Why I’m bullish on the Phils. despite possible US recession

The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true. — US author James Branch Cabell (1879-1958)

 Why are many entrepreneurs bullish about the robust growth prospects for the Philippine economy now and in 2008, despite the international media pointing to a possible US economic recession next year? I could think of 1,001 reasons (including our low interest rates spurring more realty/car sales, more business expansion, plus the stubborn will of our politically controversial yet indefatigable President Gloria M. Arroyo), but allow me to cite only a few here:

• Instead of their past mindless stampede into politics, more showbiz entertainers are becoming wiser about planning their long-term future through entrepreneurship.

Recently, this writer and some friends stumbled upon the new Bellissimo Italian Restaurant in Scout Castor Street, near Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City, where actor Aga Muhlach, who reads the Philippine STAR, approached this writer to introduce the resto’s owner — actor Cesar Montaño and his pretty wife Sunshine Cruz. They were having late-night cocktails with my former Ateneo classmate musical director Eloisa Matias and comedian Bayani Agbayani. The resto has a unique ambience, complete with Italian wines plus red-brick walls decorated with real shotguns and iconic photos from Hollywood gangster movies, as well as old pictures of real-life Mafia dons like Al Capone, Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Perhaps Cesar Montaño’s loss in the Senate race was a real blessing in disguise, otherwise he might not have gone into his own food business.

Also on Morato Avenue and facing the Boy Scouts’ Memorial Circle are two new businesses of showbiz sweethearts Karylle and Dingdong Dantes called Centerstage KTV (which the owners say is the most affordable in the whole area) and the all-night Circle Café (with delicious waffles and an al fresco area with live band music every night).

A few months ago, this writer was also invited to the birthday dinner of GMA-7 actor Dennis Trillo in his new P12-million enterprise, the three-story Barrakz Bar along Morato Avenue in Quezon City. His other partners in this establishment include comedian Allan K, singer Jaya, bold starlets Diana Zubiri and Katrina Halili, Alfred Vargas, Manolo Tanquilut (of the singing group The Opera), talent manager Lito Alejandria and others.

Showbiz stars venturing into business, instead of joining the many clowns and animals in our political circus. Isn’t this great news and also a strong vote of confidence in the future of the Philippine economy?

• More private corporations are joining the bandwagon by publicly listing their shares in the Philippine Stock Exchange, attracting domestic investors as well as foreign hedge funds to seek refuge from the free-falling US dollar. This is a robust good sign of confidence in the Philippines and a positive way to democratize corporate ownership to wider sectors of the society, thus encouraging more savings and long-term investments.

After the successful initial public offerings (IPOs) of GMA Network (making Atty. Felipe Gozon, Menardo Jimenez and the Duavit family into billionaires), iRemit, Anchor Land, Splash and others, the public is eagerly awaiting other future IPOs or secondary offerings like those of Cebu Pacific Air and TKC Steel (its secondary stock offering this week is solid because of plans to build the Philippines’ first integrated steel mill in Iligan City, Mindanao as well as its 50-hectare steel pipe factories in Zhangzhou City of Fujian which will give Philippine stock investors a way to profit from the China boom similar to rising China-linked stocks in Hong Kong and Singapore). Tonight at the Penthouse of Discovery Suites across The Podium in Ortigas Center, Pasig City, TKC Steel chairman Ben Tiu speaks to Anvil Business Club officers, members and guests.

When will government grant more incentives for businesses to go public, to strengthen the solid foundations of free enterprise? Top firms we should encourage to offer IPOs include Zesto (the top-selling juice-maker founded by self-made taipan Ambassador Alfredo Yao, who is also the boss behind the phenomenal success of RC Cola soft drinks and who is reportedly also entering the airline business with news that he is planning to buy Seair), National Bookstore, Mercury Drugstore, Abenson, Bench and others.

• Call centers and BPOs are booming. The expected US economic slowdown will compel big and small American companies to adopt cost-cutting measures. What’s a better, more practical and easier way to slash costs than outsourcing telephone/Internet services, accounting, legal/medical transcriptions, loan collection and other services to lower-cost nations like the English-proficient Philippines which has the distinct advantage of being America’s only former colony on earth?

It is estimated that the Philippines could capture as much as 50 percent of the world’s total English-language call centers business by 2008. International investment consultancy firm McKinsey & Co. predicts that the global demand for total outsourcing services will reach US$180 billion in 2010. When will government and the private sector upgrade English-language proficiency and drastically reform our inefficient education system in all public and private schools from primary to college levels, so that we can sustain this mounting growth in our call center and BPO businesses for the long-term?

• Business leaders are aggressively investing and their companies are literally raking in huge profits. Just look at that fast-growing realty battlefield of southern Tagalog areas of Laguna and Batangas, with Greenfield, Ayala Land, the Yulo family of Canlubang, Cathay Land/South Forbes Golf City, Eton Properties’ plan to develop the sprawling Asia Brewery lands, and now SM’s huge mega-projects in Batangas: all these are rapidly transforming this vast region into the future Makati and Ortigas Center of the Philippines. The government should quickly build affordable mass transit systems there to decongest Metro Manila and boost Philippine economic growth to unprecedented new heights.

This week, the Mindanao-based Alcantara family of Alsons Consolidated Resources, Cebu-born Andrew Gotianun of Filinvest Group, Cebu’s Aboitiz clan, Danding Cojuangco’s San Miguel Corp. and others are bidding at an auction for government shares in top energy firm Philippine National Oil Corporation-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC). Blue-chip Metrobank, Ayala Corp and others are now reporting record profits and expanding. These are just a few examples of bullish sentiments, not even enumerating the new ventures of many others. The country’s top tycoons are investing many more billions into new Philippine businesses now, so why shouldn’t we?

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Who wants to play Santa Claus? Philippine STAR reader Maria Elizabeth P. Andres e-mailed this writer asking for help for her three-year-old son John Jude Michael P. Andres who needs major heart surgery next year for a congenital heart disease called tetrallogy of fallot (his heart has four holes). Her husband is a hotel waiter and the family’s only breadwinner. You can ask how to help by calling the child’s physician, Dr. Jhuliet Balderas, at the Philippine Heart Center. Call 925-2401, local 3643.

Thanks for your messages. Comments or suggestions welcome at willsoonflourish@gmail.com or wlson_lee_flores@yahoo.com.