ASEAN integration: Exciting opportunities for Filipino human capital

When the Philippines signed the Bangkok Declaration in 1967, which was the organic document giving birth to the ASEAN, the Philippines was second only to Japan in terms of economic development. Today, some 47 years from the time we jointly founded the ASEAN, it has been reported that our country achieved a phenomenal 7.2% economic growth. Albeit there is a recurring debate whether or not such a commendable economic performance has really trickled down to the poorest of the poor, the fact remains that our membership in the ASEAN is going to bring a lot of opportunities for the Filipino working class. This is especially so with the start of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, about eleven months from now.

The integration of what I call as SMIThPhil (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines), the top five ASEAN nations who, by the way are its founding members, as well as what I call the ViCaMLaB (Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Brunei ) who joined the ASEAN later, will augur well with the Filipinos' superior skills in language, in social skills, in technical savvy and in inherent flexibility and passion. The integration will allow Filipinos to witness unhampered flow of human capital across political and immigration boundaries. Protectionist barriers in documentation and accreditation will be adjusted to facilitate unrestricted work and livelihood in a borderless region of the ASEAN.

The three pillars of the ASEAN INTEGRATION are: Political and Security Alliance, Economic Community, and Socio Cultural Integration. The four-fold goals of the Asean Economic Community are to establish: one,  a single market and production base; two, a competitive economic region; three,  an equitable economic environment and four, the ultimate integration into the global economy. For goal number one, there shall be free flow of goods, service, investments, capital, skilled labor. These shall start with the priority integration areas in agriculture and forestry. For goal number two, the ASEAN shall establish on fair competition, consumer protection, intellectual property rights, taxation in the following areas: Transport, Energy, ICT, and E-Commerce.

For goal number three, there shall be a unified attention to small and medium scale industries. And for goal number four, the ASEAN economic community shall adopt a united and coherent approach to external economic relations. The dragons like China, Japan, and India will have to deal with the ten tigers which are the ten united nations of ASEAN as a community. The ASEAN shall have an enhanced participation in the global supply network. All these will present to the Filipino tremendous job and livelihood opportunities in the following areas: Human resources or human capital management, particularly in consultancy, training and research, in talent acquisition, recruitment, placement, deployment, executive search and headhunting and cross-culture training and development.

The Filipino HR managers have many opportunities in Total Rewards Management, wage and benefits administration in OD, management development, leadership development, employee engagement, employee relations, conflict management and total wellness. Non-HR jobs include events management, journalism, education, tourism, transport, health services, fashion, beauty products, food manufacturing, hotel and restaurants, supply chain, logistics, ICT, electronics, business processing, music, arts and sports. More than any nationality, the Filipinos can excel in the ASEAN arena because they have proven in many countries that they are the most preferred human capital, competent, committed and with a great character.

 The PMAP (People Management Association of the Philippines) of which we are the national president, is passionate in our advocacy for pushing our preparations for the ASEAN INTEGRATION. We have high hopes that the Filipinos will win. We have no doubt about it.