Left behind in IT - Sketches

To get rich is glorious. That pronouncement from the late Deng Xiaoping set China on a new course, undoing Mao Zedong's communist legacy. Now China is embracing the free market of goods, and I think it's only a matter of time before it opens up to the free market of ideas. When I was there some store clerks were unabashedly, eagerly learning to speak English, repeating every English word I uttered. At the rate they're going, one of these days they're going to speak the international language better than Filipinos.

My friend from southern China now has a business supplying low-end computers in Fujian. He comes here once a year for a vacation, to play mah-jongg and practice speaking English. As long as he doesn't spread anti-government propaganda on the Internet or join the Falungong, one of these days I think he's going to be incredibly rich. Why the obsession with wealth accumulation? The best things in life may be free, but there are fates worse than being rich.

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The Lunar New Year has gotten me into a funk that I can only diagnose as part of mid-life crisis. The Year of the Dragon is supposed to be good for me in all aspects. Does this mean I'm finally going to get rich this year? How can this be when I don't play the lotto or On-line Bingo?

And how can this be when I'm a technophobe and can't jump into the IT money train? Information technology is turning thousands of people my age into dollar multimillionaires. I'm up to my ears in articles on IT, and still I don't know where to start. I tell myself that those who can't, read. Those who can, go into business. When will I understand this business?

The past weeks I've been reading about America Online, e-commerce, Steve Jobs, a 32-year-old Indian who sold his website (capitalization $50,000) for $115 million, the young Asians in the forefront of the region's IT revolution. Asia is about two years behind the United States, where some analysts are already predicting the IT rush to go bust soon. But Asia is catching up.

Where does the Philippines fit in? Trailing behind, as usual. Some say we're five years behind in the IT race, but I think the gap is wider. Only 450,000 of nearly 70 million Pinoys are Internet users. At least I can use a computer for desktop publishing (I was forced to learn after the office recalled all our typewriters). But millions of Filipinos don't even know how to type and have never seen a computer.

The government has a program to provide at least one telephone in every barangay. Maybe it should start drawing up a program to provide at least one computer in every barangay and public school. It can develop a program to promote e-commerce, which eliminates middlemen and thus allows for bigger profit margins. This can be done through cooperatives with supervision from people knowledgeable in IT.

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I was glad to learn yesterday that a Philippine company is finally embarking on a major e-commerce venture. PhilWeb.Com, whose majority owner is former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin with the Cabarrus family owning 25 percent, is reportedly projecting to net more than P2 billion within three years. I don't know how e-commerce will fare among mall-crazy Pinoy urbanites who enjoy testing, touching, fitting and even smelling merchandise before buying, but it's a good start.

Can this administration provide the proper environment for the development of IT? First, the government will have to give priority to the program. Before it can give priority, it must have at least a perfunctory understanding of the need. And there's our problem. We need a techno-savvy person in the communication department, if not in Malacañang.

While waiting for these miracles, Pinoys will have to fend for themselves. There are other ways of getting rich. Just don't count on IT.

BUZZ: As usual, reports of the Dragon Lady's departure from Malacañang were greatly exaggerated. No more tears this time? We still don't know. Presidential Management Staff chief Leonora de Jesus' nemesis, Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora, contents himself with reading The Dragon Lady, the story of China's powerful Empress Dowager. The book sits on his office bookshelf at Malacañang.