But in reality the Philippines will be in the middle, it is a middle income country..
The reason the people use 'poor' when they talk about the Philippines is because they compare it to the US, Singapore, or Japan. Plus many Filipinos had it beaten into their heads by someone at some point that they are poor. But as we saw Big malls, a jungle of skyscrapers, cell phones in every hand (even farmers in the fields) , expensive cars, traffic jams that never move, and karaoke machines in every street corner, which you cannot see in most other so called poor countries.
The Philippines is a country rich in natural resources. But these resources have not produced enough for the country's economy, and so people have remained poor. The Philippines used to be the richest country in South East Asia and was once called "Tiger Economy"..But due to some political instability and rebellion specially on the southern part of the country. Followed by some biggest political drama in Philippine government history, Martial law, series of coup de tat, people powers, impeachment, which resulted in economic problems and since then its economy dropped.
The Philippine society is very much comparable to any western developed world countries. With its own share of business dedicated cities and industries with technological advancements. It is a contributor to the world economy, culture and politics as much as all other Asian countries. But in a large percentage, some 30percent of the population is living below the poverty line, which projects the impression that the Philippines is poor. Before World War II The Philippines is second only to Japan in manners of development and prosperity. After World War II, the Philippine government is constantly in decline towards national poverty.
The truth behind the difference between Japanese, and Filipinos is that Japanese people bounced back from being defeated and humiliated to become one of the worlds superpower because the mindset of the people are pride of what they do. They want to prove that they can do it without asking from anyone's help. The Filipinos did not bounce back because the mentality is already corroded by the desire to survive. The colonized Filipino have to portray a mask of integration towards its colonizers even way back more than 350 years. That is why the mindset of "taking care of ones own" is a subconscious desire for Filipinos. That is why there will never be a sincere leader nor a sincere follower. Worse some political leaders and public servants looted the government of its resources. And the Filipino people were led to believe that they have suppressed a dictatorship and gain their true democracy. But, uncontrolled, undisciplined freedom, without restrain or boundaries is dangerous. This is no different from surviving from the hands of its colonizers. This characteristic trickles down from the top leaders of the country into the political and religious groups and down to the smallest cell of the Filipino community.
In comparison the founders of America and other Great empires of the world are men of their own races who only wanted to become great in things that they do, not over others. Yes not of all these men are righteous, but they are men of their own ambition and courage, who wanted their nation to become great. They did not need to ask anyone for favors, they did it themselves.
Did you paused for a moment and think?
That if we can live life, even not materially prosperous, but instead we can live a worry free with pride and dignity without having to pull anybody down, and to work hard and think big to push ourselves up. We can work hard but we should not be slaves of greed and unresonable desire of wealth. We have to enjoy hardship and live a simple pleasures of life. If we are hungry, then we should not eat more than we could chew so that we can taste the real flavor of food, then it is more pleasurable than hogging and stuffing ourselves. . We can stop the "padrino" attitude, the "utang na loob", the greed, envy, deceit and crab mentality, which makes us as if we are acting like slaves, then we will not be slaves to anyone, and to be proud to be a Filipino.
