Philippines Now Major Source of Skilled Migrates to New Zealand

Six of the seven Filipinos who work on Greg and Kelly Kirkwood's North Otago dairy farm are (from left) Neil Molina, Reis Pe, Eric George, Saldy Barroga, Roel Gonzales and Jeorge Barroga.Photo by Gerard O'Brien. Photo: Otago Daily Times

Filipinos have been migrating to New Zealand for the last 15 years and many New Zealand employers have become aware of their work ethics and skills. Many other countries around the world have been recruiting Filipinos for years because of their skills and their willingness to work in jobs that their local population has been unwilling to undertake. There is an increasing interest from New Zealand employers recently in hiring skilled migrant workers from the Philippines to fill the skills shortage in the local market.

For some years many hundreds of dairy farm workers have been employed by New Zealand farmers if they have been unable to find suitable staff locally. Today the NZ dairy farming industry has become dependent on Filipino workers to provide the labor force to meet their requirements of this rapidly growing industry. Many of the Filipinos coming to NZ have previously been working on commercial dairy farms in the Middle East or Japan, and have settled as residents with their families.

Over 11 million Filipinos work outside the Philippines. They can be found working around the world. Many Middle Eastern countries are dependent on their Filipino guest workers to keep their economies growing, where they work under contract for a certain number of years. Employers have recognized their willingness to work, their cheerful dispositions, and their ability to pick up language and new skills.

Before Filipinos can leave their country to work abroad they must obtain an Overseas Employment Certificate from the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (POEA). Without this they cannot depart though many thousands do illegally out of desperation to find jobs abroad. The reason why the POEA requires this process is to ensure that workers going abroad have a genuine job offer and not subject to scams. The process requires employers to have their employment contracts examined and approved by the POEA, along with other under-takings before the workers they wish to hire will be issues their OECs.

Why have so many Filipinos forced to work abroad, rather than in their own country? The main reason is the lack of job opportunities for Filipinos in the Philippines. Unlike most of the rest of Asia, the Philippines have been unable to attract overseas investment to finance the growth in manufacturing and jobs as elsewhere in Asia. Yet the Philippines are one of the richest countries in Asia, with many natural resources and a talented English-speaking work-force.

Overseas investors have preferred other Asian countries for investment as a result of poor government policies, and less flexible labor laws, a weak and corrupt legal system, poor infrastructure and high electricity costs. (As recently pointed out in an IMF report). Yet in recent years the country has benefited enormously from the remittances from their overseas workers (OFWS) – over $US20 billion is sent back into the country annually providing an inflow of capital to fiancé domestic growth. The No 1 earner of overseas currency is the remittances from OFWs.

In spite of this, nearly a third of the population lives in poverty and wages in the Philippines remain low. While the economy is expected to grow 7% this year driven by a boom in property construction, the population is growing faster than new jobs are being created. As in the nineteenth century, when many migrated from the UK and Ireland to settle around the world, today Filipinos are likewise migrating around the world to seek better opportunities than can be obtained at home. Migration of Filipinos is likely to continue until structural changes are made to the Philippines economy to become competitive to investors with other Asian economies.

As the only New Zealand Company based in the Philippines (for the last five years) supplying skilled migrants to meet the skills shortage in New Zealand, Immigration Placement Services Ltd has helped settle many hundreds of Filipinos successfully in the country. Many of these have now bought their families to New Zealand and have since become permanent residents, contributing to our society. New Zealand is a preferred destination for Filipinos as Immigration policies allow for approved skilled migrants on a work visa to bring their partners and children, something that is not possible for many Filipinos working in many other countries. Many Filipino children grew up not knowing their parents as one or both need to work abroad to provide for their children's education and necessities in live.

Filipinos have integrated into NZ society well. As English is widely spoken throughout the Philippines they have fitted into NZ society much better than other Asian ethic groups, and can now be found from one end of NZ to the other.

Scoop Independent News

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Philippines receives S&P Investment Grade Rating; Beats queuing Indonesia

Standard and Poor Upgraded the Philippine Credit Rating to Investment Grade May 2, 2013

The Philippines overtook Indonesia to win an investment grade today from Standard & Poor's, as President Benigno Aquino outshines Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in improving government finances and spurring growth.

The rating on the Philippines' long-term foreign-currency- denominated debt was raised one level to BBB- from BB+, with a stable outlook, S&P said in a statement today. In contrast, the assessor revised its outlook on Indonesia's BB+ rating to stable from positive.

"The upgrade on the Philippines reflects a strengthening external profile, moderating inflation, and the government's declining reliance on foreign currency debt," S&P said. "In our assessment, the stalling of the reform momentum in Indonesia and a weaker external profile have diminished the potential for an upgrade over the next 12 months," it said separately.

Aquino's drive to transform the nation into one of the region's fastest-growing economies is gaining strength, with the government forecasting record investment pledges this year as companies including Murata Manufacturing Co. expand. In Indonesia, President Yudhoyono has delayed cutting fuel subsidies that have drained government finances even as he tries to allocate more funds to infrastructure spending.

"For the Philippines, this is yet another confirmation that Aquino's reforms have borne fruit which would help in attracting not just short-term flows, but long term direct investments," said Santitarn Sathirathai, a Singapore-based economist at Credit Suisse Group AG. "The rating momentum for Indonesia is moving in the wrong direction."

Capital Inflows

The peso climbed to a three-week high of 41.055 per dollar, reversing earlier losses. It is the biggest gainer in the past 12 months after the Thai baht among 11 Asian currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PCOMP) advanced 0.3 percent before the announcement after surging to a record in April. The Jakarta Composite Index fell 1 percent.

Higher ratings may boost capital inflows into the Philippines and prompt the central bank to add to measures to curb asset-bubble risks. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas last month cut the rate it pays on special deposit accounts for a third time this year, while keeping the rate it pays lenders for overnight deposits at a record-low 3.5 percent.

BSP will remain vigilant against risks associated with greater inflows, Governor Amando Tetangco said today.

Corruption Fight

Aquino has increased state spending and narrowed the budget deficit while seeking more than $17 billion of infrastructure investments to spur growth to as much as 7 percent this year. The Philippine economy, which was more than twice the size of Malaysia and 10 times bigger than Singapore's in 1960, expanded 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Aquino has taken on the Catholic Church with a bill to provide free contraceptives to the poor, arrested his predecessor on graft charges, and ousted the country's top judge for illegally concealing his wealth. Transparency International raised the country's ranking on its annual corruption index last year to 105, higher than Indonesia at 118.

"The investment grade rating is another resounding vote of confidence," Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said. "The government will continue to focus on infrastructure development, on creating a larger fiscal space to support social investments, and on further opening up the economy."

Fitch Ratings was the first to upgrade the Philippines to investment grade in March. Moody's Investors Service rates the nation one step below.

Ratings changes aren't always followed by investors. French bonds and U.S. Treasuries both made gains after the countries were stripped of their AAA credit ratings, in a signal that downgrades may have little bearing on borrowing costs.

Little Bearing

Almost half the time, government bond yields fall when an action suggests they should climb, or they increase even as a change signals a decline, according to 38 years of data compiled by Bloomberg.

Yudhoyono said this week he will only increase fuel prices after Parliament approves compensation programs for the poor, a move that could delay efforts to contain a budget deficit that may be more than twice as much as estimated without subsidy cuts. Failure to reduce subsidies last year drained government finances and led to a record current-account shortfall, hurting the rupiah as foreign investors lost confidence.

S&P said it may raise the country's rating if the fuel reforms are finalized, the state budget is improved, or if structural reforms boost economic growth. The assessment may be lowered if renewed fiscal or external pressures are not met with "timely and adequate policy responses," S&P said.

Bloomberg News

To contact the reporter on this story: Karl Lester M. Yap at kyap5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net

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Thai Univanich Palm Oil expands into Mindanao Philippines

Mill in Mindanao to be first of its kind in North Cotabato

Univanich Palm Oil, one of the country's leading palm-oil producers and its largest exporter of crude palm oil, is expanding into Asean with its first investment in the Philippines.

Univanich will build an oil-palm mill in Carmen, a town in North Cotabato, Mindanao. The US$10-million (Bt290-million) plant will be the first of its kind in the southern province.

"Through this investment, we are delighted, and excited, to bring our more than 40 years of palm-oil-producing expertise to a new, and very promising, Asean market," chairman Apirag Vanich said yesterday.

"Like many other Thai companies we are excited by the Asean opportunity and the approaching single market under the AEC that offers great growth prospects and business benefits," he said, referring to the Asean Economic Community that officially starts in 2015.

As oil palms are a relatively new crop in the southern Philippines, the mill will potentially open opportunities for thousands of farmers and their families in the region.

"Based on our research and dialogue with local partners, we are confident our oil-palm success story in southern Thailand - where we have helped many rural communities grow and prosper - will be replicated in the southern Philippines," he said.

Peace talks

Besides good growing conditions, peace and stability discussions between the Philippine government and insurgent leaders in Mindanao have made the region increasingly attractive for oil-palm investment.

Managing director John Clendon said oil palm was an ideal crop for small-farmer cultivation and the company was joining with Carmen Palm Oil Mill & Development Corp to build this factory. Univanich also hopes to create its own network of oil-palm plantations in the Mindanao region.

"We are very optimistic about our prospects in Mindanao, and since the designation of the factory site, many farmers have asked for more information about how they can convert their farms to grow oil palms," he said.

"To meet this demand, the Univanich Oil Palm Research Centre in Krabi has already exported more than a million high-yielding hybrid oil-palm seeds to Philippine growers in recent years."

The factory is scheduled to be completed by the second quarter of next year. Besides local engineering firms, engineers from Univanich Thailand will assist during the build.

When the mill is up and running, the initial processing target is 30 tonnes of fresh fruit bunches per hour. As the industry develops, this is expected to reach 60 tonnes per hour.

The bulk of the output will be shipped to Asean and European markets from the major southern ports of Davao or General Santos.

The Nation

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