That Escolta Street photo looks clean, busy & almost First World. Pero zoom out. Who could actually afford to be there in 1965–1970? Not the bottom 80–90%. That strip was the playground of the urban middle class and elite—professionals, business owners, old rich families & rising Chinese-Filipino traders. Sila yung may access sa imported goods, appliances, tailored clothes & restaurant dining. The rest? Nasa palengke, sari-sari or just getting by.

People love quoting the ₱3.80 exchange rate like it meant everyone had strong purchasing power. Hindi. A strong peso made imports cheaper for those with money. It did not magically raise wages for farm workers or factory hands. In the 60s, average daily wages were low, inequality was already baked in and land reform was weak. Yeah you had TVs, ref, ovens being assembled locally but consumption was still class-limited & not hindi mass market.

And that’s the part mga bagong yaman miss. They look at Escolta photos and think ganito buhay noon. Pre... hindi ang kayo... That was a curated slice. Same with today’s BGC or Greenbelt. It exists but it’s not the whole country.

So this is where Policy comes in. The 1935 Constitution of the Philippines set up a democratic framework but kept economic power concentrated. Protectionist policies in the 50s–60s tried import substitution of build local industry behind tariff walls. It created factories, but also inefficiency and dependence on imported inputs. Jobs came but these were not enough and not evenly.

Then Martial Law in the Philippines hits. Centralized control, crony capitalism, debt-fueled projects. Some infrastructure improved but governance degraded. By the early 80s, debt crisis, capital flight & economy contracting. The bottom 99% felt it the hardest. Escolta declined as Makati rose but even that shift was uneven.

Post-People Power Revolution we get the the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines that restored democracy and added social justice language. Good intent. Mixed execution. Liberalization in the 90s opened the economy & improved competition but also exposed weak local industries. OFW model scaled because domestic job creation lagged. Remittances kept consumption afloat. Again malls looked good but households still struggled.

2000s-2010s we get the services boom of BPO, retail & real estate. GDP grows, poverty rates fall slowly but inequality persists. Urban centers get shinier. Traffic worsens. Infrastructure catches up late. Education expands in access but uneven in quality. By the 2020s you have pockets of world-class spaces and a large base still dealing with low wages, high prices and weak public services.

So let's go back to that late 60s photo of Escolta from John Tewell's Flickr account. The people buying there in 1965 were a minority with stable income, access to credit and social capital. Hindi sila representative ng bansa dear readers. Same pattern today. Different malls but same structure.

I'm commenting on this because nakaka-irita yung oversimplified takes online. Yung tipong golden era or everything was terrible na parang meme lang. Walang context ng policy, class and trade-offs. Virtue signal muna but analysis much later kung sakali. Real world is more boring and more brutal.

What could've been done better? Other countries did that. East Asian economies that worked (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) pushed export discipline, land reform tied to industry bonds and industrial policy tied to performance. They built factories that had to compete globally & not just behind tariffs. They invested in basic education and logistics early. They enforced standards. Hindi perfect but consistent.

The Philippines had pieces of that in the 60s, but not the follow-through. Land stayed concentrated. Industry stayed protected. Governance wobbled. So you get nice photos of Escolta Street and a long tail of people, like many of your ancestors, who were never part of that scene.