Now that Chinese manufacturers have gone ahead and exposed how luxury brands post a 90% markup on top of their products, and offer the public a chance to buy the same products directly from the factory at cost, I’ve been thinking a lot how about the repercussions and I’m listing here some of my thoughts:
High street locations – There are locations around cities where people hunt for these things. They are very posh, very nice areas like BGC or Makati, they attract high end restaurants, have lots of human traffic and charge rent by the millions of pesos. If the top brands are exposed to have less value, the market may think twice, sales may go down, shops will close and the glitter of high street get tarnished. Jobs will surely be affected and the local economy around these as well.
The rich and pretentious – Truly moneyed people will see a 150% markup as a better opportunity to flaunt their wealth. Nothing says you’re rich more than buying a bag everyone knows is now thousands of times more expensive after the tariffs. It’s important though that the brands make a POST TARIFF version of their products to distinguish it from the PRE TARIFF models, which would be cheaper. Brand vloggers and their kind who know these things will make content to make sure everyone knows, making the people who lust after these things even more envious, achieving their goal.
The poor and pretentious – The ones who have had to take out mortgages to buy these will truly suffer. Now, none of their friends and relatives at Sunday church are going to be impressed with their pre tariff bags because they’re considered a scam. You will look like a sucker, and worse they can’t afford the post tariff models. They’re going to have to find new ways to gain the respect they’re trying to buy. It truly sucks to be poor.
The quality conscious – These people will gain the most. The video I reference in this image is of the Chinese manufacturer explaining where they source the leather (Germany, France, Italy), the stainless steel (will never tarnish or rust), the glue, the lining, the stitching, the workmanship is all world class, all top notch. You will be hard put to find a better bag, and it is possibly the best most well made, most high quality bag you may ever own, now available to you at less than a tenth of the cost after its branded.
The timing – Obviously the Chinese government instructed these manufacturers to make these videos, which is the only explanation why so many of them, the makers of Nike, Adidas, Ugg, etc. were published almost at the same time. I’m still wondering about the pros and cons of this to their economy, the manufacturers themselves and the global market as a whole.
I have 2 reasons I feel invigorated about all the schools joining #EDSA39 one by one. First because I was there, and I absolutely feel it was one of the most thrilling, most REAL moments I had ever felt in my life. I was 17 when and I remember walking along Ortigas to VV Soliven and not feeling tired. The elation in the February air was infectuous. News of Generals and whole military divisions breaking ranks and joining the opposition made everybody giddy and excited.
The 2nd reason is just as important. Weaponized social media has done tremendous damage to governments and societies all over the world, one of the most damaging indications of which here is the rise of apologists. Time does enough damage on its own, but fake news and malevolent disinformation has helped it a million times over.
So the fact that schools big and small have decided to take a stand is incredibly refreshing. One of the schools I never thought would join announced they would this morning and I am beyond surprised. I thought they had turned or were at least apathetic. I know for a fact they have something to lose but here they are burning bridges. They have taken a stand and I am shaking my head in amazement.
This to me indicates that weaponizing social media, as evil and effective as it is, is possibly not as powerful as it was especially during the very dark mid 2010 period. I dare not hope, I’ve been burned far too many times. But please, let this be true. And please let the younger people ask why classes were canceled, and hopefully they will look up the reason and learn for themselves why this is important.
This incredibly dramatic almost movie like scene where army soldiers were rescuing pinned down comrades along a narrow street in Marawi was described in great detail in ‘Marawi Siege: Stories from the Front Lines‘, the book i read last January.
Madalas ko marinig yung word na LODI or idol in slang, ginagamit to refer to someone na gusto mong tularan o gayahin. Sa sobrang Dalas nawawalan na to ng bisa kasi kung ano ano na lang ang paggamit. May nabili lang mamahaling gamit o ano man lodi na siya.
I remember thinking paano naman yung mga totoong lodi, yung those truly deserving of being an idol not to just one but to many. Well today brings that thought to mind again because today nawalan tayo ng totoong LODI. Today Albert del Rosario died, and we have lost someone great. A true hero to the nation, a man that should be an example to all Filipinos. A TRUE ACTUAL LODI if there ever was one.
Here’s an excerpt from a 2013 Businessworld article from when he was DFA secretary in 2012:
‘Mr. del Rosario also showed an incredible bravery in protecting the lives of Filipinos abroad. Barely two days of being sworn into office, Mr. del Rosario traveled to Libya to extricate some 400 overseas Filipinos out of the war-torn city and bring them into the Libyan-Tunisian border. He risked his personal life several times thereafter, leading more repatriations of over 24,000 Filipinos in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Egypt. From 2011 to 2015, the DFA had the chance to extend assistance to over 80,000 overseas Filipinos and members of their families.’
Utang na loob, tiyak di lang hindi maibabalita ang kagalingan at pagka Bayani niya bagamat sisiraan pa siya, kasi aligned siya kay Noynoy, and we all know laganap ang fake news lalo na palapit na naman eleksyon. Wala nang Mas pang pelikula ang buhay kesa sa kanya. Yung security guard na bumaril sa magnanakaw nagawan ng pelikula siya pa. He literally saved 24,000 lives.
Kung may kahit katiting na natitira ka pang tiwala sa galing ng Pilipino, at umaasa ka pa na kahit papano may matularan at matutunan pa ang mga kabataan, lalo na kung ano talaga ang ibig sabihin ng LODI, well here’s one right here.
YOU CANNOT GET ANY MORE HEROIC THAN SEC del ROSARIO. Please remember him and tell people about him. In this world of 24/7 Fake and Bad news he is truly the only Real and Good news around.
Surely this man rests in peace! No one has done more to deserve it!
So the fact I had not been writing about the S90 is a give away of how I had been feeling. To be precise, it has been one disaster after another. I won’t mince words when I say the previous guy that tried to do it was a complete waste of time and money. His lone mechanic was working on several projects at the same time. Sure he may had been competent but the fact he could not devote his time to mine just resulted in a half baked effort.
Here’s a video I received this morning. It’s running now, with a ‘full wave’ 12v electrical system. When I asked the mechanic if it was normal now, he said it was ‘perfect’.
But before that, let’s go back with a thorough history.
I remember tanim bala years ago. The press and socmed would be literally screaming everyday on how incompetent PNoy’s admin was over NAIA staff placing bullets into luggage to extort tourists. I also remember the incredible traffic and how complaints would be amplified by the thousandfold, almost like shouting into a microphone so they could share how incompetent they thought PNoy was.
As much as I could empathize I could see however that the problems were clearly local. Tanim Bala was a NAIA problem, and as such should be resolved by NAIA authorities. Edsa traffic was an Edsa problem, not even a nationwide problem, and was therefore up to whoever was managing Edsa or the city as a whole. In fact it was clearly because people were buying so many cars as they had more money.
I read this book over the holidays, and its hard to limit my thoughts about it to a few words. It is an important book every Filipino should read or at least know about some of the stories in it. Such as the highly respected Muslim leader who refused to leave Marawi even as both sides pleaded with him because he was hiding Christians in his house, who would have been beheaded had they been found. The similarities to powerful German families hiding Jews in other books I’ve read are too familiar.
The fam is fresh from a 3 wk vacation from Biliran. ‘Much needed’ is an understatement because the stress from the recent elections was affecting my health. What I thought was a toothache of massive proportions turned out to be teeth grinding, which I googled to be a subconscious stress related ‘coping strategy’. The pain was severe but waned two days in after I completely disconnected from social media and literally just hung around and did nothing.
I had been neglecting my business previous to that and was on auto – mode and had been putting projects in the back burner. I couldn’t concentrate on anything anyway so it wouldn’t have worked had I tried.
In the past few months leading to the elections we saw friendships dissolve, relations stop, and arguments between teachers and students. It wasn’t just about politics. The recent months revealed people’s beliefs re sexuality ‘hindi pwede maging Presidente ang babae’, ability to twist morality ‘matagal na ang bayaran ganyan talaga ang pamamalakad sa Pilipinas!’, and perspectives that make your head spin, ‘bawal ang magnakaw, pero walang nagsabing bawal iboto ang magnanakaw!’
For many years the most important thing that was on people’s minds were celebrities hooking up, Ms Universe, K-Dramas and the NBA Playoffs. Now, finally, people are forced to talk about truly important things.
This is a picture of the enormous Guevara plant in Libertad St. Mandaluyong back in the 70s.
Here, they used to make Radiowealth products, such as steroes, television sets, phonographs, etc.
Here is a picture of a Volkswagen Sakbayan.
The Sakbayan was a local derivative of a Volkswagen Beetle, sharing the engine and chassis but with a different body. It was very popular in the 70s and people my age remember it being used by PLDT as their regular vehicle.
Both products were world class. Dominguez Group of Companies (DMG) was the exclusive importer – distributor and assembler of Volkswagen, selling the popular Beetle and Kombi among others. Starting 1957, they EXPORTED locally assembled Beetles, Kharman Ghias, Micro Buses and Campers VWs. Radiowealth was a nationally popular brand and offered quality products.
Both were founded by Domingo M. Guevara Sr.. Guevent Group started as a small radio store and became a large, world class organization engaged in manufacturing, electronics, communications, agriculture and industrial development, etc.
Enter Marcos
Guevara was one of 7 Constitutional Convention delegates who voted against Martial laws declaration in September 1972. As a result, the Marcos pressured Guevara to give up these businesses, eventually he then fled to the US.
Radiowealth and the VW manufacturing plant closed, and with it the hopes of an industrial economy that would have flourished in a world where Japan and Korea were just starting to get their acts together.
National artist Nick Joaquin wrote about the peak of Guevara’s career in the early ’70s: The first full-fledged auto manufacturer of the Philippines was selling up to 5,000 vehicles a year, was creating the first Philippine-made car, and was manufacturing picture tubes and other electronic components.
He had brought his country’s economy to a crucial threshold: the point of take-off for a NIC, a Newly Industrialized Country.
Then Martial Law was declared and all of Guevara’s plans were thwarted. Before the Marcos takeover backed up by military rule, Guevara had been elected a delegate of the 1971 Constitutional Convention who sought to promulgate programs that would jumpstart the industrialization of the Philippines. Being the man of principle that he was, Guevara was one of seven delegates that voted against the martial law constitution.
Soon after, Marcos representatives were asking the businessman if they could buy into his companies. Domingo Jr., Guevara’s third son, recalls in his father’s biography: I quoted a price to the emissary and asked if his principle could pay it. And the emissary said no, and that no price would be paid. I said: ‘What do you mean?’ And he reported that I should feel flattered that President (Marcos) wanted to ‘invest’ in our company.
When the senior Guevara made it plain that he was not interested in a one-sided partnership with Marcos and his cronies, his firms began experiencing problems with his bankers, and from the Bureaus of Internal Revenue and Customs. What could a businessman do? There was no way of fighting back (under martial law conditions), Guevara recalled in his biography.
Personal Note
My Dad, Geminiano M. Mercado was a VP of DMG. I grew up with memories of many Radiowealth TVs and Stereos (which I thought for years was a foreign brand), and Volkswagens namely the Passat, a couple of Brasilias, a very rare 411 and the one I remember most, a shiny white Type 3 Sedan Beetle variant.
I’ll be honest, I was too young to remember my Dad before his death from cancer in 1986 so I didn’t here any stories firsthand. What I do remember is that one of Guevara’s sons rented an apartment in our old Manaluyong house. And that there was always talk about how much of a powerhouse DMG was considering it was actually manufacturing VWs (VWs!!) for local and foreign consumption. Radiowealth was a household brand. Sony only launched the ‘Trinitron’ tv in 1968. Radiowealth was already making TVs while its tech wasn’t up to par yet it was at least making a popular brand nationwide and an adoption of other tech was foreseeable.
Yes that might sound incredible but it was the 70s and technologies introduced in other countries was just as available here and elsewhere. We were an English speaking educated nation with strong ties to America and Europe so there was no reason why tech abroad would not have been adopted and improved on quickly here.
Being a motorhead I would grow up learning that most famous automakers started with very humble beginnings. Sakichi Toyoda was make spinning machines and looms, Soichiro Honda was making bicycles. After the 2nd World War everyone had to start with a clean slate and the Philippines had just as many reasons as any to get ahead industrially as any other country.
I have no doubt that jeepney manufacturers would have flourished given half a chance as well. Owner type jeeps were a staple vehicle then, being cheap and made of readily available parts. They had just as much tech as the cars at the time. If allowed to grow they would eventually meet better manufacturing standards such as improved ride, better emissions. better economy, better ride and safety. Why not? Because manufacturers in other countries had just as much opportunities as we had, no more no less.
We were not lacking in leaders and big ideas. We unfortunately though had Marcos.
