THE Philippines is an unusual country with an unusual history.
Located in Asia, the Philippines was “Westernized” long before our neighbors. The United States strongly supported Cuban revolutionaries in their struggle to gain independence from Spain while killing Filipinos who desired the same independence.
But it is not just the Americans who have a history of strange relations with the Philippines. When the Spaniards reached the island of Luzon in 1571, they found Japanese colonies and settlements in Manila and in other parts of the island. In the early 20th century, the area around Davao City was called Ko Nippon Koku, or “Little Japan” in Japanese. Yet, the Japanese showed incredible cruelty when they might have otherwise been accepted by many as liberators during World War II.
But the most unusual thing about the Philippines, in the minds of many commentators, is that the country has been able to thrive and succeed at all.
Last week I wrote in this column: “In the last few years, no matter what the result from the global economic coin toss, it has been, ‘Heads, PHL wins; Tails, PHL still wins.’” Many responses were that it was foolish on my part to be “bullish” or optimistic about the future of this economy. “Look at how badly the Philippines ranks in doing business compared to the rest of the world” one e-mail stated. True, the Philippines gets a lot of bad press. But, interestingly, no one ever talks about the high profitability of Filipino companies.
Most negative analysis about the Philippine economy is based on comparisons with other nations. What I find is that many local Filipino economic bashers are really ignorant of the other nations they compare the Philippines to. The foreign commentators, on the other hand, are ignorant about the way the Philippines functions, and their comparisons are faulty also.
We have been hearing about a “bubble” in Philippine property for years, how prices are going up too high and too fast. I challenge you to find one article or opinion that does not cite rents and sales prices in either Bonifacio Global City or the Central Business District of Makati. That is usually the data used by the foreigners.
Where is the data for Bacolod City or Cagayan de Oro City to support an overbuilding or too high prices bubble? Even in the National Capital Region, the vast majority of housing was built decade ago and as personal wealth grows, so too has the need for modern housing.
One Filipino commentator has been harping on the fact that there is a bubble in shopping malls. He bases some of his analysis on the US, which has seen literally hundreds of these malls fail and close.
Henry Sy went from the “Dumbest man in the Philippines” when he built SM City North Edsa in 1985 to the “Richest Man in the Philippines” with his company’s 50 malls. How can you compare the Philippines with the US? For example, the Philippines has a young and growing population. The US is growing older. The US has virtually run out of cheap, underutilized land, which made the 1960’s mall boom viable.
The new SM City BF Parañaque replaced a bunch of wooden buildings housing auto repair shops, carinderia and junk shops that sat on Sucat Road (Dr. A. Santos Avenue) for decades. That mall is not the sign of a bubble; it is a sign of progress in a growing economy.
If Filipinos had listened to all the detractors during the last 25 years, the Pacific Star Building in Makati City would still be the tallest in the nation and much of the metropolitan areas of the nation would be empty, unproductive space.
We shouldn’t listen to the detractors. Believe your own eyes about the overall positive economic situation. Maybe a line from the recent movie The Interview sums it up best: “They hate us because they ain’t us.”
Send me an e-mail to mangun@gmail.com. Visit my website at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter at @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.
14 comments
“Outside the Box”. Your column title alone Mr. Mangun irritates the pessimists. For many years (or centuries maybe) they kept themselves in a box. Wanting to go out, but their minds won’t allow them to. The worst thing that can happen to a country is when its people will stop believing that good things can happen in a seemingly bad situation their nation are (were) into. I hope and fervently pray that Filipinos will let go of “the box” or just get themselves out of “the box” that they themselves created.
Haters gonna hate, and ain’ters gonna ain’t!
the only problem of the philippines the last 5 years is? an imbecile for a president…. if we did not have that clown there we’d achieved more for sure
you are one innocent dumb citizen 🙂
Yeah! i don’t think he’s innocent though i know he’s totally dumb!
The problem here is stupid ignorant people like you. If it ain’t for PNoy we’d still have Enrile, Jinggoy and Revilla as senators and Arroyo as President/Congresswoman. Instead they are now in jail. I think you should read more local news so you’d know what you’re talking about the next time you post.
buwahaha Pnoy and kotong Purisima, Alcala, Ochoa?
You are a gullible FOOL!
Binay is that you?, Show yourself, I can’t see in the dark
illegal siphoning govt money outside the Phil [large amount deposits in their accounts abroad, buying properties e.g.,mansions, etc ] is bad for our economy and HE never did it because of breeding … BULAG as ka… ata…
As James Franco said, ‘They’re just peanut butter and jealous!’.
you are so right mr mangun
No doubt there will be growth. But unrealised growth is also high as infrastructure to support the many booming industries isn’t there. Power shortages and transportation bottlenecks still persist.
Now is the time to find ways to tweak the Phils to allow more and more of that prosperity to reach down and benefit the less privileged of which there are many. Not everyone can qualify for a call center and not everyone may have that entrepreneurial spark. Many of us need employment or business training. Foreign ownership will have to gravitate from the current 40-60 partnership to encourage greater foreign direct investments to create industries which will create jobs for the masses. Ownership may be calibrated for sensitive industries involving natural resources. Red tape, which continues to hinder business development, must be minimized if not eradicated. Increase govt salaries to minimize graft and corruption. Strict stewardship and better management of public funds. A central committee composed of govt and private persons, highly respected and beyond reproach, with access to the best and brightest minds, will study and recommend disbursement of public funds for worthy provincial & national projects sponsored by congressmen and senators. Empower a special agency that can look into and freeze suspected bank accounts to prevent illegal capital flight. If the death penalty cannot be reinstalled then adopt judicial caning on top of jail sentences and fines like in Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei, to curb a host of serious and heinous crimes. We must choose leaders not based on personal alliances or biases, but what is good for this land and its people. It’s time for Filipinos everywhere to get out of the box that jeeps making them repeat history. Now is the opportune time to take one step backward to take two steps forward. The Philippines may be perfectly imperfect, but we are so perfectly lucky to be in it at this time and in this age.
U.S.A kill one million of filipines in early 20 century.