His excellence Jorge Domecq, ambassador par excellence

More on the new Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E Jorge Domecq, of the famous Pedro Domecq wine family who has been in office for barely four months.

Our interview with the affable ambassador was quite pleasant. Just last month, he initiated the First Spanish-Philippine Business Forum, which brought in thirty of Spain’s prominent businessmen to the country to meet up with our local businessmen. The Ambassador said: “The Philippines is a market which is growing enormously and for Spain it has an advantage to become the door for Asia for many Spanish investments to use the Philippines from which to penetrate our market here.” He also conceived the Spanish-Philippine Business Forum, the first ever, “to provide our businessmen with an atmosphere and a legal framework which allows them to work safely and with confidence in what they are doing.” They are working on a framework agreement for development assistance with the Philippine government in the next five years, and most certainly among the sectors included here are health and education.

Spain has emerged as a major economic power, the 8th biggest direct investor in the world, and we hope that what Ambassador Domecq has initiated will result in better trade and commerce between the two countries. What he says about our trade relations is quite true though we have a long history of cultural ties, our economic relations are not as robust. In fact, Spain’s direct investments in the Philippines are quite minimal compared to Japan and the United States. Ambassador Domecq, though, believes one of the greatest potentials here is our export of fish products. He believes our maritime resources are excellent, and since Spain has one of the highest consumption of fish, this would be an area that our Philippine businessmen can explore to the hilt.

One other area that he specifically mentioned is our export of electronic components. This is actually one of our most prolific sectors, and the most profitable in fact. 2011 though does not actually count as a great year for our semiconductors and electronics industry because of two big factors that impacted consumer spending. These are the Middle East political turmoil and the great Japanese tsunami, so the first two quarters of the year were generally flat for the industry, rare for this industry that has been a saving factor of the local economy. But last year, Mr. Ernesto Santiago, president of the Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Inc. said that they hit the highest record in terms of investments generateda whopping US$2.3 billion for 2010. So they’re still bullish for 2011 and forecasting a growth of between eight percent to 12 percent for the third and fourth quarters of this year. Ambassador Domecq has hit the nail on the head on this one and we hope our local businessmen can forge good relations in the semiconductor and electronics industry.

Perhaps seeing first-hand the hotel boom that the country is currently experiencing, Ambassador Domecq is also recognizing the tourist potentials in the country. He promised to “see if he can interest the hotel sector in Spain to invest in the Philippines. These are the big hotel chains that have already put up their hotels elsewhere in Southeast Asia but none in the Philippines.”

Actually, the past and current DOT heads have been tirelessly working on improving our tourism potentials, and though we are still nowhere near our more established neighbors like Thailand and India in this area, our forward momentum has gained much. The infrastructure needs strengthening, but with the Tourism Bill passed last year, and with the private sector taking a more keen interest, sitting in the boards of government agencies, we hope we can finally get our act together. The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events) segment of our tourism efforts, centering on international meetings and conventions which our tourism stalwarts like Bobby Joseph are working hard on shows great potentials. Many hotels are repositioning themselves to take advantage of MICE, and new hotels are in the pipeline, not just in Metro Manila. Quite a few are sprouting in other major island destinations like Cebu, Davao, Cagayan and Bohol. We hope the Spanish hotel chains will test the Philippine waters. Maybe through the efforts of Ambassador Domecq they will.

Bobby Joseph, in one of our interviews last year, said that our outbound traffic remains very strong, counting 10 to 13 million Filipinos traveling. Domestic tourism is very robust, and this can translate easily to international traffic, outbound. The local economy is picking up, no doubt about it, and many Filipinos love to travel. If there is extra money, some of it will surely be spent on travelling.

We asked Ambassador Domecq what destinations he can recommend in his native country. For first-timers to Spain, he says Madrid and Barcelona are must-sees. I have not been to Madrid, but my family certainly enjoyed our short stay in Barcelona. My kids spent their allowances almost entirely on food, scouring Ramblas and the neighboring streets on foot to try all the tapas they could stuff themselves with. My wife and I enjoyed our lazy afternoons in the park, sipping large goblets of Sangria and picking on crispy chipirones while watching the antics of a fantastic mimic who regaled the crowd with his hilarious impressionistic acts, then passing the hat for those who appreciated him. We tried all sorts of paellas every time we dined out with my brother Rey and his family and my in-laws. There was dry and very wet paella, well-done and paella with half-done rice, you name it. But everything served to us was always fantastic. If only for the culinary experience, our Barcelona trip was truly memorable.

This year, we intend to do Madrid, spending about two weeks on the road, courtesy of our friends from Asian Carmakers Corporation (ACC) exclusive country distributors of BMW who will make us use two automobiles specially for the holiday-cum-work that we intend to have next month. I will most certainly share the experience with our readers.

As I was saying, Barcelona and other coastal cities come highly recommended by Ambassador Domecq. In the cold season, he says the Pyrenees are also a must see for skiing. Ditto with Granada. In October, the pilgrimage to El Pilar in Zaragosa is worth watching. There is also the pilgrimage to Santiago in Compostela where everyone travels either on foot or on horseback, or for the less adventurous, in the comfort of their cars. Another pilgrimage worth participating in is the one in El Rocio, southwest of Spain, which takes place every May 1.     

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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