BAGUIA
The afternoon was alternately sunny and cloudy on the 27th of June when the University of the Philippines Cebu held its 81st commencement exercises.
Manuel Villar, former speaker of the Lower House and former president of the Senate was the honored guest.
At the start of his speech, he spoke of his sadness over the Chinese takeover of parts of our territory in the West Philippine Sea.
I share his sadness, but not his apparent agreement with the thought that the country can only stand by and do nothing in the face of foreign subjugation.
The current dispensation has many instruments of soft balancing, starting with the arbitral ruling in favor of the Philippines to choose from in its dealings with China on the Spratlys.
Why these are not being employed is not beyond us.
The current Malacañang occupant had unilaterally withdrawn the Philippines from the International Criminal Court.
His administration is being consistent. It is both unwilling to recognize international standards of human rights as well as international rulings on territorial integrity.
It would be two-faced if it relied on the soft power of international law to defend our territory while it resisted international conventions on humane treatment of peoples.
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The heart of Villar’s message to our graduates was encouragement for them to be entrepreneurs.
According to Villar, the main reason the Philippines has not substantially progressed is that its educated citizens are content with being employees.
He exhorted the graduates to try, at least once in their lives, to stand on their own as entrepreneurs.
Capital, he said, should not be a problem, because those without capital, in having nothing to lose, are in the best position to be entrepreneurs.
Certainly, we can grant that much still needs to be done in the way of nurturing in our people an entrepreneurial spirit, but it must be noted that not everyone may be an entrepreneur, and that much inequality in our country today is not due necessarily to futile hard work on the part of our people but to greed on the part of entrepreneurs.
The well off in many advanced economies are workers. In countries like Switzerland, hotel receptionists and waiters earn well. In Western Europe, teachers, together with doctors and lawyers, are among the most envied professionals.
Would our entrepreneurs rather keep those at the frontlines of our services sector with meager salaries while passing costs due to higher taxes to consumers instead of raising their pay?
Would our education entrepreneurs and administrators rather leave teachers to engage in sidelines instead of focusing on instruction, research, and outreach?
Lack of entrepreneurs is not the central reason for our slow growth.
Villar should look at to what extent we are bogged down by poor education budget and low pay for good work. These conditions could change if entrepreneurs become more willing to spread their wealth.
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