Cebu firms feel pinch of brain drain

CEBU, Philippines - The brain drain phenomenon has likewise taken toll on Cebu companies mainly because local companies cannot compete with the higher salaries offered by companies abroad.

The desire of Filipino employees for greener pasture has left the Philippines with no choice but to continue training and producing skilled workers who can take their place, according to University of Cebu president Augusto Go.

He said in an interview that some of the teachers and marine officers who are part of the university’s faculty staff have been pirated by companies abroad since a few years back.

“(This is mainly because) our salaries are low (compared to companies abroad,)” he told The Freeman.

Go said that the government may not be able to interfere but “we can do something about this” by training more skilled workers, requiring these trained ones to work in the country for a specific period of time, as stipulated in a contract, and then let them go.

In a separate interview, Ramir Bonghanoy, president of the Cebu Gifts, Toys and Housewares Manufactures and Exporters (Cebu-GTH) said his company, Bon-Ace, also had its share of losses, as some of his employees left the company for better prospects abroad.

“But we can’t blame them. Brain drain has indeed slowed down our economy since the intelligent minds and talents that we have invested in, nurtured and developed here are easily lost for simple reason that we can’t compete with other countries when it comes to the earnings that they can get. We’ll just have to train more and more skilled workers,” he said.

Eric Casas from the furniture manufacturing and exporting industry also confirmed that designers and the work force in furniture manufacturing industry have been flying out to the Middle East while Carlos Co, president of Oversea Hardware Co. Inc. said “our company is also a victim but (it’s) minimal and manageable.”

The resignation of 25 pilots of the country’s flag carrier, who left for bigger salaries abroad, is just a specific picture of the negative effect of brain drain to the country’s economy.

Scientists, engineers, doctors, IT specialists, accountants and even teachers are among the English-speaking talent heading to foreign lands, leaving the government and private companies scrambling to find replacements, director-general of the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines said in a report.

"There is a skills hemorrhage. We are losing workers in the highly professional and skilled categories," he said.

The nine million Filipinos who work overseas -- about one tenth of the nation’s population -- in both high and low-skilled sectors play a crucial role in propping up the nation’s spluttering economy.

Last year they sent home US$17.3 billion to relatives or for investment, making up more than 10% of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to government data. (FREEMANSPORTS)