials have not been thorough. This brings us to another recipe for a successful country—a formidable justice system that is firm, non-negotiable and incorruptible.
The Philippines is light years away from Singapore where discipline is concerned. And if we as a country could only come close to Singapore as far as discipline, maybe—just maybe—we’d get there.
And absurd as it may seem, let me quote former President Marcos who once said, “Para sa ikauunlad ng bansa, disiplina ang kailangan”.
This one, Marcos got right.
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