Europe-PH News

I would like to apologize for having been absent in this space last week. Unavoidable circumstances happen every now and then.

With that out of the way, it, indeed, feels good to be able to have my fingers again on the keyboard and type away my one­centavo's worth of thoughts for you to hopefully enjoy reading.

A lot of activities happened over the period that I missed my last column, one of them being the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) third annual Arangkada Philippines Forum, which was held at the Makati Shangri­-La Hotel.

A quick tidbit about the hotel: It is one of the favorite places of media, especially those who are trying to meet deadlines, because of its free and very fast Wi-Fi. But, please, don't tell anyone. Let us just keep that our little secret.

Going back to the Arangkada Forum, the JFC dubbed this year's event as "More Reforms = More Jobs!" If used an exclamation point and an equal sign in the title. I wonder how this use comes across to those who will read it?

If you are not yet familiar with the JFC, well it counts as its members the American, Australia­New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and Korean chambers, along with the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters Inc.

Now, if you still do not know what I am talking about, think of it this way: Individually, they promote two-way trade between their respective countries or region, as in the case of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Philippines. Oh, and imagine this, too. These foreign chambers count as members thousands of companies that are operating in the country.

As expected, the forum, which was held in the middle of last week virtually faded men and women in power & suits. For those who are old enough to remember think of the men and women in the television series LA Law, and you can visualize what I am describing. One of the rare exceptions during the forum was former President Fidel V. Ramos, who proudly wore a barong Tagalog.

Anyway, with all due respect to American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines­Arangkada Philippines Project Senior Adviser and Legislative Committee Chairman John Forbes—that designation is still a mouthful to say—I am throwing out the window, just this time, the 12­page assessment summary they gave at the end of the forum.

I might be too dumb to analyze and digest all the numbers that were presented during the forum, but some of the words mentioned during the forum that remained with me included "equal opportunity," "inclusive growth," "jobs," "level playing field," "reduce poverty" and "higher income." In one way or another, those Words are interrelated with one another, but I guess they all mean a better quality of life.

As former Finance Secretary Dr. Roberto de Ocampo said during his talk: "High GDP [gross domestic product] does not a society make."

With that thought, I hit the streets of Makati, with it being the premier business district of the country, in my random quest to make sense of what was presented during the forum.

I approached three individuals who I will only identify on a first­ name basis to keep their privacy. I asked them if they have personally felt the impact of what the macroeconomic figures are describing to be a vastly improved Philippines economy.

The first person I approached was Emy. She is an accountant with a 20­-man staff and working in one of the biggest companies in the country. Emy said her life now is much improved as compared to a few years back, believing that she now has increased purchasing power. She also adds that she could now travel outside the country once in a while.

However, she said that her still being single and having no kiddies might also 'factor' the financial freedom she currently enjoys.

Next person I approached was Edward, who has been a taxi driver for the past 11 years. He is not your usual taxi driver as he was once an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in countries like the United States of America, Canada and the Middle East.

From his savings as an OFW, Edward was able to purchase his first taxi. Today, he owns five taxi units, one of which he drives himself.

He said that whatever data the government comes out with, they will just remain numbers with people not feeling or understanding them at all.

Edward said he was an activist during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos, but he now realizes it was his administration that did the most good for the country.

The last person whom I asked was Marlon, who works as a sound technician with a production company. Marlon said he cannot feel the supposed improved Philippines economy as his salary does not increase annually while the prices of basic commodities and utilities continue to rise.

Marlon, who is married with three children, said he is having a hard time balancing his finances because of the constant increase in prices.

So, did I make sense of it all? I really do not know. But maybe I should go to the San Lazaro race track in Cavite one of these weekends, and see if there is a horse named Arangkada in one of the races. That would be a good horse to bet on.

Source:  Business Mirror, 02 March 2014