Culture and Privilege in Capitalist Asia - Jurusan Antropologi ...

THE MAKING OF THE PHILIPINES’ NEW RICH 285
what was regarded as a national insult as it was an expression of concern about
the treatment of Filipino workers (Pinches n.d.). Much of this outrage crystallised
around a contrast between draconian Singapore and democratic Philippines.
The idea of democracy, dramatically celebrated and reasserted with the
overthrow of the Marcoses in 1986, has thus become a national symbol around
which many Filipinos have come to distinguish and elevate themselves and their
future dragonhood, in relation to their neighbours. Two businessmen I spoke to
expressly claimed that because of the Philippines’ democratic and free enterprise
traditions, Filipino executives had a greater capacity for initiative and flexibility, and
thus had a distinct advantage over their counterparts in countries like Singapore.
This, they believed, would be one of the country’s assets in its push for national
prosperity. 19 According to Gloria Tan-Climaco, one of the new guard of young
corporate chief executive officers:
I do not wish for the Philippines to become just a tiger…[W]e want to be
better. I wish for the Philippines to become an eagle. Lightning-fast,
aggressive, fierce…but also graceful, stately, caring. There is no more time to
lose. For the past twenty years, we have seen our neighbor nations rise…to
overtake us in the development race. We pride ourselves in having a trove of
natural resources, an abundance of skills. Yet, we are left behind, simply
because even now, after the cathartic experience of the People Power
Revolution which freed us from the shackles of authoritarianism, we remain
bound by the chains of selfishness. We must learn to work together, revive
the bayahihan spirit for which we were known in the ancient world, and
carry the burdens of our problems on our collective shoulders.
(1994:30). 20
More than any other group, new-rich entrepreneurs have come to embody and
exemplify the new hope attached to a national identity built around the ideas of
economic development, freedom and democracy. While the rhetoric of
entrepreneurship has been developed in relation to the new rich in general, it has
particularly been focused on the Filipino-Chinese. To the question ‘Who are the
new rich?’, most non-Chinese-Filipinos respond that they are the Chinese. Many
Filipino-Chinese say the same (c.f. See and Chua 1988: vi). Several names in
particular are commonly singled out in discussions of capitalists who have now
joined the ranks of the nation’s corporate billionaires. They are nicknamed the
Taipans. 21 Seizing upon the shift in national fortunes which these men seemed to
embody, President Ramos recruited six of them to form ‘Asia’s Emerging Dragon
Corporation’ to contribute to the government’s Philippines 2000 programme
(Business World 1994:104—33; Gonzaga 1994). 22 While these very rich Filipino-
Chinese capitalists are the best known, there are many others who have
established newly prosperous business enterprises, and who are seen as indicative
of the ethnic Chinese capacity for accumulating wealth through adherence to the
values of diligence and thrift. Indeed, this has long been part of the stereotype of