Phl needs productive investments

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippines should maximize the positive impression of international investment community by sustaining the government’s integrity in its thrust to curb corruption and make the country friendlier for “productive investments.”

Henry J. Schumacher, executive vice president of the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) said that amid the good ratings the country is enjoying right now, “what is missing is ‘productive investments.’”

Schumacher said not many new plants are coming in. “If the Philippines is promoting inclusive growth, it needs companies to invest in the long term, not just investors for the stock market.”

ECCP, together with other foreign chambers in the Philippines, like the American Chamber, as well as Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) are intensifying its campaign called “Integrity  Initiative,” which was started in 2009, in order to sustain the good impression of the global investment community for the Philippines.

According to Schumacher, the President, should make the “inclusive growth” a serious business and corruption reduction a serious business, otherwise, it will lose its opportunity to attract long term and labor-intensive investments.

“What we need to hear in the upcoming SONA of the President is his recommitment to inclusive growth. Job generation is a major factor that the Philippines should take in the next three years,” he said in an interview.

It is very important, he said that the job opportunity will scale down to the grassroots level, and be enjoyed by a “Juan de la Cruz” not just educated Filipinos.

“It’s good and nice to see the robust growth in BPO [Business Process Outsourcing] and KPO [Knowledge Process Outsourcing], but what the country need is manufacturing,” he said.

The German expatriate said that a country like the Philippines cannot survive well without manufacturing.

Job opportunities should be made available to majority of Filipinos, including those do not have good educational background, but have skills.

He emphasized that the Philippines, should strengthen its attractiveness to manufacturing investors around the world.

In a separate interview with National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) assistant regional director Efren Carreon, he said that if Central Visayas for instance will be able to fix concerns like infrastructure, cost of doing business, and other issues that holds off investments in manufacturing related businesses, employment rate is expected to soar.

Carreon said the region should push on attracting manufacturing investments, and that the local government units (LGUs) and the national government should start off their massive plans in fixing infrastructure.

The employment rate in the region from 2009 to 2012 improved from 92.5 percent to 93.5 percent, this is seen to expand further once the manufacturing investments will come in to the region specifically this year. Employment in the region for the last three years had been pulled up by the employment demand from the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and the active construction sector, Carreon said.

The construction sector, fueled by the active real estate industry grew by 21.5 percent in 2012, this growth may double if the manufacturing investments will come in.

Under-employment rate in the region also at 84.8 percent, this means that despite the opportunities of employment, there are still segment of the working community who constantly looking for another job, that would fit their profession and skills. (FREEMAN)