| Photo by Maria Angela Herrera on Unsplash
The venerable jeepney is a relic of World War II. It symbolized Filipino ingenuity at a time when human rickshaws were among its contemporaries. Then, bicycles became the king of the road in China. Even the TukTuk in Bangkok is undergoing modernization. Today, unlike the jeepney, these modes of transport have been left or are about to end up in the dustbin of history.
The motorbike is now so ubiquitous in Metro Manila that it’s developed its own set of rules on the road. I’ve fondly referred to them as ‘bubuyog’ (bees). It would be polite to refer to how motorbikes weave in and out of traffic as rules. The wanton disregard for traffic rules has led to excess traffic accidents, resulting in injury and death.
Tuberculosis remains the leading infectious disease killer in the Philippines. WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2024 shows mixed progress in the global fight against TB, with persistent, significant underfunding remaining the top concern. While the number of TB-related deaths decreased from 1.32 million in 2022 to 1.25 million in 2023, the total number of people falling ill with TB rose slightly to an estimated 10.8 million in 2023.
The disease disproportionately affects people in 30 high-burden countries: India (26%), Indonesia (10%), China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.8%), and Pakistan (6.3%) together account for 56% of the global TB burden. According to the report, 55% of people who developed TB were men, 33% were women, and 12% were children and young adolescents.
These three datasets—the number of jeepneys, motorbikes, and tuberculosis cases—could measure Philippine social development.
As long as jeepneys and motorbikes rule the roads and tuberculosis remains rampant, no sanguine favorable assessment of societal progress is possible. The Philippines was last in Southeast Asia passenger car sales. Vietnam has pulled ahead—the same Vietnam that had a 20-year war with the most powerful military force on the planet—America.
“As long as jeepneys and motorbikes rule the roads and tuberculosis remains rampant, no sanguine favorable assessment of societal progress is possible. The Philippines was last in Southeast Asia passenger car sales. Vietnam has pulled ahead—the same Vietnam that had a 20-year war with the most powerful military force on the planet—America.”
These surrogate metrics – jeepneys, motorbikes, and tuberculosis – are the best tools without a dispassionate interpretation of GDP growth. On the surface, a target annual GDP growth of 6-7% appears impressive until the truly marginalized of society are added to the picture. GDP growth limited to the top percentile of the population is a mirage. GDP growth with infrastructure built with borrowed funds looks more like window dressing. Sadly, winners and losers are determined by right-of-way negotiations and how the roads meander mysteriously close to the landholdings of the most influential.
The current government response to stifling poverty is endless ‘Ayuda.‘ The alphabet soup of ineffectual poverty alleviation grows by each election cycle—4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program—Conditional cash transfer), MAIP (Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients), AKAP (Ayuda sa Kapos Ang Kita Program), and AICS (Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situations), to name a few.
Recently, the Commission of Audit instructed PhilHealth to return Php6.5 M in bonuses for staff in the face of a barely adequate scope of coverage it provides its members—yes, paying members. The callousness is unforgivable. PhilHealth covers hospitalizations only, as in zero outpatient care and outpatient prescription benefits. The Supreme Court recently inhibited the Department of Finance from garnishing the remaining Php30B of Php90B in government subsidies to PhilHealth. Those who argued in front of the Supreme Court failed to consider the return of the Php60B.
A pecuniary estimate of total ‘ayuda‘ is at Php250B, while livelihood assistance is well below that. Livelihood assistance is predominantly in the form of loans that often require collateral, creating a convoluted catch-22 scenario where those needing livelihood cannot begin to accumulate acceptable collateral because they don’t have a livelihood and cannot start a livelihood because they don’t have collateral.
“Ang panaginip ninyo ay panaginip ko, ang pangarap ninyo ay pangarap ko” (Your dreams and aspirations are also my dreams and aspirations) – Inaugural Address by PBBM. To remind only to inspire and not to criticize, to criticize only to offer alternative solutions – this is Thinker’s Thinking.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Crispin Fernandez advocates for overseas Filipinos, public health, transformative political change, and patriotic economics. He is also a community organizer, leader, and freelance writer.
