If we only have great companies, we will merely have a prosperous society, not a great one. Economic growth and power are the means, not the definition, of a great nation. — US management thinker and book author Jim Collins
If the Philippine economy can achieve strong economic growth this year in spite of the nonstop scandals by our politicians, what can we do to help sustain it next year and beyond? Another more crucial challenge is how can we help that growth trickle down faster and translate into better quality of life for the masses, the middle class, entrepreneurs and everyone else in our society?
At a recent reception, this writer was seated next to Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president Samie Lim, who was talking excitedly about the Philippines achieving seven-percent economic growth this year. Lim agreed to grant The Philippine STAR an impromptu interview.
PCCI is a non-stock, non-profit organization with 1,200 members, 98 local chambers, 122 industry associations and 30 foreign business councils. Lim’s father is appliance taipan Benito Lim, with Samie heading Automatic Appliances/Blims Furniture and elder brother Wilson Lim heading the Abenson Appliances/Waltermart retail chain. Samie is a cum laude liberal arts graduate of the Ateneo, leader of the Philippine Retailers Association and a pioneer in the Philippine franchising industry. Here are excerpts from the exclusive interview:
What is the true state of the Philippine economy?
SAMIE LIM: Business is generally doing well. The Philippine economy is growing at its fastest rate, and I am optimistic we can sustain high growth.
How come PCCI leaders have often been too subservient to our political leaders, even in the face of the most sordid scandals and alleged illegal acts?
We are a business organization. We support the duly instituted or elected government. We may not like government or the personalities in it, but business functions through the rules set by government, so we have to support the institutions of government. PCCI support for government has been this way throughout its history; it has been this way ever since I joined the PCCI under then-president Aureling Periquet 20 years ago when President Marcos was head of government. That mandate has been set and it has never changed. We at PCCI go beyond personalities in government.
But how come despite their also having business-only mandates, the Makati Business Club and some other groups have in recent years publicly demanded that the President resign due to alleged massive election cheating or other scandals?
We are non-political. Whoever is the President of the Philippines, we have been consistent (in saying) that the only way to make any changes is to work with the government. We cannot assume or take over that authority, because that is not our function and we are not elected by the public.
As president of PCCI, can you please tell our politicians to stop messing around with our holidays in a chaotic manner and stop this mindless penchant for declaring too many holidays, instead of improving economic productivity?
I agree there should be reforms in the way government handles holidays. We shall study that issue for recommendations. I personally do not agree with this present system of last-minute changes in holidays.
Since early this year, you have been very vocal about your advocacy that Philippine society should aim for seven-percent annual economic growth. You seem to be right on target, but why this quite ambitious goal?
We in the PCCI first mentioned this economic growth target of seven percent after I had a strategic meeting with our board and staff. We wanted our nationwide members to focus on how we can grow our economy faster. In my own corporate meetings, we usually set higher targets, so I thought why shouldn’t the Philippine economy also aspire for a higher economic growth target of seven percent? It is also easy to communicate and to remember — seven percent economic growth this year 2007, so that our total gross domestic product or GDP will reach seven trillion pesos! Last year, the Philippine GDP was about P6.5 trillion.
The third-quarter statistics are not yet in, but are we still on track to achieve that record-high economic growth despite our politicos’ nonstop shenanigans?
Yes, I think we’re on track to achieve seven-percent growth this year. When we announced the seven-percent target early this year, most of the people were skeptical. In the first quarter, the Philippine economy grew by 6.9 percent and lots of people said it was only chamba or luck. We at PCCI organized a big forum on the theme — can we sustain it? By the second quarter, the Philippine economy grew by an even faster rate of 7.5 percent, which was the highest economic growth rate ever for the past 20 years! For the third quarter, there is still no announcement yet of the data, but I’m very confident it will be higher than seven percent.
I believe government has failed to address such gut issues as rectifying the serious problems of income disparity and the regional imbalance of growth. Granted, we now have high growth, but when will all these rosy growth statistics trickle down to the masses, who are still poor or seem even poorer?
There’s always a time delay between achieving the macroeconomic and the microeconomic goals. It’s like mass housing: for example, if we announce that we will target 400,000 new low-cost houses, it will not happen in one day but maybe four years at the rate of 100,000 new homes per year. Also, if a person says he will build a house, it might take him about two years from the announcement to his actual moving into that new house.
Can we sustain seven-percent economic growth next year when it seems the US economy might suffer a slowdown, if not a recession?
I am confident the Philippines will continue to grow strongly next year. In the past when the US economy sneezed, the Philippines would catch a cold, but that was before when the US made up 70 percent of our total foreign trade here in the Philippines and when the US had more than 50 percent of world trade. That was how powerful the Americans were before, but the Philippines’ foreign trade is now being shared by China, the US, Europe, Asia and ASEAN. We’re no longer overly dependent on one country, although America is still significant to us.
What can all sectors of Philippine society do to help sustain this momentum of fast economic growth?
The important word is confidence. We should all promote investor confidence in our economy, and we should all unite to achieve our goal of seven-percent growth every year. I have four guiding principles and all with five words each: we should have, first, heart to honor the past; second, mind to visualize the future; third, skill to excel today; and fourth, will to serve always.
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Thanks for your messages. Comments or suggestions are welcome at willsoonflourish@gmail.com or wilson_lee_flores@yahoo.com.