Asian Institute of Management - Policy Center

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Featured Publications Borders, Boundaries and Bridges: The Faces of Migration in the Big Cities

Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project 2007

In Pursuit of the Philippine Competitive Edge
An Oral History of a Continuing Journey by 50 Wisdom-Keepers

other publications

Programs City Competitiveness Program S&T, Infrastructure and Connectivity Program

The AIM Policy Center 10th Anniversary Video

Event Details

Date: December 9, 2008
Time: 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Venue: SGV Hall, 3/F AIM Conference Center Manila, Makati City

Summary

Handog ng Overseas Filipino Forum 2008
“Reintegrating Globally Displaced Workers into the Local Economies”

As the worsening global financial meltdown continues to hit economies all over the world, the Philippines being no exception, a number of our Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been laid off and are coming home jobless. To take the lead in facilitating the reintegration of the globally displaced workers in the local economy, the AIM Policy Center, through its Global Competitiveness Program (GCP), and its partner, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) convened the Handog ng Overseas Filipino Forum 2008 to highlight the prospects offered by the Sunrise Industries-- the Agribusiness, BPO-IT, Eco-tourism, and Mining Industries.

To set the tone of the forum, a Subprime Primer cartoon was presented by Dr. Federico Macaranas, Executive Director of the AIM Policy Center, and Dr. Patricia Lontoc, Forum Moderator and Faculty of the Asian Institute of Management. It was followed by welcome remarks delivered by Mr. Carlo Francis Raymundo, Program Coordinator for the IGRP of AIM Policy Center, which noted that amidst the crisis, we should still harness the benefits of this migration phenomenon.

On a positive note, Assistant Secretary Ma. Teresa Soriano of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) underscored in her keynote address that DOLE has already set in place a contingency plan in anticipation of the possible displacements of workers in overseas employment and commodity/service export sectors of the country. In addition, Dr. Macaranas discussed the impact of the global financial crisis on the real side of the Philippine economy, emphasizing the issues of quality perception in global markets and talent retention as there is indeed a need for re-tooling and retaining policies to sustain the advantages of the country’s human resources.

During the first panel of discussion covering the agribusiness industry, Mr. Danilo Manayaga, President of Secura International Corporation, asserted that the industry is not hit that hard by the global financial crisis. Demand is in fact escalating as the US is requiring more production of Moringa (malunggay) as a source of biodiesel fuel. Looking at this opportunity, the prospect of generating employment for two farm hands per hectare is expected beginning in 2010. Moreover, the BPO-IT industry continues to grow on its own and will be requiring about 300,000-600,000 employees as underpinned by Ms. Gillian Joyce Virata, Executive Director of the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPA/P). Mr. Monchito Ibrahim, Commissioner of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), further said that they are already starting the Next Waves Cities initiatives by placing at least one BPO locator per province as BPA/P and CICT believed that there is an abundance of talent outside metro cities. Meanwhile, Councilor Ponciano Noel Soliman III of Tarlac City recognized the importance of gathering returning OFW profiles as a baseline for preparing development plans and updating their website for continuing connection with their OFWs abroad.

With the second panel including the eco-tourism and mining industry, Former Secretary Michael Defensor of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) stressed that the mining industry is not affected by the crisis as it takes about five to seven years to produce minerals. There is even a significant need to fill 200,000 jobs in direct mining as maintained by Mr. Philip Romualdez, President of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines. Ms. Evelyn Alcaraz- Macayayong, OIC in the Office of Tourism of the Department of Tourism (DoT) emphasized that they have started the Grassroots Entrepreneurial and Employment Tourism (GREET) Program for assisting micro-small medium enterprises in various regions of the country.

Hon. Mayor Reinaldo Bautista, Jr. also brought up the re-opening of Mining Engineering courses in Baguio and other industry initiatives undertaken to support the growth of the mining industry.

A handful of recommendations to boost the Sunrise Industries were raised by the panel and some of these were the following:

Setting up an investment fund of LGUs for OFWs
LGU approval of mining business on technical aspects should be aided by the technical experts (i.e. engineers)
Training of local banks to start lending toward mining projects
Creating investment opportunities for retiring OFWs
Updating the city website for connecting the OFWs to their respective cities for possible new investments Enhancing the curriculum of the education system (mining engineering, IT, etc.).

In summary, Dr. Macaranas underlined the importance of having business intelligence to prepare us for situations like this and equip us with tools to weather the crisis. Efforts being undertaken by the Tarlac and Baguio Cities to strengthen business intelligence should be replicated. Moreover, the Philippines in the global age should place itself as theCenter for Training of the World. It is therefore high time to push forward policies to re-tool and retain our very own overseas workers.

The event was held at the SGV Hall, 3/F of AIM Conference Center Manila on 09 December 2008 and was attended by a cross section of Philippine society with representatives from various national government agencies, local government units, industry movers, chambers of commerce, media, and the academe.