Why invest in the Philippines?

tainability, economic growth, culture and heritage, and spirituality.

Why invest in the work of the Filipino?

WHEN love is the motivation of work, the work becomes a gift for two people: the intended beneficiary of the service or output, and the loved ones who depend in the income of the work. In this sense, work is both an act of prayer and selflessness.

A few months ago, when I met again the founder and Dharma Master Cheng Yen of the Tzu Chi Buddhist International Foundation, she reminded me that good work needs to have both skills and the heart. In her mission, the master encourages the more fortunate ones to look at success as increasing one’s capacity to offer charity and love. Work as a form of service, and success as a gift to be able to give more. The Catholic saint, Josemaria Escriva, the founder of the Opus Dei, reminds us that “work is a form of prayer” and good work

This year the Tzu Chi Foundation founder and Dharma Master as well as donors and volunteers from 96 countries appointed Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture Group to be the architects, planners, engineers, designers for a hospital, a university, and three schools in Kathmandu, Nepal, after the earthquake that devastated the nation in 2015. We were instructed to design the buildings and structures to generations in a city vulnerable to catastrophic earthquakes.

I wish to share this outlook on work because I believe this is the kind of work ethic that many Filipinos can offer. The motivation of the Filipino is their families and this motivation makes them one of the most hardworking in the world. Filipinos are passionately family-oriented. That is why their work is often driven by both necessity and love.

I believe one of the reasons for the success of the information technology and business process outsourcing industry is the willingness to work on conversation, and the willingness to be trained and to learn.

Another great advantage of the Filipinos is their tri- lingual capability: they can speak English, Filipino, and a hometown dialect. In other schools and universities, students are required to learn Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, or French, among others. There are studies that say that people who know more languages are able to think more critically. And currently the ability to speak both American English and British English is one of the most important economic driver for the knowledge industry.

With this, I believe the Department of Education and the Department of Science of Technology have a bigger role to play in the coming years to spur socio-economic development. But I am slowly seeing an emphasis on research, people training, and good skills training. It is important to note that the technological breakthroughs in South Korea, Japan, China and the US and Europe is the merging of creativity and critical thinking. Our Tesda centers and colleges should encourage creativity and critical thinking application, which I think a handful of schools are doing.

I invite foreign investors to talk to local businessmen about the real business climate in the country today. The political noise as described by some media outlets focuses only on one of the many aspects that this administration is confronting. And I want to writers that speculation and narrow perspectives go a long way in affecting national economic and social development. Interview more credible businessmen regarding their outlook on the Philippine economy.

All I can say is, the Philippines is open for business. Invest in the Filipino people. The country has a young population and strong local consumption, and the amount of work to be done is a promising prospect for investment and development.