What the Philippines can learn from Sri Lanka?
There is mayhem in Sri Lanka and the whole country is in shambles. Ten days before our president's SONA, our leaders should remember that those who refuse to learn from the important lessons of history are condemned to repeat them. This is a gem of wisdom that can be attributed to Edmund Burke, George Santayana, and Winston Churchill. Well, to paraphrase that adage, if the Philippines closes its eyes to the historic upheavals in Sri Lanka, our nation may yet suffer the same crisis. Heaven forbid, I hasten to interject.
Two days ago, at the Vancouver International Airport in the Sea Island, Richmond, British Columbia, waiting for our plane to Paris, we were discussing what has happened to that tear-shaped country, Sri Lanka. I visited its capital Colombo in transit to New Delhi and Lahore on a lecture tour and I met a lot of interesting Sri Lankan labor leaders, management professionals, and HR practitioners. I am truly sorry for them for this current crisis. Sri Lanka used to be called Ceylon and was once an integral part of India, along with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. Sri Lanka is a small country with an area of only 65,610 square kilometers and a population of only 22.15 million. It is much smaller than Mindanao, which is 97,530 square kilometers in size. We can learn a lot from its current crisis.
The first lesson that we need to learn is that political dynasties can cause too much concentration of political and economic powers, and can lead to abuse of authority, corruption in the administration of public funds all of which can ultimately ruin the peoples' faith in the leaders. The current president of this beleaguered nation is Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Their family dynasty is primarily responsible for the current national crisis. At the height of their political monopoly, four brothers held both the presidency and the office of the prime minister. They controlled the Cabinet posts of defense, finance, and interior among others. They appointed their loyalists and close relatives, which monopolized their control of both power and finances. Thus corruption was relentless and unrestrained.
The second lesson is massive national debts. On April 12, the government disclosed for the first time that the country is defaulting payments on its $51 billion national debt. It is badly in need of a bailout by the International Monetary Fund. Such a devastating revelation sent jitters all over the world and its crumbling financial reputation made it virtually impossible to pay for oil imports as well as food and medicine imports. People are dying while lining up to gas up and buy basic food commodities. Hospitals are running out of medicines. The people have started protesting, and when the police and military authorities tried to disperse them, chaos ensued. Looting and ransacking have caused massive panic and turbulence nationwide.
Third lesson is lack of transparency and open communication with the people. The masses were kept in the dark as politicians were not telling the citizens what was really happening. The leaders hid the true state of the national economy. Thus, the people came outraged and angry upon being informed of the realities on the ground. In the eyes of the world, Sri Lanka is a failed economy. The Sri Lankans abroad have withdrawn their faith in and support for the government. The president had fled his home before it was burned down by the angry mobs. The prime minister has offered to resign provided that a new government is immediately available to take over, otherwise that nation will fall to a military junta or a foreign power that may take advantage of the chaos.
If our country's leaders are not careful, the Philippines is likewise vulnerable, having the same weak points as Sri Lanka. We have too many political dynasties and our national debt is even bigger, a whopping ₱13 trillion and counting. If the Philippine government is not upfront in its communication and information, a growing discontent may trigger a similar crisis. The Philippines is in bad shape.
Ours is a crisis waiting for a trigger to erupt. Heaven forbid, we should pray hard and hope for the best. But, just in case, we should be ready for the worst-case scenario as well. I'm envious of the serenity, stability, and strength of Canada. In Vancouver, two days ago, I worried about our homeland. God bless the Philippines.