|
|
The America we love, and love to hate
Orly Mercado
The recently released eighteen-nation survey of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and World Public Opinion shows that Filipinos rank high in supporting the United States in world affairs. The Philippine report was done by the Social Weather Station (SWS). I was not particularly surprised by the results. Not even by the fact that most Filipinos are of the opinion that the U.S. should maintain its long-term overseas military presence.
I had seen similar data before. In 1991, when the Philippine Senate was debating the country’s military bases agreement with the U.S., we were often reminded of a similar sentiment. I then joined eleven other senators in voting for the rejection of the treaty. The U.S. subsequently pulled out of Clark Field and Subic bases. Most Filipinos did not agree with us during that historic September 16 vote. But they changed their mind afterwards. They came around to supporting what initially was an unpopular decision.
Continue
reading >>>
|
Posted
6/25/2007 12:05:07 AM |
|
|
|
Cebu's emergence
Michael Alan Hamlin
Is there unity in diversity?
Next Tuesday, senior information and communications technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) executives will meet in Cebu for the Cebu ICT 2007 Conference & Exhibition . Cebu is fast emerging as a strong tier-two location for ICT and BPO investors after Manila. Evidence of this relatively new reality was apparent on a recent trip to Cebu, when I spent some time in the Asia Town IT Park developed by Cebu Holdings, a subsidiary of Ayala Land.
Like IT export processing zones in Manila such as Eastwood , many of the modern office buildings in Makati and Ortigas, and the Northgate Cyberzone in Alabang, Asia Town comes alive in the evening, as thousands of mostly young knowledge workers arrive to begin shifts talking with irate customers and prospects thousands of miles away, primarily in North America.
Continue
reading >>>
|
Posted
6/21/2007 10:32:21 AM |
|
|
|
Another coup leader in the Senate
Orly Mercado
The recent proclamation of the 2003 Oakwood coup leader Antonio Trillanes IV, a former navy lieutenant, as a duly elected senator, has become the subject of some curious if not naďve statements from the military.
Trillanes, who won in the recent Philippine mid-term elections, is still being held in custody as he faces coup d’etat charges. His electoral victory is almost a carbon copy of the previous election of coup leader Gregorio Honasan, whose coup attempts bedeviled the Cory Aquino administration, yet he was subsequently elected senator of the realm. This, even after the last of his seven coup attempts in 1989, practically derailed the country’s economic recovery.
Continue
reading >>>
|
Posted
6/16/2007 11:57:10 AM |
|
|
|
Philippine tourism
Michael Alan Hamlin
Will circumstances change?
Tourism is getting more respect in the Philippines for its role as a driver of economic development, job generation, and value-added services growth. But when compared to most member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines continues to lag its neighbors. Two events, one last week and another coming up this week, had me wondering again what it will take for the Philippines to fully leverage its great potential as a center for tourism.
Last week I spent a couple of days in Hong Kong and one of several Philippine-related conversations I had there had to do with tourism. The top executive I talked with noted, as others have, the rapid emergence of Vietnam as an attractive tourist destination and magnet for foreign investors. He couldn’t figure out why Vietnam was viewed more favorably than the Philippines.
Continue
reading >>>
|
Posted
6/13/2007 10:37:41 AM |
|
|
|
Viral communities
Michael Alan Hamlin
Should be part of your marketing strategy
Most of the presentations and much of the discussion at the recent PR Academy annual brand conference in Singapore centered on non-traditional communication channels. Callum Laing, CEO of MobyElite in Thailand, spoke about his work helping clients develop customer and prospect communities as strategic, interactive marketing communication strategies.
The logic of communities is that they link individuals with similar interests, and research has shown that people generally trust the judgment of other people with similar interests. So when a company’s customers are active in a community that is populated with prospective customers they can serve as positive influencers on prospects, encouraging them to purchase the company’s products. Customers also influence each other, reinforcing confidence in the company’s products or services with the result that they become loyal customers, or better yet, increase the level of their purchases.
Continue
reading >>>
|
Posted
6/6/2007 3:00:52 PM |
|
|
|
Tuberculosis scare
Orly Mercado
In Fabie Street, behind the Paco railroad station in Manila, where I grew up, tuberculosis (TB) was not uncommon. The shanty next to ours was home to a family that was practically wiped out by TB. As a child, I remember running down the alley, holding my breath. The breadwinner of that family was a carpenter. He made coffins, and there was always one, he was working on. It was real scary stuff for a kid.
In the Philippines, the struggle to control TB has had its ups and downs. As an adult, I had shed those childhood fears. We are more experienced and knowledgeable now. This is not to say that there is little concern about new drug resistant strains of TB.
Continue
reading >>>
|
Posted
6/5/2007 12:43:11 AM |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
