Opening the doors to new investments

Even the critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must admit, although grudgingly, that there has been a major breakthrough in the economic landscape. Foreign investors are now beginning to look again at the Philippines as an investment hub. Have you noticed the various new investments that have recently been launched, with President GMA presiding over the groundbreaking or inaugural rites?

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What opened the doors to new investments began with the entry of American military troops in the "Balikatan" exercises in Basilan and Zamboanga. That was the breakthrough that gave potential investors the courage and encouragement to consider once more investing in the Philippines. And the possible investors include Japanese businessmen who have been quietly dropping by the Philippines, through the invitation and initiative of our more dynamic Philippine diplomats posted abroad, especially in Japan.

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A group of more than 100 Japanese promoters, prospective employers and potential investors from western Japan recently visited the Philippines from March 22-24, 2002. The group was led by Philippine Consul General in Osaka Antonio Villamayor and labor attaché Alan Timbayan.

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The business group, composed of members of Zengeiren, an association of more than  400 Japanese promoters and businessmen from western Japan and other representatives from the business sector, came to the Philippines to scout for potential business partners, confer with their counterpart recruitment agencies, and determine investment options.

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This is the second group of Japanese businessmen accompanied by Consul General Villamayor to the country since he assumed his post on September 27, 2001. The first group, which came on February 8, was composed of 27 participants to visit the Philippines to look into the IT sector, including the availability of skilled IT manpower to be trained and hired in Japan.

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A Filipino policeman, who is working outside the Philippines for one year as part of the PNP contingent to United Nations Mission in Kosovo, his second stint in a United Nations mission, takes pride in saying that the Filipino policemen are among the best in the world.  Some of the Filipino cops occupy high positions in the civilian police agency in Kosovo. There, he noticed, their superiors, most of them Caucasians, are all praises for the members of the Philippine police contingent.

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"There are so many good and honest policemen that are working so hard day and night ever willing to give up their own personal safety just to see the Philippines a more peaceful place to live in.  But they remain in the background. Those who are placed in the forefront, the few bad and rotten eggs, are the ones who continue to tarnish the whole PNP organization," he said.

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The writer explained that the good, honest and dedicated policemen who eventually join the ranks of the rotten eggs and their breed are increasing in number. And they become rotten, he said, because of lack of support, recognition and encouragement from the very people for whom they are willing to give up their lives. Also, they are made rotten by the "few powerful vultures" who continue to reap benefits from the chaos and disorder in the society. "The Philippine society will wake up one day and learn that the breed of good, honest and dedicated policemen has become an endangered, if not extinct specie.

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About a year ago, a credit card company mailed Dr. David Murphy’s renewed card to his Philippine address. It was intercepted in the Philippines and used to run up an enormous bill. Whoever intercepted the credit card also intercepted the statements so that Dr. Murphy did not find out what was going on until he went back to the U.S. He reported the fraud, and his wife notified the Philippine police which, by the way, did not conduct an investigation, although the theft involved almost a million pesos.

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This year, someone intercepted his credit card statement and somehow used it to run up over a hundred thousand pesos in charges before he found out about it. The culprits also intercepted subsequent statements, presumably to keep him from discovering the crime. They even intercepted the form he completed to notify the credit card company of the fraudulent charges. "Obviously, it is a well-organized system of mail theft. Since some of the new charges were made in the same locations as last year, we assume that the same people are involved," he said.

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Dr. Murphy suspects that there is a syndicate involving dishonest post office personnel, those who use the cards, including some Caucasians or possibly store personnel. Strangely, the authorities concerned do not seem interested in breaking it up.

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Despite his sad experience with dishonest and disinterested government employees, Dr. Murphy still believes in a positive future for the Philippines. Why? Because in any organization, from family to business to nation, standards are set by the behavior of the leaders. "This includes standards of performance and ethical and moral standards. It doesn’t happen overnight and the larger the organization, the longer it takes for the standards to extend out to all members," he said. "Everything I read in your newspapers leads me to believe that you now have a competent president who adheres to high standards. If succeeding presidents are equally qualified the crooks in politics, in the bureaucracy and eventually even in the post office will be routed."

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"I don’t think Filipinos give enough consideration to the fact that you were betrayed by Ferdinand Marcos. You were a young country, one of the most economically successful in the region, and your democratic institutions were growing stronger with each successive administration. The Marcos reign did massive damage to your economy and to your institutions. It takes generations to recover from that kind of assault," he added.

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"I read a lot of self-castigation by Filipino writers concerning the quality of your politicians. No doubt some of it is justified but condemnation for a betrayal by a person in a position of trust should fall primarily on the traitor, not on those he betrayed. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saw, ‘Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!’ ", Dr. Murphy stated.

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"Perhaps that applies to the election of your ex-movie-star-president. Even so, the situation does not justify this attitude that it was your fault that you were betrayed and that the continuing effects of the betrayal, such as corruption and graft, are your fault as well. You can learn from the past and look to the future. What’s called for are more articles on the order of ‘Never again!’ or ‘Tama na. Sobra na!’," he concluded.

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Paul Bauer, a Prison Officer with the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services recently came to Manila to visit his fiancé in Catanduanes. While whiling his time away prior to his return to N.S.W., he came upon a copy of The STAR and got the chance to read the "I’ve learned" article published in my column. He was so touched by it that he clipped the article and intends to photocopy it and distribute them to the inmates in the prison where he works. "Thanks for your inspiration. I visit the Philippines about every 6 months to be with my fiancée, a beautiful widow who lives in the pristine Province of Catanduanes in Bicol. We plan to marry next visit planned for September," Bauer said.

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Thoughts For Today:

In the silence of our heart,
listen to the melody of goodness
you have done for others
yesterday, today and tomorrow.
It’s the sweetest lullaby
your heart can ever hold.

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It’s not a single great heroic deed
that defines who you really are.
It’s the little good things you do
day by day that count.

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My e-mail addresses: [email protected] and [email protected]