Too much politics, too weak economy

Even during the height of disasters and calamities, the Pinoys talk about politics. The problem with the Philippines is that Filipinos eat politics for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner. I lived in Malaysia, Kuwait, and Taiwan as a labor diplomat for a total of nine years. I witnessed how Malaysians, Kuwaitis, and Taiwanese focused on economic development and left politics to the politicians.

- Atty. Josephus B. Jimenez [e-mail]

Among the ASEAN member states, the Philippines suffer in comparison in terms of per-capita income. Based on official ASEAN figures in 2025, the Philippines is number seven among the eleven member states in terms of nominal per capita income. The highest honor in this category belongs to Singapore whose citizens enjoy a per-capita income of a whopping $92,930 or equivalent to P5,482,870. The second placer is Brunei Darussalam with a nominal per-capita income of $34,970 or P2,063,230.

The third placer is Malaysia with an average nominal per-capita income of $13,140 equal to P775,260. The fourth place belongs to Thailand with an average nominal per capita of $7,770 or P458,430. The fifth place belongs to Indonesia with $5,030 in nominal per capita income. The sixth placer is Vietnam with a nominal per-capita income of $84,810. The seventh placer is no other than our poor country, which used to be number one in the 1960's when Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were virtually unknown to the global community.