The Philippines has gone down 40 slots and ranked 117 th out of 185 countries in human development, according to the 2014 report of the United Nations.

The report saddens former President Fidel Ramos, who is the honorary president of the Human Resource Development Network Philippine chapter.

He said this is not really where we belong, in the “kulelat” position, while tiny Pacific island nations like Fiji, Samoa are doing better, and the most disgraceful is that Samoa is better and is ranked No. 60 with only 300,000 people, one half of whom are overseas Filipino workers.

The consolation that Ramos said he wants to share is that the Philippines is two ranks higher than the Peoples Republic of China that has a population of over 1.3 billion.

But the difference is that China is going up while the Philippines is going down, he said at Silliman University in Dumaguete City recently.

He said he considers this a big challenge for the Filipino people to go back where they belong, in a place of respect, and even admiration in the community of nations where we used to be, right after World War II.

Up to about the mid 60s, this position deteriorated after Martial law was declared by people who were greedy, selfish, self-serving. Ramos said it is time to change that kind of culture or system.

He called for teamwork in nation building and to go upward and forward, not to backslide like a zigzag highway, because the country will never get to the top.

Ramos said he is wondering what is meant by the “daang matuwid” of the present administration, stressing that there is only one “daang matuwid”, that is the path of the road that is in the right direction forward and upward for a better future, not the “daang matuwid” which is straight from the top to the bottom.*JG

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