| PGMA's Speech during the Philippine Investment Conference (Euromoney) |
Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort, Punta Enga-o Road, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu (09 March 2005) |
| Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Purisima. Other members of the Cabinet, Mr. Shale of Euromoney, Mr. Ward, chairman of UBS. I'd like to greet also Mr. Go and all the other Philippine businessmen who are here today, and of course, the visitors and participants of this conference, welcome to the Philippines! I wish to extend my thanks to Euromoney for organizing this event and my thanks to you, the members of the domestic and international private sector for meeting with members of my administration and distinguished representatives of our business community to share with us your views on our investment environment and to learn more about specific opportunities that are open for investments. I couldn't be more thrilled than to have so many distinguished local and foreign investors and business leaders gathered together. We're counting on the full cooperation of both the public and private sectors in order to capitalize on the vast opportunities that are before us. Your agenda will discuss many sector areas that are important drivers of economic growth. These include energy and power, tourism, ICT, outsourcing, mining. I leave specific discussion of these sectors to members of my economic team and the central bank to cover, but I will say that our efforts to develop these sectors provide many investment opportunities and many opportunities to profit from the growth of our economy. I'm encouraging greater investments all over the country such as logistics investment in Clark and Subic economic zones. Investments in expressways and ports, high technology and manufacturing in Manila and Southern Luzon. Agri-business investments in Mindanao and Northern Luzon. And tourism investments in central Philippines. And business process outsourcing or BPO in and around Cebu and Davao. I'd like to thank Governor Gwen Garcia and the people of Cebu for being here to welcome all of us. And let me say a few things about the two investment areas that we are especially pushing for Cebu and its neighboring areas. While we have hubs in Cebu and Davao, our cyber services corridor actually stretches 600 miles from Baguio in Northern Luzon to Zamboanga in Mindanao. It's served by a 10 billion-dollar high-bond with Profiber backbone and digital network and it's home to 75,000 call center and BPO agents who all speak English and many of whom speak Spanish, Japanese, Chinese or Arabic. And all of whom provide cyber services at par with global standards. Cebu is also the premier city and province of central Philippines -- our primary tourism destination. In this area of central Philippines, we're constructing or upgrading several airports, completing a road and roll-on/roll-off or RO-RO ferry network. Many components of the network already exist. But we're encouraging investors to upgrade existing facilities and put up new ones through a 30 billion-peso loan portfolio from the Development Bank of the Philippines. In Luzon, we are developing the Clark-Subic corridor into the best logistics and transport hub in the region. The Subic port expansion began last June. And in Clark, we're implementing an open skies cargo policy coordinating with logistics operators like UPS, Fedex and Asia Overnight, expanding cargo-handling facilities and upgrading the passenger terminal and facilities. This month, we'll start constructing a 94-kilometer expressway between Clark and Subic. Government will invest in other commercial infrastructure through the newly created Philippine infrastructure corporation to help develop commercial and bankable projects and then divest when the private sector is ready to take over. There's an old expression that the devil is in the details. I happen to believe the other version of the same expression that God is in the details. Because I spend my day immersed in details and I'd prefer to be with God rather than the devil. I get up everyday focused on the details of the many reforms that this nation needs because I know we must meet the standards that you in this room demand in order for our nation to grow. My job is to meet this rigid tests in order to create jobs, grow the economy and end poverty as we know it in the Philippines. It's not an easy job but I believe we're surely turning the economy of the nation around and are on a new round of reform and recovery. I believe the light at the end of the tunnel is hope and opportunity borne of strong macroeconomic fundamentals including fiscal responsibility, aggressive market initiatives, a positive climate for investment and major drives against corruption. Statistics back up this optimism. We've already heard from our speakers about the 6.1, 6.2 GDP growth in 2004, the highest in 15, 16 years. Exports last year grew 9.3 percent. The stock market is up 39 percent for about a year and a half ago. Our fiscal deficit is a year ahead of plan. The Philippines has been removed from the FATF anti-money laundering watchlist. And the powerful Calpers pension fund has reaffirmed its investments in the Philippines. I thank UBS also for having expressed good things about our Philippine investment climate. And foreign investment is up. And other significant milestones have been achieved. Congress, as mentioned by our speakers, has passed the first revenue bills. The first national budget in two years has been passed. The mining sector is open for business. The new airport terminal in Metro Manila will be opened. And the surge of jobs through call centers and I.T. investments continues unabated. A lot of them here in Cebu. New trade agreements with Japan and China offer tremendous opportunities. But let me also be very clear, I'm also a realist. I understand the deep concerns the investment community and some of our own Filipinos have in the future of our nation. I don't underestimate the problems. I know full well that it's also possible that the light at the end of the tunnel is an ongoing train if Congress doesn't pass the value-added tax. But, I generally believe that we're poised for success and that Congress will deliver. We're also tackling other issues that confront the country. Kidnapping syndicates are being broken. Kidnapping incidents are way down. We're tough on terrorists. We will not rest until the Abu Sayyaf hiding in the southwestern corner of our country are destroyed. We're edging closer to peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which and of itself will free the nation to invest in peace and prosperity rather than guns and war. Progress is being made against government and commercial corruption. Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, increased investigative capability, judicial reform. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the business community, domestic and international. You are here at a time of a pivotal change in the Philippines. This is a pivotal year for the Philippines. This is a year of challenge and change. And I thank you for being here at this time. And I honor your time, energy and commitment to making the Philippines a better place to live and work. Thank you. |