Why is the Phl ranked fifth among ASEAN 10

When the Bangkok Declaration was signed in 1967, by the five founding nations (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines), all the peoples in those five countries have looked at our country as the top performing national economy, in fact, second only to Japan in the whole Asia and Pacific rim. Today, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) has assessed the Philippines as having the lowest performance among the five ASEAN original members. Singapore is number one, followed by Malaysia, then Thailand and the fourth is Indonesia. The Philippines is fifth and faces the risk of being dislodged and outranked by Vietnam.

If that happens, our country shall drop from ASEAN section One (SMITHPhil or Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines) to ASEAN Section Two (ViCaMLaB or Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos PDr and Brunei). Thus, we have to work harder and do a double or triple time faster so as not to be left behind as the sick old man of Asia. According to the WEF, Singapore get 5.81 in a scale of 1 being lowest and 7 being the highest. Singapore is number two among 138 countries, number one is Switzerland. The USA is number 3, Japan is 6, Hong Kong is 7, Taiwan 15, south Korea 26, China 28 and India 55. In ASEAN, Singapore is way up there as number one.

A distant second in ASEAN is Malaysia with a rating of 5.16 and is 25th among 138 national economies. Surprisingly, third is Thailand, with 4.64 and 34th among 138. Fourth is Indonesia with 4.52 and is 40th among 138. And, yes, fifth is the Philippines with a rating of 4.36 and 57th in a field of 138. Sixth is Vietnam with 4.31 and ranked 60th among 138. Seventh is Cambodia with 3.98 and ranked 89th among 138. The eighth is Lao PDR with a rating of 3.93 and is 93rd out of 138 national economies. Brunei is not included because it is too rich and too tiny. If it was included, the Philippines might have gotten sixth with Brunei closely following Singapore. Myanmar has not submitted enough data and was excluded by the WEF. And so, what's wrong with us?

We are supposed to be adequately educated. We have so much human capital that are high in knowledge, competencies, skills, and are not lacking in passion and hard work.

Well, the problems that ail us are inefficient government bureaucracy, inadequate infrastructures and corruptions. Our tax systems are regressive. Only the middle class carries the burden of taxation. The very rich evade taxes. The very poor have no income to tax. The tax collectors are corrupt. Power and electricity costs are atrocious. Traffic is horrendous. Crimes and corruptions are rampant. Politicians are inept, corrupt and incompetent. Need we say more?