Competitiveness seminar slated for exporters

CEBU, Philippines - A seminar on improving exporters’ competitiveness in the much stiffer global market will be held today, the Department of Trade and Industry-Cebu Provincial Office (DTI-CPO) announced.

DTI-CPO Director Nelia F. Navarro said that this is part of the government's and private sector’s implementation of the Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP) which was launched to address the need of Filipino exporters for new initiatives on productivity improvement, innovation and competitiveness.

To be held at the Harold’s Hotel, the whole day seminar will also tackle on topics including update on Asean self-certification, introduction to Asean integration, duty drawback , tax credit for exporters, and how to prevent export-trade complaints.

The PECP is composed of a seminar series which aims to address the issues identified by exporters.

Since 2012, the program has been moving, implemented by the Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP) of the DTI, together with the Export Development Council (EDC), the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PhilExport).

“This program is intended to address the current issues and concerns identified by exporters, and likewise promote the exporting business,” said Navarro.

Meanwhile, the PhilExport-Cebu said that aside from the weak global demand for key export products, the increasing minimum wage in the Philippines has continued to give burden to the battered export sector.

In a separate interview, PhilExport-Cebu Executive Director Fred Escalona expressed the industry's strong opposition on any move for an across-the-board wage hike, as this will disrupt the sector's effort in sustaining its grip in the global market.

According to Escalona, any wage increase now will make the Philippines, including Cebu less competitive, especially when the Asean integrates in 2015.

At present,  the Philippines ranks third among countries with the most expensive labor force in the Asean region.

Escalona maintained that if a wage hike is implemented soon, its adverse effects will include more companies to fold up and massive retrenchments and investment loss will be expected.

“The government needs to carefully evaluate the performances of each industry before giving in to any wage hike petition of labor groups. It will be unfair considering that sectors and industries have different performances,” Escalona pointed out.

Escalona added that while economic managers see better prospects for the export industry this year, many exporters are still cynical considering that economic indicators are still lower than market’s expectations.

“Despite the United States’ stabilization and stimulus packages, there are no evident or convincing indicators as yet that came out showing any positive impact on the US jobs and housing numbers,” Escalona said.

Philexport-Cebu still considers the instability in the Middle East, the sharp rise in crude oil prices, the debt crisis in the Eurozone and the strong peso as among other challenges faced by the sector.

Despite the Philippines' 9.8-percent growth to $2 billion net FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows in 2012, the country still trails behind its neighbor countries like Malaysia with $9.2 billion, Indonesia with $19.5 billion and Thailand with $8.6 billion.

Instead of an across-the-board pay hike, the industry group expressed its support to the implementation of the productivity-based wage adjustment as espoused by the two-tier wage adjustment system by the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole).

Philexport also pushed for the approval of the amendments to the Productivity Incentives Act that would help ensure the workers could share the benefits of a profitable business even as they keep their jobs. /JMD (FREEMAN)