Many have speculated the reasons for the Philippines’ failure to rise with its southeast asian neighbours. For one, Jose Rizal, the country’s national hero, blamed its being a tropical country as one of the reasons for the indolence of the Filipino people that led to its stunted growth. He argued that countries with less warm weathers can easily work at any time of the day; Filipinos, even then, struggle to work in the wee hours of the afternoon because of the hateful temperature. We have to admit – the sometimes humid, sometimes skin-cancer triggering temperature does play a large role in our productivity and willingness to work. In a recent…