I attended the Center for Research and Communication’s (CRC) 1967 – 1990 homecoming last February 22, 2025. And it was so great to see friends, batchmates, and the country’s leading economists in one venue!

The highlight of the event, of course was listening to the messages of two of the founders of CRC –  Jesus “Jess” Estanislao and Bernardo “Bernie” Villegas.

They brought up very interesting points for reflection of the economic situation of the Philippines (and the world), which we all could learn a lot from.

Let me share with you some snippets of their messages.

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From Jess Estanislao’s Message to the CRC

(Jess Estanislao is a Filipino economist, and the Secretary of Finance of the Philippines during the time of President Corazon Aquino). 

“But we are, right now in my view… We’re standing at a crossroads. Not only with respect to the Philippines, but also, the entire world. Given the realities of Trump… The old order is being destroyed. And we’re entering into a new world order. And we, ourselves; we have to prepare ourselves for a role in that new world order.

What I’ve been thinking is that, it’s good to think about the past. But try to think in terms of the future. This is a very personal note. I think that with the work of so many of you, we have been able to improve our economy, such that for several years now, we are the fastest growing ASEAN economy. And many Filipinos don’t know that and don’t appreciate that. 

We’ve built strong macroeconomic fundamentals over the past 30 years. And unfortunately, some of these things are being destroyed…”

 

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From Bernie Villegas’s Message to the CRC

(Bernie Villegas is a Filipino economist and writer, and is best known for being one of the framers of the 1987 Philippine Constitution). 

“The first thing is… I hope that this would remind you, these three countries [Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines], of the Asian economic community. A good number of you are very much involved in international economics. Let me make it clear, I am very happy that Trump is restoring moral common sense in the US… And so I’m very glad that he’s the president. 

But we cannot remain silent about the harm he is doing to the world by his MAGA strategy. 

All these tariff wars will end up badly. And even American consumers, Im sure, those of you in America would have to pay higher prices for practically all the daily goods that you buy. 

And that is why my first point to illustrate UNITAS is let us be in the ASEAN one of the bastions of the field of open trade and investment. Let’s not fall into the tariff wars that Trump has started…

And so we are economists, many of us communicate all sorts of important economic ideas. Let’s make sure we don’t fall into the trap of the wrong kind of nationalism.

I’m sure that you still remember Father Joseph de Torre quoting St. Josemaria [Escriva], that patriotism is very different from nationalism. 

Patriotism is loving your country, but at the same time being concerned about the rest of the world. Nationalism is loving your country, and to hell with the other parts of the world. And you know very well that the wrong kind of nationalism, St. Josemaria used to say, nationalism interpreted in that bad way is a vice. It’s a sin.

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Our economy is in a good place, and we have been constantly growing over the past 30 years. But, we need to look forward and find our place in what Estanislao calls “the new world order”. 

We cannot remain silent when facing nationalism that is interpreted as loving only our country, and not caring about anyone else, as what Villegas mentioned.

I graduated from CRC’s Industrial Economics program. But I cannot truthfully claim to be an economist. 

Yet, I appreciate the ideas and the sentiments fo the two founders. We need to move forward as an economy, and we need to do it by loving our country and the rest of the world.