Good but could be better

We all heard the good statistics from P-Noy during his SONA. Just before his SONA I attended a press conference of ATR Kim Eng featuring the well regarded guru of emerging market investments, Mark Mobius. Well, Dr Mobius said our economic figures are good but could be better. Our GDP growth rate this year at five percent is not as good as last year. He thinks we have what it takes and should be growing at the rate China is growing.

Mobius recognized the Philippine market as one of the best performing among emerging markets and that says a lot. The Philippine stock market, he pointed out, has outperformed the emerging market index in recent years. He did say that Philippine stocks are getting expensive but couldn’t say if we are due for a correction soon. He said that the high price/earnings ratio of some issues can be remedied by higher earnings.

Mobius said, contrary to popular perception, the local stock market is now more domestic driven. The extended bull run in the local market is due to our excess liquidity and continued flow of OFW funds, he says. Given our prevailing negative real interest rates (nominal interest less the inflation rate) all that money has an urgent need to go somewhere and it’s going to the equity market for now. When I asked him about all that hot money flow the BSP is still reporting, Mobius said it is now going to fixed income and currency investments.

Mobius sounded like he was bullish on the Philippines but had important caveats too. We are at the middle of range in corporate governance, human development index, and degree of economic freedom compared to our peers in the region. But we are the bottom compared to our regional peers in corruption and ease of doing business. It is difficult for me to accept that Indonesia beats us in those two measures.

All that appears to be a good preface to the SONA delivered by P-Noy a couple of hours after. P-Noy’s emphasis on fighting corruption as the main theme of his administration in the next year appears to be well placed. We can see how Indonesia’s image vastly improved when an apparently effective anti-corruption campaign was pursued by a very credible President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Winning the war against corruption may indeed spur development.

But as the observation on the difficulty of doing business in this country suggests, P-Noy will have to cascade his crusade to the local level if we are to change this dismal perception that’s discouraging more investors. Anyone who wants to start a business in this country, big or small, must run through a corrupt gauntlet of rapacious local officials and their fixers at various city and municipal halls.

Mobius is bullish about commodities… gold, copper, nickel and coal. He thinks these commodities are where the Philippines’ potential is. He thinks it is unfortunate that there were not more big mining companies developing these resources in our country. Such companies would have been favorites of global investors.

In sum, we are not doing too badly but we certainly could do a whole lot better. We are still underperforming our potential, according to Mobius, one of the world’s most authoritative gurus on investing in emerging markets. If we want to really get on the radar screens of the global investors, we have to be more determined in realizing our potentials by clearing the cobwebs of corruption and misguided policies. Easier said than done!

Bertie Lim

Reacting to our column last Wednesday, Tourism Secretary Bertie Lim tried to disabuse my mind that nothing has or is happening in tourism under his watch. He is still working on the country branding together with Trade and Industry Secretary Greg Domingo. The branding will apply to communications programs designed to attract investors as well as tourists. A number of international advertising agencies have been pre-qualified to compete for the contract.

Bertie also explained that it was necessary to do the balikbayan roadshow because they want to attract second and third generation Fil-Ams who are not as committed to coming home for a visit. They also had to respond to fears among the Fil-Am community about how dangerous it is back home. They have been told that daily reports of crime and mayhem on the newscasts from Manila have made many Fil-Ams apprehensive about a vacation here.

Bertie also informed me that he is presenting to P-Noy today the Tourism Master Plan. I got a peek and it seems pretty comprehensive. He declined to give me a copy until he has presented it to P-Noy. If they stick to this plan and Bertie gets the support of fellow cabinet members who have big roles to play under the plan, we just might be able to attract those six million tourists before the end of P-Noy’s term.

Personal social responsibility

I don’t know if the death of Amy Winehouse at the ripe, young age of 27 is giving people a sense of their own mortality but it probably should. Life is indeed short and we may not have all the time in the world to do the good we all have the intention of doing “one of these days”.

When Rosan Cruz tweeted about Winehouse and the Club of 27, I remembered her e-mail and blog a couple of days earlier reminding her friends of her coming ninth birthday on the 27th of July and how we can all forget about giving her a gift and donating instead to her livelihood project in Culion, Palawan. That sounded to me like a morbid “please omit flowers but donate to my favorite charity” suggestion. Thankfully, Rosan is no rock star and is way way past that dangerous age of 27.

It is all about Personal Social Responsibility, she later explained to me. She just thought she could do something worthwhile related to one of her passions, scuba diving. A few days after she posted her blog, a non-Chinoy taipan sent her a significant contribution to get her project rolling.

Here are portions of Rosan’s unusual birthday plans from her blog. I thought it could give ideas for similar creative ways of marking important milestones (like a 50th birthday) that serve a social development purpose.

My birthday is coming up in a few days and this year, I want to do something different. Instead of the usual fanfare celebrating, I’ve decided to help others and give back to the community. Since I am passionate about diving, I’ve decided to help the people of Culion through the “I dive Culion” project that my diver friend Memey is leading together with Father Xavier Alpasa, SJ.

Culion is an island at the northernmost part of Palawan in the Philippines, about an hour away by boat from Coron (Busuanga).  Some of you may remember that Culion used to be a leper colony. In 2006, the World Health Organization declared the island free of the disease.

The “I dive Culion” project is only one of the components of the Isla Culion, Hotel Maya social entrepreneurship program of Fr. Alpasa.  His vision is to make the once shunned leper colony, self-sufficient through ecotourism.

As a diver, I want to help create and make the planned dive facility sustainable and income generating. The target is to open a dive center on the island on Dec. 8, 2011. At present, most of the dive centers are located in Coron.

The first step is to train a local as a divemaster. Memey has identified a local to undergo dive training from open water to divemaster in Coron. The next step is to educate the residents of Culion on how to protect their environment and preserve their reefs so that eventually, it will be an ecotourism area that will give them employment opportunities.

I’ve always believed that life is short, opportunities are few and I have only so much energy. So I’m taking this opportunity and focusing my energy on “I dive Culion” as my personal social responsibility this year. I will for sure see it through the d-day on Dec. 8, 2011.

Let me end by sharing what Martin Luther King Jr. said “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?”

Check out Rosan’s blogsite for more details: http://rosancruz.blogspot.com/2011/07/birthday-wish-help-i-dive-culion.html

The 10 commandments

Reader Artemio Tipon e-mailed this one.

The real reason why  we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courthouse is this -- you cannot post ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’ ‘Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery’ and ‘Thou Shall Not Lie’ in a building full of lawyers, judges and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is [email protected]. He is also on Twitter @boochanco