From brain drain to brain gain

For the past several decades now, we’ve witnessed the steady exodus of many of our countrymen (and women) bidding the motherland farewell, in search for greener pastures abroad. That trend has been going on for quite some time. In my family alone, I had a number of uncles, aunties, and cousins leaving in droves as early as the late ’70s and early ’80s. Those were the martial law years. I thought, though, that after martial law and the Marcos era, this trend would eventually subside.   But it hasn’t. In fact, it seems that there are more and more people wanting to leave. I recently had a casual chat with my old high school buddy, POEA deputy administrator Hans Cacdac, and he said that on the average, 3,000 Filipinos leave every day for work abroad. That’s more than a million every year! Wow.

View From The Green Side

I must admit I’m one of those people who have left the country to work abroad. However, my case is a bit different. I left not because I had to but because my company offered me a good opportunity (I was promoted to our holding company in Singapore). But unfortunately, a lot of people decide to leave because they feel they don’t have any choice. A lot of them are educated, but they feel they have limited opportunities here. So they go abroad, take on jobs they wouldn’t usually take in the Philippines — simply because it pays better compared to the jobs they have here. And it’s sad because a lot of these people are smart and could very well contribute positively to the growth of the Philippines. But alas, they choose to leave because the grass seems to be greener there.

Personally speaking, while I think Singapore is great — and other first-world countries are awesome — I still prefer it here. Sure, I don’t mind staying in Singapore for a couple of years, but let me tell you, having been on the other side — the so-called “greener side” — my own personal feeling is this: Nothing beats home. The Philippines is still tops, despite all of its imperfections and nuances. As I’ve said in many articles in the past, there are a lot of things going for the Philippines — but we’ve just been too focused on the negative things.

And Others See It, Too

Of course, some of you might say, “Well, Rod, you grew up here so naturally, you’d think the Philippines is great.” True. But you know, it’s not just me seeing it. Other people see it, too. In fact, some foreign companies see it.

I recently met up with a friend, Christine Liwanag, Corporate Affairs and Market Access director of Novartis Philippines. Novartis, as most of you know, is the leading Swiss pharmaceutical and healthcare company and is one of the global leaders in the treatment of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as cancer and infectious diseases. They produce the popular brands Diovan, Voltaren, and Tegretol, among others. During our lunch, Christine mentioned to me that the Philippines was chosen as the regional hub of Novartis here in Southeast Asia. This came as a pleasant surprise to me because for a big company like Novartis, you’d imagine that their regional office would be in Hong Kong or Singapore. But no. They chose the Philippines to set up their South East Asian Cluster (Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). Why? Because they believe in the country … and they believe in Philippine talent.    Christine said the opening of their regional hub here will open more employment opportunities for Filipinos and provide broader regional leadership exposure for the Philippine team. To me, this is fantastic news — a big “pat on the back” for our country. Novartis is not blind. And they are not the type of company to waste money on poor investments. So before they decided to have the Philippines as their regional hub, I’m pretty sure they did a lot of research. And the result of their research was clear: The Philippines is prime to be a regional hub.

What strikes me about the “gung-ho-ness” of Novartis on the Philippines is that they’re going beyond just setting up their regional office here. They are also using the Philippines as a venue for some of their most important global meetings. Recently, they hosted a scientific symposium in Edsa Shangri-La to discuss research and management approaches to combat the growing presence of dengue. Novartis brought into the country a number of the world-renowned dengue experts as well as guests from the media to discuss critical issues facing this disease. The symposium, according to Eric van Oppens, president and CEO of Novartis Healthcare Philippines, aims to promote information exchange between Novartis and various international and Philippine scientific and health institutions, as well as to encourage collaboration among researchers with the shared goal of developing anti-dengue treatments.

And Novartis doesn’t stop there. They also believe in the inherent talent and ingenuity of Filipinos, even in the “heavy” field of biotechnology. From October 26-31, Novartis will fly Filipino biology graduate and medical student student Janill Magano and Filipina molecular biology instructor Kellsye Fabian to the US to join more than 50 students from about 36 countries for the Novartis Biotechnology Leadership Camp (BioCamp) in the Novartis Institute for Biological Research (NIBR) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. BioCamp is a pioneering annual seminar for entrepreneurial, postgraduate students in science or business who are interested in pursuing a career in biotechnology.

I’m no scientist, but it’s clear to me BioCamp will help to develop a culture of science and research in the country and build up the country’s pool of competent and highly skilled scientists and researchers. BioCamp participants learn from industry leaders how to attract investments and start a biotech company; work together, learn and network with students from around the world; and find out about career-enhancing opportunities in biotech and the academe.

I think these initiatives of Novartis are a whiff of fresh air. While we Pinoys whine about the growing number of our countrymen contributing to the “brain drain,” Novartis is busy with “brain train” and “brain gain.” The programs of Novartis and other visionary foreign companies who are investing here are clear proof that not all is bad in the country. The belief that Novartis has in the Philippines — and in the talent of the Filipino — will not only help develop the talent pool we have here in the Philippines but more importantly, will help us retain the more talented Pinoys here in the country.   The great thing about Novartis is that it’s not just paying lip service. It’s putting its money where its mouth is. They believe in the Philippines, and they are showing it through concrete action.

So just like Novartis, let’s start seeing the Philippines in a whole new light. The Philippines is not just home. It’s a dynamic business hub.  It’s really an exciting place, filled with many opportunities. If we all start seeing it that way, I have no doubt that we will be among the top countries in Asia in the next decade.

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Thanks for all your letters, folks! You may e-mail me at rodhnepo@yahoo.com.