The best country to invest in

A report now circulating on social media hailed the Philippines as the best country in the world to invest in this year. It quoted an American media company survey as saying that the country is still performing well in foreign direct investment amid the declining FDI inflows to Southeast Asia.

The US News and World Report, in its report titled "2018 Best Countries to Invest In," said the Philippines, in years to come, is expected to receive more investments from economic powerhouses in the region seeking to tap the labor from developing nations.

In the survey, the Philippines bested other industrialized countries and four of its more prosperous neighbors in Southeast Asia: Indonesia (ranked 2nd), Malaysia (4th), Singapore (5th) and Thailand (8th).

According to the report, the rankings are "based on how global perceptions define countries in terms of a number of qualitative characteristics, impressions that have potential to drive trade, travel and investment, and directly affect national economies."

While the country is starting to grab attention from the international community for its sound business environment under the Duterte administration, it's still has a long way to go for it to fully gain the confidence of multinational investors.

Infrastructure woes continue to be the number one concern as the business sector is still making it hard to ship goods in the absence of a modern transport system. As much as the government is striving hard to improve the infrastructure, funding is another problem that makes it hard for it to implement projects immediately.

And then there is the decades-old problem of insurgency. Aside from poor infrastructure, the reason investors are having second thoughts venturing into the countryside -where kidnapping and extortion are common- is that they fear for their safety.

It's really a breath of fresh air seeing the Philippines performing well in investment attractiveness rankings in this time when there is a deluge of international criticism hitting the government's war on drugs. The country needs to sustain its standing if it wants to show to the world that it really means business in the race to attract investors.