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The price of poor governance in the Philippines
Michael Alan Hamlin
This time, the world is horrified. This week's senseless political massacre in the Philippines has placed the government under a harsh light by international media, government, and human rights advocates. Read Brett M. Decker's opinion piece apearing in today's Wall Street Jounral Asia for a measure of the outrage that permeates the national psyche.
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Posted
11/26/2009 2:47:52 PM |
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A new dawn?
Michael Alan Hamlin
When asked to identify the greatest obstacles to growth of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) services, respondents to a new industry survey pointed to human resource constraints. The tight market for qualified knowledge workers (54%), the difficult of retaining knowledge workers (46%), complex training requirements (34%), high wages (30%), and inadequate educational infrastructure threaten future growth.
Despite those hurdles, most respondents (81%) offering KPO services-which include small, medium, and large enterprises delivering a broad range of complex work-agreed that growth prospects are good (37%) or very good (44%). Only six percent of respondents said growth prospects were fair, and none said they were poor. Thirteen percent of respondents said prospects for growth were excellent.
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Posted
11/25/2009 11:37:46 AM |
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A mixed bag
Michael Alan Hamlin
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Filipinos-particularly the young, for some reason-to use social networks to fight corruption during her brief visit to the Philippines last week. Ms. Clinton also said the US government looks unfavorably on governments whose leaders take their personal welfare more seriously than that of their people. Her comments came as the Philippines posted a slightly improved overall corruption rating in the latest Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) scorecard from 39 to 33.
MCC, established during the administration of George W. Bush, funds development projects in developing economies that are considered to be well-governed. Currently, it is headed by Ms. Clinton. Although the Philippines improved its ranking, it still failed to meet the minimum standard set by the MCC for progress in fighting corruption. Foreign Affairs secretary Alberto Romulo said the Philippines fell short because it was reclassified from a Low-Income Country to a Lower Middle-Income Country.
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Posted
11/21/2009 11:46:27 AM |
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"Radyo Patrol" is forty years old
Orly Mercado
“It’s been forty years since we first aired Radyo Patrol” was a reminder broadcast executive Jake Almeda-Lopez scribbled in a greeting card I received some months ago. I remembered the note as I was reading about the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, and the 40th anniversary of the durable children’s television program, “Sesame Street.”
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Posted
11/14/2009 7:39:43 PM |
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Beating up investors
Michael Alan Hamlin
Just days after Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s government issued Executive Order (EO) No. 839 freezing oil prices, the Chinese Embassy’s economic counselor, Wu Zhengping, told mining officials the Philippines must address some key concerns for the industry to attract investment from his country. “The first thing you have to do is improve your investment environment,” he said.
If the administration does improve the investment environment-including easing restrictions on foreign ownership and providing adequate infrastructure-China reportedly is eyeing a long-term strategic relationship with the mining industry, according to Wu. “It’s a win-win arrangement,” he said. But so far, there are no winners. “The Chinese are going global, but I just don’t see any substantial investments here in the Philippines,” the executive vice president of the Chamber of Mines in the Philippines, Nelia Halcon, told AFP.
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Posted
11/11/2009 9:27:57 AM |
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The Kindle works
Michael Alan Hamlin
Teacher and travel writer Scott Allford recently asked in an article posted on Tourism Philippines why international media portray the Philippines in such a dim perspective, when it has attributes that easily rival those of its more popularly branded competitors such as Australia, Malaysia, and even tiny but oil-rich Brunei. As I’ve suggested regularly in recent weeks, there are two reasons the Philippines gets lousy press.
The first is reality. While the Philippines has all the wonderful attractions Mr. Allford describes-world-class business districts, historical attractions including ancient Spanish forts and churches, and stunning beaches and other natural beauty-it is much poorer than its rivals and has consistently failed to make substantial inroads into alleviating poverty and raising per capita income. Media justifiably ask why that is so when so much of the rest of the region has done a significantly better-if not perfect-job raising the standard of living for the majority of their peoples.
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Posted
11/4/2009 3:57:33 PM |
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