Despite its growth rate exceeding 6 percent over the past five years, the Philippines may be overlooked by overseas investors, Jose L. Cuisia Jr., the Filipino ambassador to the U.S., told Global Atlanta during an interview in Buckhead on March 11, adding that he would like to have a trade mission from Georgia explore the opportunities for trade with and investment in his country.
“We have a lot of trade with California and Hawaii,” he said. Yet visitors from the East Coast are rarer, he added, somewhat perplexed in view of the opportunities not only in the Philippines but in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a whole.
“Perhaps they are looking at South America and not Asia,” he said of the states on the East Coast. “But they should know that U.S. investment in ASEAN is bigger than U.S. investment in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Korea combined.”
He qualified his statement by saying that Singapore, a member of ASEAN, is the biggest magnet of U.S. investment among its members.
Mr. Cuisia pointed not only to gross national product figures for his country and its population of 100 million Filipinos, but the growth prospects for the nine other countries that are members of the ASEAN economic bloc in addition to the Philippines with an overall population of 625 million.
While trade issues are caught in a rhetorical whirlwind during the U.S. primaries, the ambassador said that his country’s government would very much like to see the Philippines become a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the agreement among the U.S. and Japan and 10 other participants but not the Philippines.
“We need to prepare ourselves for more globalization,” he said justifying his country’s support for what he termed “the higher standards” embodied in the agreement that has drawn so much criticism from U.S. presidential candidates.
At the same time, he admitted being slightly fearful that if the Philippines didn’t become part of the agreement, it would be left behind economically.
As proof of the Philippines’ commitment to increasing foreign direct investment, he cited changes to the country’s constitution allowing foreign banks to entirely own Filipino banks — an incentive to bring in private equity funds that may own banks of their own enabling them to purchase targeted banks.
He also was insistent that the Philippines wanted to do more trade around the world including with the U.S. to which it already exports electrical machinery, knit and woven materials, agricultural goods and an increasing amount of coconut water, which he said has rapidly gained popularity as a sports drink in the U.S.
Meanwhile, the U.S. exports to the Philippines machinery, aircraft and a wide variety of agricultural products including soybean meal and dairy products.
In an effort to raise awareness about investment opportunities in the Philippines, the ambassador stopped by the state’s agricultural department along with Ray Donato, the Philippines’ honorary consul general based in Atlanta, to visit with Commissioner Gary Black.
Mr. Black no doubt learned of the transformation of the former U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay and the Clark Air Base, which have been turned into booming free economic zones attracting investments from Japan, China and elsewhere in Asia as Global Atlanta did.
“You should see how bustling the area is,” Mr. Cuisia said promoting the economic free zone’s deep water natural harbor. The arrival of the South Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Group, almost overnight made the Philippines the fourth largest shipbuilder in the world, trailing only China, Japan and South Korea.
Aside from the ship yard, more than 610 companies are based in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and the sister freeport zone of the nearby Clark Freeport Zone including manufacturing-related businesses, electronic communications and computer industries, warehousing and transshipment, banking, and a vibrant tourism, resort and lodging industry.
Mr. Cuisia pointed to three main reasons for the uptick in the Philippines fortunes these days. While remittances from the U.S. have traditionally been a prime driver of the Philippine economy, they seem to be weakening in recent years.
Instead of a negative, he said this dip has been counterbalanced by increases in remittances from workers in the fast-growing economies of the Middle East and Asia.
Another positive development, he mentioned, is that Filipinos are now finding jobs at home to the extent that some expatriates are even returning home.
He pointed to the growth in business processing outsourcing and the growth of the business process management industry generally, which provides back operations such as call centers to global businesses.
Acknowledging that India may be ahead on the development of “non-voice software,” Filipinos were No. 1 in the voice field and benefited from the growth in the use by health care services of the trained Filipinos nurses who know the terminology and the various medical fields.
“In the past, Filipinos trained to be nurses so that they could go to the U.S.,” Mr. Cuisia said. “Now they are not able to go even though demand continues to be strong in the U.S. because the U.S. embassy wants Americans to take the jobs.”
Citing estimates of FT Confidential Research, a Financial Times research service, he said revenues from this industry could reach as high as $25.5 billion in 2016.
This sector’s rapid growth, especially as a driver of consumer spending, should counterbalance further slowdown in remittances.
Additionally, he cited his government’s “substantial investment” into infrastructure such as the highway linking the Subic and Clark highways, which have attracted some 700,000 workers to the area.
He also praised the quality of the Filipino workforce, which he said have an excellent reputation for their work ethic and willingness to work long hours. He also said that since education has been so expensive overseas and universities have been expanding their campuses abroad, fewer students are leaving to receive graduate degrees.
He didn’t reveal his ace in the hole until the end of the interview, however. By the end of 2016, he said, the median age of the country’s population will be 23 with over 50 percent between 18-45 years old — prime employment years and the foundation for growing purchasing power.
His country’s continued growth also has made it more attractive for developing Sister City relationships, he said, citing a new relationship between Virginia Beach near Norfolk, Va., and Olongapo, near Subic Bay, having fostered student exchanges and relationships between city officials.
For more information about Mr. Cuisia’s visit, contact Ray Donato, the honorary consul general based in Atlanta, at http://philippinesatlanta.org
To reach Ms. Valeriana, president of the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Georgia, call 678-516-1656.
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