Filipinos in South Korea

Manila, Cebu Up the List of Preferred BPO location in the World

Manila and the Cebu City again carved their name as among the top preferred outsourcing destinations in the world, ranking third and eighth in the list of emerging business process outsourcing (BPO) sites based on a study by investment advisory firm Tholons.

Manila's ranking improved by a notch from last year, an indication of the improving status of the country in terms of being a preferred BPO site around the world.

"Cebu is now ranked 8th in the Tholons Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations Report for 2013, which is a rank higher than in 2012," said Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) Managing Director Joel Mari Yu.

"This means Cebu City continually displays its great competency in the global outsourcing industry," he said.

Yu added that the improvement is a "big thing" to celebrate in the face of challenges in manpower availability.

Apart from Cebu and Manila, Tholons cited five other cities in the Philippines – Davao, ranked No. 70; Sta. Rosa, Laguna, No. 84; Iloilo City, No. 93; Bacolod City, No. 94; and Baguio City, No. 99.

Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology Inc. (Cedf-it) Executive Director Jun Sa-a said Cebu deserves to be promoted in the 2013 Tholons list as it has proven it could scale and improve the quality of its manpower.

"This is a proof that the Philippines is giving India a serious challenge in this industry," Sa-a said.

Jerry Rapes, chief executive officer of Exist Global, shared the sentiment. He attributed Cebu's improved ranking to the hard work and collective effort of industry players, government and the academe.

"This is a validation that what we are doing is good but we should not just maintain that standing, we should move forward," Rapes said.

Availability and quality of workers were among the criteria in selecting the top outsourcing destinations. CIPC estimates that there are about 95,000 people employed in the BPO industry in Cebu.

It also said that the average of 24,000 college graduates produced every year, complemented by skilled young individuals who want to start their careers in the BPO industry, has helped Cebu strengthen its reputation as a BPO destination.

"The primary roadblock for Cebu to advance higher is the lack of qualified manpower," Yu said.

He admitted that while Cebu City has good infrastructure, demonstrated its capability in almost all IT spectrums, it still falls short in providing the industry with qualified IT/BPO workers.

Yu said that in 2012 alone, about 20,000 to 25,000 jobs were generated by new companies that set up businesses in Cebu.

"Cebu continues to have challenges to face before it can become the top business process outsourcing destination, especially because the competition in many surrounding areas of Asia is fierce. Cebu will have to work to continue to build its reputation as an outsourcing leader to make it to the top," Yu concluded (http://bit.ly/VvLpKI)

Manila Bulletin 

More Business Missions to Investment opportunities in the Philippines

The Philippines is experiencing a record number of inbound business missions. The Board of Investments (BOI) recorded a total of 487 inbound business corporation visits from January to October, 2012 – 147 individual company visits and 34 multi-company delegation missions.

The Department of Trade and Industry expects the visit of more business missions from six countries –

  1. German
  2. Sweden
  3. Italy
  4. England
  5. Turkey
  6. France

The above six countries to explore investment opportunities to help attain the goal of R300 billion investments this year are on top of traditional investment sources such as Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The increase in inbound missions is attributed to transparency and dynamism of the Aquino Administration, and the confidence of foreign investors. The Philippines is among the world's booming markets; international credit ratings agencies upgraded its rating to an investment grade, citing a steady growth pace. There is also renewed interest from the United Kingdom (UK), France, and Canada, and growing interest in non-traditional markets like Russia, Turkey, Middle East (Oman, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi), and Nigeria.

In November 20-23, 2012, the Philippines welcomed, for the first time in 65 years, a big Italian business delegation, the Confederation of Italian Industries, Italy's biggest association of manufacturing and services companies, that met with trade associations here such as the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Italian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, and the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines. The UK Trade and Investment, the body that connects UK firms to the global market, is considering ways to tap the Republic of the Philippines' economy and invest in infrastructure, health care, and transport.

A Philippine business mission to Ankara, Turkey, last year presented to investors the country's growing economy, indicated by unprecedented growth in the stock market, inflow of overseas Filipino workers remittances, steady export growth, 22% increase in BOI approvals, domestic financial sector, efficient revenue collection, and improving global competitiveness ranking. In 2012, there were 18 outbound missions, a number of which were BOI-led, to Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia, and Cambodia, for prospects in electricity generation and transmission, hydropower, tourism, energy, e-vehicle, agro-business, shipbuilding, and investments in economic zones and in Mindanao.

The Manila Bulletin, led by its Chairman of the Board Dr. Emilio T. Yap, President and Publisher Atty. Hermogenes P. Pobre, Executive Vice President Dr. Emilio C. Yap III, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Cris J. Icban Jr., Business Editor Loreto D. Cabañes, Officers and Employees, congratulate the Department of Trade and Industry headed by Secretary Gregory L. Domingo and Board of Investments Managing Head Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr., and wish them all the best and success in their partnership to attract more foreign investors to the Philippines. (http://bit.ly/Xb3LgQ)

Manila Bulletin 

Taiwan tagged “the Philippines” as China’s most bullied country – Japan come to the rescue.

"The China Post" online news paper tagged "the Philippines" as China's heavily bullied country.

The Senkaku island disputes with China and Taiwan is the boiling point which evaporates Japan from the close pot and landed to the Philippine' tropical shore for Military strategic alliance.  

It is not in the eye of Japan to make alliance with the Philippines in connection with the territorial disputes with china as it would only hurts their sweet economic relation that would probably affect Japan's economy, but a destiny which is sit to happen has finally happened.

Japan is closing their factories in china and in a migration exodus with South Korea to move their factories to the Philippines because of the rising labor costs in China.

The rising labor cost in China could not be the only reason but also the island disputes with china in the Ieo do of South Korea's Exclusive economic Zone and Senkaku Island of Japan.

The recent aggressive action of china in claiming the thousand of Kilometers distance - Southeast Asean territories triggered a worry to South Korea as china send a signal to control the Ieo-do (Ieo Island) in the southwestern part of Jeju which was administered by South Korea pushing them to intensity their new Military base in the area to protect their territory.

Japan on the other hand suffered an economic sanction of china for the Senkaku Island disputes reason why Japan jumps to the Philippine for alliances as their mostly protected economic success with china is fading fast as sunset.

When the Philippines is crying for help from the USA during the Scarborough Shoal's Stand-off with china, USA is hesitant to commit with the Philippines's signed MDT. Opposite from what the Philippines is hoping for, a Philippine envoy was sent to the White House to ask for public commitment that the USA will honor the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) but ended up with embarrassment as the USA ignored the Philippines with a word "We will not take side in any sea dispute with other Asian countries".

Japan has lost all the choices than to make alliance with the very weak defense Philippines as one of the most important country which is heavily bullied by china's invasion in its territory. This is the second plan to Japan which seem to be timely and mostly welcome by the Philippines.

"The China Post" online news paper's published article titled "Japanese foreign minister visit shot in the arm for Philippines" also tagged the Philippines as Chinas' heavily bullied country.

The China Post: Seven decades after the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, history has taken an ironic turn as the two former enemy nations pivot their relations on a security alliance under the threat of Chinese expansionism in the East China Sea and the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

This alliance is anchored on the security architecture linking the United States, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam — all onetime enemies, not only in World War II but also up until the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s.

This tectonic shift in defense realignment in the Asia-Pacific region was underlined by the historic visit to the Philippines last week of Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.

The pivotal position of the Philippines in this nascent realignment was highlighted by the fact that Manila was the first Southeast Asian capital Kishida visited in his four-nation Asia-Pacific swing following the election on Dec. 26 of nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Kishida's tour included Singapore, Brunei and Australia.

Like Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam bear the brunt of China's pressure in asserting its claims on territories in the East China Sea and West Philippine Sea, claimed by partners in the emerging alliance. The disputes have caused tensions in the region that have raised fears these could ignite dangerous flash points, leading to war.

Strategic Partner

Kishida's visit underscored the Philippines' role as Japan's strategic partner in the Asia-Pacific region. In a message ahead of his arrival, Kishida cited the importance of Japan's Asian neighbors, particularly the Philippines, in advancing the security between Japan and the United States to counter the rise of China as a military power in the region.

The Philippines and Japan have defense treaties with the United States that are the anchors of its security system in the Asia-Pacific.

Kishida did not disguise the security accent of his tour and Japan's concern over the rising tensions between Tokyo and China over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

"Currently the strategic environment in the region continues to change significantly," Kishida said. "Japan, as a responsible democracy, will play a proactive role in the stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region. I believe that it is important to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance and deepening collaboration with neighboring countries which are developing under freedom, democracy and market economy."

The meetings between Kishida and Philippine officials went beyond platitudes and rhetoric. They agreed, among other things, to enhance the military hardware of the Philippines to resist aggressive actions by China in the strategic waterway where Beijing is locked in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Common Challenges

The Wall Street Journal reported that Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Kishida "discussed the common challenges" that the two countries "face in terms of the apparent assertions of China," as well as the "possibility of sharing their strategies in dealing with these issues."

In concrete terms, Japan has agreed to provide the Philippines with 10 multirole response vessels to assist the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in better patrolling Philippine maritime territories. According to Del Rosario, the patrol boats are expected to arrive in the Philippines in 18 months.

The military procurement from Japan followed an increasing flow of weapons and armaments over the past two years from the United States, Italy and France to beef up the firepower of the PCG — the weakest maritime defense force among the countries with rival claims in the West Philippine Sea.

China's maritime forces have been prowling at will, with impunity, in waters where the Philippines, for instance, claims ownership of islands as part of its exclusive economic zone under international law.

Kishida's visit came as a shot in the arm for the Philippines, the country most bullied by China. In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper last month, Del Rosario said the Philippines would strongly support a rearmed Japan shorn of its pacifist constitution as a counterweight to the growing military assertiveness of China.

Balancing Factors

"We would welcome that very much," Del Rosario said. "We are looking for balancing factors in the region, and Japan could be a significant balancing factor."

The statement upset China, which has accused the United States, Japan and their allies in the emerging realignment of building a ring for the "encirclement" of China.

At the end of Kishida's visit, President Aquino poured fuel on the fire of China's concern with a statement that a stronger Japan would be a counterweight to the "threatening" presence of China in the West Philippines Sea.

At a joint press briefing with Del Rosario, Kishida called for stronger ties with the Philippines to "ensure regional peace," amid tense territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.

"On the political and security front, we agreed on strengthening policy dialogue and enhancing maritime cooperation on other matters," Kishida said.

This was music to the ears of Philippine officials. The president and Kishida also discussed "common challenges" that both the Philippines and Japan face with China's growing assertiveness in the West Philippine Sea.

More important to Filipinos is that the Philippine-Japan entente has gone beyond tough words without teeth. The meetings with Kishida hit hard ground. They talked about Japanese help in improving the PCG's capability — so Philippine naval ships can fire back and sink enemy ships.

"The acquisition of multipurpose vessels is undergoing serious consideration," Del Rosario said.

This is the kind of language that China respects because these are words backed by military hardware.

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Many Economy Army abroad, the OFWs are crying from shame of having their beloved country left without them is heavily bullied. They are crying that the Philippines has lost its dignity for its inability to protect its territory as it is ill-equipped and weakest arm in Asia.  Several nationalistic groups informally formed by OFWs to generate fund for the armament upgrade for the Armed Forces of the Philippines but before it's launching, it ended up a BIG SNUB, from the Chief of Staff of the Philippines, General Jessie Dellosa as it believes to contribute only severe conflict and trouble with china.

The campaign for fund raising for Armament upgrades ended to tears of the loving and nationalistic compatriots abroad as no approval given to them.

My Fellow Citizen, day by day we are facing more and more complication and challenges in our backyards as not only 1 or 2 countries but several neighbors are interested to invade our land in the West Philippine Sea.

This is Prince Dan We, one of the editors of the Rebuilding for the Better Philippines would leave you my word of the day.

"I love the Philippines more than my life; I am willing to die to protect this country from the invaders. Will you join me?" 

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