A new year with new job opportunities!

There is no doubt that the Year 2007 was a good year for the Philippine economy but as usual, it was another ugly year for Philippine politics, culminated by the most stupid coup attempt ever dared by that unfit Senator Antonio Trillanes. The best performer was really the Philippine Peso which coming from a nation that was always given the moniker “Sick Man of Asia” turned out to be the best performing currency in South East Asia.

I’m sure that we can expect a better performance to the peso in this new year 2008. However this would mean that there could be an economic downturn for the US, which translates to bad news for the Filipinos living abroad. If that happens, OFWs will just have to work harder in order to send more dollars back here at home so they could make ends meet. Hopefully the families of our OFWs are well-prepared to cope with a new and looming economic crisis that might affect other countries where Filipinos can be found working.

It is for this reason why we wrote an article last Friday about Entrepreneurship and the OFW because it is high time that the money that OFW earns from working abroad is plowed back to the Philippine economy to generate new medium and small business enterprises, which is actually the backbone not only of the Philippine economy, but the most economies of many first world countries.

The reason why Pinoys work abroad is because we have very little well-paying jobs available in this country. But that was then. Today we have great job opportunities from call centers that pay better than average wages on jobs that often require good English skills. There are also job opportunities that the Tsuneishi Shipyard and the FBM Marine shipyards in Balamban. And did we hear that the reopening of the Atlas Mines in Toledo City needs some 4,500 workers? These are just the few job opportunities available to us in Cebu for the year 2008.

When those job openings are filled up, it can cause a ripple effect in the economy where small time restaurants or carenderias can open up to feed the working class. No doubt, the reopening of the Atlas Mines will be a boon to the City of Toledo because this giant company can now pay its annual taxes to the coffers of the city the way they used to before they closed.

What is of paramount importance to us is to ensure that those industries are always supplied with a well-trained work force. The shipbuilding industry in Balamban is doing very well these days, but it faces stiff competition with China and is experiencing brain drain problems where its well-trained workers often get better paying jobs abroad. But the difference here is that, those jobs are available to the Cebuano now and you don’t have to work in a foreign country away from your family.

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The New Year 2008 is just starting. I would like to support the other Maritime nations who have chastised the United States during a World Trade Organization (WTO) forum over the continued exemption of the US under what a law dubbed the “US Jones Act” from the global rules that all Maritime nations, that includes the Philippines. Don’t forget that Cebu is the headquarters of the local shipping industry. I’m not sure if this law is related to the Jones Law that once tied the Philippines in a one-way trade after we were granted independence by the US in July 4th, 1946.

Whatever it is, the Jones Act affects any Maritime business whether it is shipbuilding or ship servicing or crewing as it stipulates that the transport of cargo between US Ports must be carried out by ships that are US built, registered, owned and crewed largely by US nationals. If you ask me, this is not the objective of the WTO, where there is free trade and commerce that is being promoted in this globalized world. Because of this a Japanese delegation told the WTO General Council that this issue was “A serious deviation from the fundamental principles of global trade.” I fully agree with them!

What does this mean to us? Here in Cebu, cargo ships built in Balamban cannot hope to enter any US port under this law. Even ships made or built in the US but have Filipinos as its crew cannot enter US ports. The European Union (EU) also expressed its objection to this exemption of the Jones Act, saying that it is a huge negative impact for the US. With the US economy down in the doldrums, the US better act swiftly on this issue.

Of course the US delegation to the WTO General Council insist that the Jones Act exemption is an integral part of the global rules and for as long as these rules are not changed, the US continues to enjoy that exemption. This is what we call “Protectionism” which is an anathema to the objectives of WTO. If the US insists on this position, then it can only mean that they don’t really believe in Free Trade!