A decisive win for GMA is good for business - DEMAND AND SUPPLY

There is no question about it. A decisive win for GMA in the May election will be good for business. With the Supreme Court ruling 13-0 twice to junk Erap's lingering claims to the presidency, a decisive 13-0 win for the People Power Coalition Senate slate should finally erase all doubts about GMA's mandate to lead.

Anything less than 8-5 will be problematic for GMA. That's the margin she needs to win a simple majority in the Senate. That's the number of votes needed to pass a law. Winning at least 11 seats will give the PPC the 2/3 majority needed to pass so-called landmark legislation such as ratification of treaties. That's also what is needed for impeachment.

When GMA first talked about 13-0, I didn't give it much thought. Like many, I dismissed it as so much political daydreaming. But it seems that there are enough people who are ready to close their eyes and by sheer faith vote 13-0, if only to close the Erap chapter of our history and move on. That is definitely heartwarming.

I would also like to vote 13-0 but I hope it wouldn't hurt the people power cause if I voted for just one independent candidate, Orly Mercado. I have known Orly from way way back when I was still in high school and Orly was a working student enrolled in UP's extension division night classes at Padre Faura. We were together in the nationalist movement in Diliman and again at ABS-CBN when I was a reporter in the News Department and Orly was in Radyo Patrol.

In other words, mayroon kaming pinagsamahan. But friendship alone is not enough to make me vote for Orly, given the high stakes of this election. It helps that Orly performed well in his two terms at the Senate and in the two years he was Defense Secretary. I think his decision to ally himself with Erap sucks but I understand the nature of political decisions. What is important is that when push came to shove and he had to choose between country and Erap, he chose country. I think he definitely deserves my vote this May.

Anyway, 12-1 isn't bad. I know that will cut it a little too closely to the 11-2 GMA needs for a super majority. But I also can't see myself voting blindly for one of the PPC candidates. I guess in the end, voting is a matter of conscience. The big picture is I have to support GMA so we can get this country going. So, it is 12-1 for me.

I wouldn't risk voting for Pwersa Ng Masa candidates, specially those closely identified with Erap simply because their victory may be read as a vote for Erap. It is worrisome that surveys indicate they might win five or more seats and that will be disastrous to the economy. Investors, local and foreign, will hold back again as they will fear legislative moves to bring back Erap into power to let him off lightly from the corruption charges.

I'm glad that President GMA has so far shown herself an astute politician, working hard to consolidate her coalition into a working majority. The more I see her each day on television making pronouncements and disposing of matters of state, the more she evokes confidence that she knows what she is doing. That handshake with Manero is the exception and she should banish the adviser who talked her into it. Her initial instinct was not to do it. She shouldn't lightly dismiss her instincts next time.

In any case, there isn't much GMA can do about the economy in the next few weeks until the election results are known. She should even go all out and campaign most of the time for the PPC candidates. Going around the country now will also give her a good idea of public sentiment on a first hand basis.

For me, I really like the number 13. If not for Orly, I would gladly vote 13-0 too. Oh well. Given Orly's independence and sense of patriotism, parang 13-0 na rin.

Economic AIDS

I don't know who said it first. The problem of this country, I read somewhere, is that the people are suffering from an epidemic of AIDS. It is nothing that using a condom can prevent because AIDS stands for acute income deficiency syndrome. Filipinos just don't earn enough.

A press release from the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) also used the AIDS analogy in describing what is wrong with the Philippine economy. A visiting research fellow has presented a study where he sought to find out if our economy is suffering from HIV/AIDS. The context, I think, is in the seemingly incurable malady afflicting our economy through the years that seems to be deeply rooted in our nature, culture and institutions.

Dr. Frank M. Little, the visiting research fellow at the College of Public Affairs of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), traced our problem to the widespread lack of technological competence at the level of the individual firms. Now, that's a new perspective. We have always blamed the government for our inability to develop.

According to the PIDS release, Little noted that the root of this incompetence lies somewhere in the context of environment, deep in the country's institutions or culture. To develop technological competence, Little suggested that individual firms should develop the necessary organizational and technical skills for corporate learning and problem solving. He explained that technological competence is acquired by institutionalizing these skills within the firm's corporate behavior.

But Little stressed that structural change within each sector or firm is only possible if there is a desire to innovate. He must be thinking of traditional vested interest groups that are happy with their rent-seeking activities at the expense of national development. According to Little, competence builds firms; firms build industries and industries build economies.

Hmmm. He has a point there. The private sector has as much responsibility as government in this development task. Incompetence in many areas of endeavor in this country is appalling. We have doctors who don't keep up with technology, managers whose corporate governance are not much better than bureaucrats, entrepreneurs who are happy with the puede na culture instead of world class, etc.

But Dr. Mario Lamberte, president of PIDS, said that changing the attitude of firms alone would not make the local industries more competitive. Lamberte argued that the attitude of firms towards innovation and competence is largely an economic decision.

And this is where government comes in, by making sure there is the kind of policy environment that promotes innovation and competence. I think he means that the status quo must be made so painfully untenable that everyone will want to innovate and upgrade competence. Mediocrity should not be tolerated. It should be penalized heavily.

Stock prayer

The stock market's been so bad lately, Dr. Ernie E reports, someone heard the following prayer on the trading floor.

"Blessed Lord," he murmured with mountain-moving sincerity, "I know You don’t approve of my gambling in stocks, but just this once, Lord, just this once, please let me break even. I need the money so badly."

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is [email protected])