DEAR Your Excellency,

I realize that I am calling you this, most possibly against your wishes. In your desire to truly respect the will of this nation, you refuse to be called President until the day of your official proclamation. However, the laws of statistical probability – if not quite the laws of this country -- are all now stacked in my favour, and I am fairly certain that I will probably not be eating crow anytime soon.

You have enjoyed a truly convincing victory, in what has to be the most remarkable election exercise this country has ever seen. Possibly the cleanest polls ever, it was an election worthy of a democratic process in the information age – informed, lively and free. You, Mr. President, are the first leader of a cyber-age Philippines.

Click here for Election 2010 updates

And yet, as much as you belong to this internet generation, you also represent the hopes and aspirations of those who belong to earlier ones.

Many will recall your father as a youthful senator and eager president-in-waiting, whose own dreams were ruthlessly crushed by the dictator Marcos -- as he lay dying on the tarmac upon his arrival -- to free his homeland from the shackles of tyranny and oppression.

Millions like me also remember your mother’s sacrifice. We stood shoulder to shoulder with her as she marched the streets to press for the dictator’s departure, and supported her unconditionally, when her presidency was threatened several times by those jealous of her overwhelming popular mandate.

Mr. President, in a secular sense, you are this country’s long-awaited messiah.

You have ascended to power to fulfill your father’s lofty promise, and your mother’s supreme sacrifice. In you, those who watched helplessly as Ninoy was gunned down, and prayed fervently as Cory was besieged by hungry power grabbers, shall have their fulfillment and salvation. It is a weighty responsibility, Mr. President, but you have little choice in the matter. Carrying the Aquino name has given you that duty, and whether you like it or not, this is now your manifest destiny.

Our nation is in immediate need of healing.

Our civil service is corrupt and inefficient, our public officials inept and greedy, and our people jaded and disillusioned. It will take a leader who can deftly combine the popular touch with a sharp economic acumen, genuine humane compassion with a strict sense of discipline, and skilled secular governance with a strong moral compass, to pull this country together. Yes Mr. President, the demands are difficult, but we know you expected no less when you made the decision to walk in your illustrious parents’ footsteps.

But worry not, Mr. President, for we will be with you every step of the way. Steadfast and unwavering, proud and unbowed, we will march forward to claim what we have long coveted – the material comforts that many of our neighbour countries have long enjoyed, and the respect of the world that this nation has been denied for so long.

Mr. President, we can make this nation great again. More beckoning than Mr. Reagan’s shining city upon a hill, and more luminous than Mr. Bush’s thousand points of light, we can bring forth -- during your presidency -- a Camelot more storied than the reign of the legendary Kennedys.

I can only recall few instances in my life when I truly believed, as your father did, that the Filipino is worth dying for. When your father died on that tarmac, when your mother took her oath as president of this country, and now, this historic time of your election.

Mr. President, do this nation proud. Lead us to greater glory, as we strive to claim what are rightfully ours – the freedom from want, the respect of our freedoms, and the world’s total respect for our great nation.

Good luck, Mr. President. This nation’s prayers are with you.
(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com/ & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)

Published in the Sun.Star Daily, 15 May 2010.

Market positioning 2

SUBIC is Gordon, and Gordon is Subic.

The man has intimately woven the Subic brand into his persona, the two are almost now indistinguishable. From an American backwater with hardly any source of income apart from the entertainment spending of naval officers and men, Dick has made a destination haven of sorts for the place. Today it boasts of entertainment centers, gambling casinos and first class hotels.

And of course, it has business and industry too. Gordon wants to duplicate the microeconomy that is Subic, into the macroeconomy that is the Philippines, and he is building his platform on that promise.
And of course, what would an election be without Erap? The man for the masses he claims to be, with the common man’s aspirations tagged into his platform. And probably he is right to stake his wagon to such a horse. After all, these are the people who flock in droves to see his movies, and therefore it is only logical that they will be the ones to support him in his drive to regain the presidency.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

Brother Eddie? Oh, of course the man of God. Righteous, morally upright and incorruptible, with the fear of God on his side.

Brother Eddie wants to transform the country into a bastion of conservative Christianity, much like Pat Robertson of the 700 Club in the United States wants to do. And there too is a significant chunk of the electorate waiting to be tapped.

These men are the products, and we are the buyers. How they position themselves before us, dictates how we will assess them and make our choices. Do we want an honest and upright person?
Is technocratic competence more important for us? Do we need a man for the masses? Or is religious zeal uppermost in our echelon of values? Whichever trait appeals to the most voters should win, no?
In theory, yes. But just like the dilemma of market positioning, it isn’t always quite so simple.

Credibility in positioning is important. First of all, how believable are their declared attributes? Noynoy claims to be an honest lad. Does he have the credibility to do so?

Gordon passes himself off as a transformational technocrat. Does he have the track record to do it? And Erap comes with the guise of being a man of the poor. Do his deeds bear him out on this claim?
It is easy enough to claim any number of attributes, but proving it is another thing. And a false or weak claim to an attribute can very well derail a person’s candidacy, and expose him or her to being a charlatan.

The other important consideration is the uniqueness of a position. How crowded is their place in marketing space? Are others already occupying it? For instance, Gordon and Gibo have fairly similar stakes to the “technocrat” attribute. Just as Dick claims to be the management guru of the lot, Gibo also says the same thing about himself.

Who will people believe between them? Or will they end up splitting the vote into two?
The same goes for the “man of the masses” title. Manny Villar thought he had appropriated the tag for himself, but at the last minute Erap surprised everyone by having his candidacy accepted by the Comelec. Which leaves Manny in a very tight pickle indeed because his “Tondo boy” credentials are also the same ones which Erap is using to entice voters to his side.

It is going to be an interesting marketing game all the way to May!

(http://asbbforeignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 20, 2010.

Market positioning

A SOAP is a soap is a soap. Well, in the old days at least, that was the thinking. As long as it bubbled, cleaned, and made one smell reasonably fresh, it had done its job. One soap was as good as any other.

Today, the choice for consumers is not quite as limited as that anymore.

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

If one wanted to be doubly sure about cleanliness, there are any number of germicidal soaps out there in the market specifically for their needs. From sulfur and zinc soaps, to those with other germicidal ingredients, the choice is varied. For those whose main concern is moisturizing, for them too there is a wide variety of available products, which all claim to be able to add moisture to one’s dry skin. And then, of course, there is the craze of the moment—whitening soaps, which cater to the Filipinos’ obsession to be of the color they are not.

For them too there are a lot of products which promise to fulfill this vanity, and to make them look like they were born in Los Angeles, California instead of Angeles City, Pampanga.

There are even soaps which do not look like soaps at all.

Those among us of the more sophisticated bent go for liquid shower gels to cleanse ourselves, preferring the convenience and exclusivity of the product over the mass market appeal of the soap bar. From products sold by mass market FMCGs, to the more niche appeal of those from the Body Shop, to the really snobbish Molton Brown, there is likewise a large selection to choose from. So long as there is money to spend, there are products to buy.

All a matter of market positioning among the competing products.

Some products stand for cleanliness, others for moisturizing, a number for low cost, and a few for exclusivity. Each group appeals to a particular segment of consumer, whose needs and wants it is able to address.

The coming May 2010 elections is an interesting study in political market positioning among the candidates. From Noynoy to Gibo, Manny to Erap, Dick to Eddie, and Nick to Jamby, all project themselves somewhat differently to the electorate.

And whether or not their images will resonate with voters in terms of the satisfaction of the latter’s needs and wants, determines whether they will succeed in governing this country, or end up returning to their day jobs.

First off, we have Noynoy, the honest boy. Born to Cory and Ninoy, he promises to carry the torch of integrity, and rid the country of the scourge of graft and corruption.

His campaign slogan says that he will not steal, and will give back to the people every cent they paid in tax in the form of better services. To those of us who are fed up with financial scandals, tax cheats and other political shenanigans, his campaign is the beacon of hope for clean government.
Then we have Noynoy’s cousin, Gibo Teodoro. He positions himself as an intelligent voter’s choice. Brainy, articulate and extremely competent, his message to the voters is that he will elevate this country to greater heights. Ready to fly, is his slogan.

Manny Villar, the self-made billionaire from the slums of Tondo, comes to the voter with his “man for the masses” appeal. I’ve been there, done that, paid all my dues, is his rallying cry.
He is saying to the voters that if they vote for him, he will do all he can to elevate the plight of the poor, in the same way as he elevated his own station in life many years ago.

More next week…
(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 13, 2010.

No exchange

IN the 1980’s, the first shots of the shareholder revolution were fired, in the United States and in Europe.

Prior to this, management boards were all-powerful, and were virtually running their organizations like total owners.

Shareholders, who often owned majority of the companies they invested in, were relegated to the role of spectators, watching, sometimes helplessly, as management ran their companies to the ground, or undertook some really bad decisions that jeopardized their investments.

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

The rise in the vigilance of shareholders about the well-being of the companies they were invested in came at just the right time, as the companies they owned began to fail, one after the other, through a series of errors and ill-timed decisions.

The 1980s was the time when the Maxwell pension scandal broke out in the United Kingdom. Robert Maxwell, the larger-than-life media mogul who ruled over Britain’s tabloid press at the time, was caught fiddling with his company’s pension plan. Money that was supposed to go to widows, orphans and senior citizens was funneled to fund the man’s frivolous ways, and many of his retired workers ended up broke and penniless.

In the United States at the same time, corporate wrongdoing were a dime a dozen. This era was dominated by “greed” and “excess,” epitomized by Michael Douglas’ character in the movie “Wall Street.” The ‘80s was marked by takeovers, mergers and acquisitions that seemed to make no business sense, culminating in the famous RJR Nabisco saga, which led to the ultimate collapse of the mergers and acquisitions bubble in the United States.

Shareholder and investor activism, to a large degree, helped to tame corporations into doing the right things.

In Britain, their actions led to widespread pension reform, which ushered in the era of safe and reliable pension fund management in that country. In America, shareholders ousted a larger number of chairmen, chief executives and other senior managers, helping to instill prudence and common sense once more in corporate affairs. Without those drastic actions, life in corporate Europe and America would have turned out very differently indeed.

But what about in politics? What redress do voters have against incompetent and unfit officials, who happen to have been voted into power on the strength of false expectations? Is there such a thing as a shareholder revolt in political terms?

Yes there is, and in the Philippines we have tried it at least a couple of times already. In fact, we have names for them —Edsa 1 and Edsa 2, with numerous other mini-uprisings in between.
Problem is, we cannot have too many of them.

Coup d’etats are, in actual fact, illegal and against democratic principles. OK, Edsa 1 was wholly justified, even as Edsa 2 was much less so. But unlike shareholder revolts, which mostly strengthen the organizations where they take place, forced expulsion of democratically elected leaders is bad news for business. While investors may like to undertake their own revolts, they are mostly not too pleased when these revolts take place in the countries where they are in.

Which leaves us, the electorate, with only one choice this coming May. Since we cannot change our board of directors in mid-term, we need to make sure that those we elect are already the right ones to begin with.

Unlike in business, in politics, it is “no-return, no-exchange.”

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 06, 2010.

Can we trust the Filipino?

IN the early years of my immersion in Western cultures, a couple of differences between “them” and “us” struck me the most.

The first one clearly is the prevalence of religious iconoclasm, especially among the Europeans. In the United Kingdom, which has been my home for many years, churches and places of worship often lie empty and neglected, many turned into historically themed residential dwellings and apartment blocks. Religion just has no place in their lives anymore.

Valentine's 2009 blog

This was a real shock to me in the beginning, as having been raised in the Philippines as a young man, I had been accustomed to seeing people religiously flocking in droves to churches on Sundays, and other days of obligation. Not to mention being witness to the spectacle of people nailing themselves to crosses and engaging in other acts of great religious fervor, especially during the season of Lent.

Not in the West.

I remember once visiting one of the Western Isles of Scotland on a Sunday, and hearing mass while we were there. Looking all around me, all I could see were white-haired folk, with nary a young soul in sight. Religious devotion is dying with the older generation, and their young are not being motivated to follow in their path.

The other thing which surprised me with the West was the degree of trust they had in other people. The unwritten rule over there seems to be that “all men are honest, unless proven otherwise.”
Insurance companies over there, for instance, spend very little time investigating claims for damages, preferring instead to pay up almost as soon as they are reported. As a consequence many of my Filipino friends there routinely took advantage of the situation, reporting goods they had purchased like computers, for example, as damaged so they could get new ones as replacement.

The traffic accident reporting process, too, is something unheard of back in the Philippines. When two vehicles have a minor accident, each person simply reports to his or her auto insurance company what happened, and they would get paid. No need for a policeman to hold up traffic for hours like in Manila, while they take a sketch and make a report of the incident for the insurance companies.
The funny thing is, of course, that the two things that really caught my attention would, at first glance, seem to be irreconcilable differences.

For how could societies that hardly believed in God anymore, still rely so much on the good faith and honesty of their members? In my experience up to that point, ungodly men and women were supposed to be immoral and dishonest individuals. How else could they be, when they hardly believed in a just and righteous God anymore? Where would they have learned their values, and shaped their morality?

It was just too difficult for me to reconcile.

My thoughts, of course, immediately turned to home for comparison. In the Philippines, everyone – bar a very small minority – believe in a god, whoever that God is supposed to be.

Everyone goes to church on Sundays, or otherwise attends mosques on Fridays. Anyone coming over to the Philippines for the first time would see this, and automatically assume that our godliness meant that we were, without exception, an honest and morally upstanding nation.

More next week.
(http://asbb-foreignexchange. blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 30, 2010.

Teamwork

IN the corporate world, we take it for granted that everyone knows the importance of good teamwork. For example, if you think of Bill Gates, you immediately think of Paul Allen as well. Without one or the other of this pair, the world will not know of a company as influential as Microsoft, and perhaps the world of computing would not have been the same.

It is critical that top executives of corporations think alike, and support each other’s decisions. Otherwise, it would be a very fractious and chaotic organisation indeed, where the ones in-charge at the top would be fighting each other every step of the way, and having different agenda for the future.

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

Political systems in most places follow this principle.

In the United States, for example, a vote for the president is also a vote for the vice president. One will never see a case in America where the president is a Republican,and the vice president a Democrat, or vice versa. It has to be that the pair belong to one party only.

It is, of course, only logical that this should be the case.

Vice presidents are, as they say, only a “heartbeat” away from the presidency. When the commander-in-chief dies or is in any way incapacitated and unable to govern, the vice president steps in and fills his shoes. It is therefore important that there is a continuity of programs of government, as one transitions to the other. It promotes a seamless change and ensures that the governance of the nation is not compromised.

In our country, however, we seem to be of a different mindset entirely.

Unlike most republican governments anywhere, in the Philippines, the president and the vice president have separate mandates. That is to say, the president could come from one party, and the vice president from another. Take for example the current administration, where President Arroyo and Vice President de Castro are from separate camps. Or even the previous government of President Estrada and Vice President Arroyo, who also belonged to different political persuasions.

In the case of the administration before this one, we had the vice president always positioning herself to take over the reins of power, and never really fully cooperating with the president to make effective governance happen. And when Edsa II took place, she was only too quick to pounce on the chance to crown herself number one.

Under the current regime, we have an impotent vice president, who despite his years of broadcast journalism experience, we have yet to hear hiim speak over national media on issues of substance. In both cases, the relationship at the top is a dysfunctional one, to say the least.

If other countries cannot do it, I do not know what makes the Philippines so special, that we think we can function effectively with having presidents and vice presidents coming from different political persuasions. When countries with mature political systems like the United States are practical enough to admit that this would not work, the logic of why we do ours the way we do it still continues to mystify me.

It is time we realised the folly of this situation. For two consecutive administrations now we have been witness to the charade that is the presidential and vice presidential tandem.

On both occasions, the second-in-command has been little more than a waste of space. Little wonder then that all the vice president has left to do is to plot for the overthrow of the boss, in order to take over the reins of power as quickly as possible.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 30, 2010.

Filipino diaspora

ONE of the tragic things about Filipinos is that wherever tragedy strikes in the world, one of us is bound to be involved.

When ocean liners sink at sea, we usually hear news of a number of Filipinos suffering in the tragedy. When a bomb blows up in Iraq, there is bound to be a Filipino onsite. And when a convoy of workers is attacked in Afghanistan, one of our countrymen may just be among the victims.

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

Sure, you may say, but so are Americans and Europeans.

They are usually the passengers in those cruise liners that sink at sea. They will be the soldiers targeted by those roadside bombs in Iraq. And they are usually the contractors who may be attacked by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But with one big difference.

Americans and Europeans are in those places because they choose to be there. Our countrymen are there because they have to be.

Despite Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo’s claims to the country, the sad fact is that we are a destitute nation. So bad is the state of our economy that our greater Filipino family has to send its sons and daughters abroad so that we will have food on our table.

In a way, this is something to be proud about.

The world entrusts us with its infirm and its elderly.

We provide comfort and relaxation to weary Westerners, as they escape from the rat race and get away to their destinations of choice.

And we provide order in the homes of so many families around the world, as without us chaos will reign over their households.

But it cannot be denied that most of our countrymen have to resort to lives away from their beloved country, because there is nothing for them to do back here that would enable them to have some semblance of a decent livelihood.

If they chose to remain here, they would probably be unemployed, or, at the very least, working in jobs that would not be able to support their family’s needs.

And that’s why they leave.

Not in the hundreds.

Not even in the thousands.

They leave in the tens and hundreds of thousands.

Every day, to every conceivable destination on earth.

Just this week, the impoverished island nation of Haiti was rocked by a powerful earthquake.
And guess what?

Some of our countrymen too perished underneath the rubble.
All right, some of them were there working as United Nations diplomats, while others were on duty as UN peacekeepers.

But among their number were ordinary workers who left to work in a very poor country like Haiti, because at least there, they earned more than they could possibly hope for in their own land.
Yet again, something for our next President to think about.

Not that he has to prevent our countrymen from leaving the country. Mobility and freedom to travel is after all a right that everyone ought to enjoy.

But there is one important thing he must note.

The situation cannot be as it is today, when almost everyone who queues up for a passport needs to do so in order to get a better paying job abroad.

When almost everyone who leaves does so unwillingly and with much sadness, if only to provide his or her family a better life.

Our countrymen must be no different than the Americans and the Europeans.

They should be able to leave their country anytime, to be sure.

But they must only do so because they choose to, and not because they have to.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 23, 2010.

BPO Phenomenon (conclusion)

FIGHTING cocks in exchange for allowing your business to set up in their municipality may seem like a fair trade to some city council members in certain cities, but is certainly a source of great annoyance to potential investors in the country who are here to start a genuine business, provide employment and improve the national economy in the process.

Many of our so-called leaders and government officials fail to see that the short-sightedness of their actions harms the long-term term viability of the Philippines as a business destination. This is no different from the attitude of our public vehicle drivers and some in the tourist trade, which we have written about before. Instead of trying to cultivate good relationships with visitors so they keep coming back for more, they fleece them and practically rob them of their money the first time around, so they never ever have to think about coming back. No way to treat a customer, right?

Click here for stories and updates on the Sinulog 2010 Festival.

Apart from the obvious advantages of the Philippines as a BPO destination, the other important draw that brings investors here are the incentives we offer to potential locators.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) is a very critical lynchpin in this effort, as it is through this agency that a significant number of the investment incentives are administered. And as we have said many times before, Peza as an agency cannot be commended enough for the sterling job that it has done, and continues to do for the investment community.

The problem is that Peza, on its own, cannot do the job without the aid of the other agencies in government that investors also have to deal with. And herein lies the problem.

Our government agencies don’t talk. Nobody is interested in what the others are doing. It’s as if they all exist in a world of their own.

Take for example the VAT zero-rating of companies that are registered with Peza. Some of these companies, although zero-rated, will have incurred some form of input VAT payment, if for instance they were doing some set-up work before their Peza registration was approved. Since many of these companies are “exporters,” in that their customers will be from overseas, they will not be able to pass on the input VAT that they will have paid.

In theory, these companies are entitled to claim their input VAT paid from the BIR. But theory is far simpler than practice.

Just try asking any company, or any tax expert for that matter, on just how “easy” it is to try to claim back input VAT from the BIR. Ever heard of impossible? Try something more difficult than that!
The next president surely has his work cut out for him, to try to make us the BPO destination of choice over India, Eastern Europe or indeed China, which seems to be emerging as the next BPO boom location.

First on the list of things to improve will be the agencies that have touchpoints with BPO locators. The BIR is first on that list. As long as they take a very narrow view on tax issues, and make it difficult for investors to realise the full extent of their investment incentives, they will feel cheated, and come away thinking they were duped. Once bitten, twice shy, as they say.

And of course, although they may be under the radar most of the time, municipal governments will have to get their act together as well. The fighting cock story of one of my BPO contacts is something that cannot be allowed to continue.

Local governments should not be allowed to railroad the good efforts that the national government is trying very hard to implement.

So Mr. incoming President, are you ready for the challenge?

Wishing all our readers and friends a happy Fiesta Senor celebration. Pit Senyor!

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 16, 2010.

BPO phenomenon (Part 2)

FIRST of all, may I wish all our readers a very Happy New Year! May this year be much better than the last.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

On the other side of the new year, we were talking about the nascent Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, and how this has helped the Philippines sort out its economic difficulties in a significant way, the ineptness of our current economic and political leaders, notwithstanding.
If there ever was an industry that the Philippines can and should lay claim to, it has to be that of business process outsourcing. Much more than Japan and South Korea can monopolize manufacturing technology as their own, there are a lot of advantages that can make the Philippines the king of BPO, if it chooses to be.

First, we are by far, still much cheaper than the developed countries, in terms of our labor rates.
Where our newly hired employee in a BPO company—fresh out of college—would pick up a starting salary of about P15,000, this person’s equivalent in the United States and Europe would easily be making over P100,000, for doing exactly the same kind of work.

Second, our relative command of the English language is almost second to none in the developing world. As it happens, most BPO work today comes from the English-speaking economies in North America and Europe, so the trend suits us nicely from this perspective.

None of our neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and certainly not the Chinese, have our expertise in terms of speaking and working in the English language, so from that standpoint, we have a virtual monopoly of the market.

Of course, India—our most significant competitor for BPO business—is also very strong in English language skills.

But between them and us, there is enough of a market to go around.

The attractive promise of the BPO industry notwithstanding, there is still much that we have not done in order to maximize the country’s opportunity to attract more locators to come in.

Plenty, in fact, to make the next president aspirant already start having sleepless nights thinking what he could do to change the situation.For starters, we need to be more investor-friendly.

It is easy enough to claim that we make it easy for companies to come in and do business in the Philippines, but another thing to actually make it happen. Talk is cheap, as they say, but actions speak louder than words.

Take the issue of investment incentives, for example.

The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza), among all the government agencies, has to be the friendliest and the easiest to deal with, among all the other regulators that BPO companies come across. This is the good news. The bad news is that everybody else is the opposite, and riddled with all sorts of graft and other corrupt activities.

Take the case of an unnamed BPO company that wanted to locate in one of the areas where these types of companies are normally clustered. To complete its Peza registration, it had to have some clearances from the municipality of the place where it was wanting to locate. One would have thought that the city council would pull out all the stops to make sure that the clearances were issued on time, so the company could commence with its business posthaste.

But did it do this?

No, sir. Upon learning that this company’s headquarters is in Houston, Texas, it had the nerve to ask the company for some fighting cocks, in exchange for the releaseof its clearances. More next week…

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on January 09, 2010.

BPO phenomenon

WHO hasn’t heard of BPO? No, I am not talking of Banco De Oro. That would be BDO, although I am certain that most people know all about BDO and its current domination of the Philippine banking scene.

I am talking about BPO as in business process outsourcing. I would imagine that as many people who have heard about BDO would have also come across a BPO, in some way or other.

For updates from around the country, follow Sun.Star on Twitter

It is hard to miss the ubiquitous structures where these companies are located. In many places where they are, the buildings housing them are prominently clustered together, making them visible for all to see.

In Metro Manila, there are four centers where these BPOs are mostly situated—Makati, Alabang, Eastwood (Quezon City) and Ortigas. Cubao and the area around UP Diliman are also fast becoming magnets for these companies to locate in, thanks to generous incentives from the site’s developers. There are also many centers outside of Manila, like Clark (Pampanga), Cebu, Davao, Baguio and Iloilo.
Or, if someone has not noticed (a bit difficult to believe) these places, perhaps one has a relative or a friend who happens to be connected with a BPO organization. After all, apart from nursing and leaving for abroad, going into a BPO seems to be the career of choice for many of our young graduates.

Generically called call centers (although believe it or not, there are many types of BPOs, and call centers are only a segment of the industry), these companies have attracted a large number of our young working population. By the Business Processing Association of the Philippines’ own estimates, one million of them will have been working in some type of BPO within five years’ time. Had it not been for the global financial crisis, the five years would have even been shorter.

But just what does a BPO do? Well, everything really that a business organization does can be outsourced, or done by a third-party organization. For example, to answer calls from its customers, an American utility company may choose to have those calls answered in the Philippines, instead of in the United States. The advantage is obvious. Each customer service representative in the US probably earns the equivalent of about four or five customer service representatives in the Philippines. So obviously, as long as it takes less than four or five Filipinos to do the job of one American, it makes sense to locate the process here.

The even better thing, of course, is that it does not take four or five Filipinos to do the job. In some cases, it even takes less than one.

How does this happen? Well, by the simple phenomenon called underemployment. Let me qualify this statement by calling it “relative underemployment.”

Why relative? Because in the United States, a customer service representative does not need to have graduated from college to do the job. A simple high school leaver will be fine, thank you very much. Here in the Philippines, however, it is a slightly different story.

People who work in BPOs here have all invariably completed some kind of college degree. For the most part, they would have done something like a business-related, or perhaps communications-related, course. That is a minimum requirement for acceptance to the job.

Happy Christmas to all our readers, and their families and loved ones. May this holiday season be truly blessed for us all!

More next week...
(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 19, 2009

Future expectations

WE all remember the dotcom boom.

Who doesn’t have any memory of those heady times, when share prices of heretofore unknown companies rose to stratospheric levels? When any company with a dotcom after their name could simply do an IPO and their shares would just sell like the proverbial hotcakes?

All to do with future expectations, as we know. Everyone who bought any of those overvalued (as we now know them to be today) shares were of the same mind that at some point, what they were buying would be worth far more than what they paid for.

After all, no one invests in anything to make a loss. The rationale for any investor in buying any asset is always that at some point in the future, that asset is going to make a return for the investor.

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Question is, how far off into the future will those expectations hold? How far off is the investor’s horizon in deciding whether what seems not to be too valuable today, would suddenly turn and become very valuable in the future?

The answer is – it depends.

On what, might we ask, does the answer depend?

Well, mainly on how long those expectations remain positive.

A bit of an evasive answer, right?

Well, not really.

Witness the current financial crisis. For a number of years, asset-backed securities, securitized by American mortgages, seemed to be bullet-proof. As the popular belief went, who does not need a house to live in? And if this were to be true, then surely mortgages would be an eternal fountain from where untold wealth for all would spring.

And spring it did, until late 2008. For when the whole world collectively realized that although everyone needed a home, they still had to be able to afford to buy one and pay for it (and it seemed that many Americans had become unable to do the latter), then, the whole myth of high expectations collapsed.

Which brings me to the issue of President Barrack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Even in his very own acceptance speech, Obama was humble enough to admit that by any stretch of the imagination, he was not deserving of the award – or at least not yet. He had not done enough to spread the word of peace across the world, and therefore had no business being in that podium, at that point in time.

Obama, more than most American presidents who came before him, has benefited greatly from future expectations. And understandably so. As his country’s first non-white president, many of his countrymen – white and non-white alike – look to him to be able to do almost superhuman things, and right many of the wrongs that all of his collective predecessors could not.

But the weight of future expectations is a heavy burden to carry. Many of the dotcom companies who enjoyed the heady days of yore know this only too well.

A large number of financial institutions that made a killing packaging and selling mortgage-backed securities are also only too aware of its perils.

Which is why Obama must do all he can to be able to deliver on his future promises. Or risk falling on his own sword, and be impaled by the weight of unfulfilled expectations.

(Belated greetings to my son, Jacob Anthony, and sister, Aleli, who celebrated their birthdays on the 26th of November and the 6th of December, respectively).
(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 14, 2009.

Unacceptable risk

THIS last week was a sickener, to say the least. While people in the United States were celebrating Thanksgiving, the traditional holiday for showing gratitude for one’s blessings, all we could do for ourselves was to engage in national mourning on an unprecedented scale.

For down South, in that part of the Philippines which has known little peace for as long as most of us can remember, dozens of innocent civilians were massacred, in what has to be a monstrous act of barbaric proportions, so savagely calculated in its intensity, and yet so mindlessly inane in its execution.

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Whoever the perpetrators of that massacre were, and whatever their motivations for doing so happen to be, there has to be no escaping their utter disregard for public opinion, let alone the laws of the country in which they reside. For how else could they have imagined that an entire nation—not to mention the families, relatives and friends of the victims—would not look after an entire convoy that just disappears from the face of the earth?

Reports say that the assassins planned everything in advance—from staking out the convoy’s route, to digging mass graves in which the bodies and even the vehicles of those they were going to murder, were to be buried. But what were they thinking? That people would just accept the newfound existence of some kind of “Bermuda triangle” in Maguindanao, which is able to swallow people and vehicles without a trace? Would no one come looking? And would no one notice the freshly turned earth just a few kilometers up the road, and start wondering how on earth asuch haphazard diggings could just have sprung up for no apparent reason?

Most of all, what about national, and even world, opinion? Did the perpetrators simply think that killing dozens of people would not attract any attention outside their little enclave in the South? That nobody would speak out against the heinousness of their deed, and the world would just continue turning on its axis, as if nothing ever happened at all?

The problem is, the perpetrators knew. They were fully aware that the nation would know. They knew full well the world would know. But they just did not care. Too drunk with power, they disregarded everything—our nation’s laws, our people’s customs and traditions, and our national honor and pride—just to be able to show who is boss.

Somewhere along the line, the current administration has to share in the blame. Its practice of “business politics”—of paying back political IOUs, regardless of how these IOUs were incurred—is mostly to blame.

The part of the world where this all took place was a haven for the current administration during the last elections, with some places registering zero votes for the president’s opponents.

Zero votes? Hell, even statistical error tells us that there must be someone out there, from among the thousands of voters, with a dissenting opinion, or even just someone who ticked the wrong box. But it was a perfect delivery, which demands no less than the perfectpayback.

But in business, as in politics, there is something called unacceptable risk. This is what happened in the recent financial crisis, when banks and other financial institutions suddenly began to realize that not all was well with the US mortgage market, and that they had better jettison the assets they were holding, which were backed up by these mortgages.

Our only hope for justice to prevail, is that the current administration would realize that its alliances in that part of the country have now become an unacceptable risk, that even the dangers of not paying back political debt are now far outweighed by the consequences of coddling criminals and fugitives from the law.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on November 28, 2009.

Finex does Cebu 2

WHAT does Cebu have that other places in the Philippines do not?

What does this island in the sun, with so few native resources to speak of, have that makes it stand out as a beehive of creative entrepreneurial activity?

Kenneth Cobonpue, Butch Carungay and Bunny Pages—guests during the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) Annual Convention in Cebu City at the beginning of this month—were all proof that there is indeed something unique among Cebuanos, and in Cebu’s ability to be the incubator of entrepreneurial ideas and ventures.

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Back in time there was Penshoppe, of course. From a little mom and pop shop in Cebu, it has become a national brand, a favorite among the young and energetic set.

And Julie’s Bakeshop? Who would now not have seen one somewhere in a bus stop anywhere in the Philippines? I remember in my younger days when it was still alone outlet in Fuente Osmeña, and how over time, with creativity and imagination, it has managed to franchise its way to national prominence.

And even among the country’s crème de la crème in business, it is Cebuanos who stand tall and proud above the rest. John Gokongwei, Henry Sy and Lucio Tan all trace their roots to Cebu. So do the Gotianuns, who have developed Alabang into a viable alternative to the Makati Business District.

So there is indeed a secret to Cebu. Maybe it is the sun and the sea. Or perhaps the steely drive and determination of a people descended from the blood of our first national hero, Lapu-lapu. Fiercely independent and tribal, Cebuanos love to help each other out in achieving fame and fortune. The strength of the island’s various chambers and trade associations, and the cooperation among its members attest to the fact that amid the healthy competition, there is also a lot of cooperative collaboration going on.

For instance, Kenneth Cobonpue, for all his busy schedule, takes time out to teach design courses at the UP Cebu’s Fine Arts Program. This is his way of giving back his skill and talent to the next generation of designers, so Cebu will always be blessed with talented artisans for the future.

It has been many years since I have been out of the place I like to call home. But every time I manage to make my way back there, I always come away feeling energized and recharged.

The energy, creativity and enthusiasm of the Cebuano are indeed contagious.

Outside of the Finex convention proper, I was also able to see the progress that the island has made in terms of its information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) sector—familiar to me because of the industry

I am now in. Even by the standards of Manila, the progress seems impressive.

I had a chance to make my way to the IT Park across the Waterfront Hotel, and the buzz and flurry of activity among the businesses there were palpable. All the recognizable names among the leading BPO organizations seem to be represented, a testament to their belief in the ability of the Cebuanos to be able to deliver world-class IT and BPO services to their demanding customers all over the world.

And on the way back to Manila, I found myself aboard one of Cebu Pacific’s brand new airbuses, amazed by the airline’s ability to depart and arrive on time, and even more amazed by its ability to offer fares at very competitive rates.

And little wonder that it can do all this, because it is owned by Mr. Gokongwei himself, one of Cebu’s favorite sons.
(http://asbb-foreignex-change.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 23, 2009.

Finex does Cebu

I THOUGHT I had seen the end of it. Of Ondoy that is. The week after the storm hit Metro Manila, leaving in its wake hundreds of people dead, many families left to rue their losses in property and loved ones, not to mention the billions of pesos of damage wrought on our already ravaged economy,

I was glad to be out of the capital.

Yes, I was in Cebu of all places, to attend the annual convention of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex), the country’s premier association of professionals in the field of finance. Held at the new Parklane Hotel across the sprawling Cebu Business Park, the event was very well attended, not only by the association’s movers and shakers in Manila, but also by the hardworking and loyal members of its satellite and affiliate organizations in the provinces.

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Dignitaries too were in full attendance. Cebu’s own Mike Rama delivered the opening address to the visiting financiers, exhorting them on their theme of “Transcending Global Challenges.” Then there was former energy secretary Vince Perez, engaging as usual, and in his element as he was talking about opportunities in the alternative energy sector. There was also Region 7’s own Gary Teves, whose job it was to explain to all gathered what the government was doing to fix its seemingly bottomless budget deficit, a task not made any easier by the ravages of Ondoy. And finally there was Cebu’s son Ace Durano, regaling the audience with his tales of endless possibilities for the country’s tourism sector.

All in all, the Finex convention was a resounding success, showcasing the province and city’s progress in the process.

In addition to the parade of dignitaries, the event also featured notable Cebuano success stories in the field of business—a reminder to the Manileños that entrepreneurship was alive and well in places outside of the capital, and most especially in Cebu.

First on the list of the guest entrepreneurs was Kenneth Cobonpue, who at this stage is already considered one of the country’s top design gurus. His products have received worldwide acclaim, and his client list counts the likes of Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford among his loyal customers.

Hot on Ken’s heels was young Wharton-schooled businessman Butch Carungay, who spoke about his passion for design as inspiring his move away from investment banking to the fashion accessories business. Already holding shows in Paris, Milan and New York, Butch told an admiring audience how he raised the game in terms of the country’s fashion accessories exports, transforming the image of Philippine fashion accessories from cheap generic to expensive branded items.

The third but certainly not the least among the Cebuano entrepreneurs was Bunny Pages, owner of a number of business interests that span education and hospitality.

Displaying an uncanny ability to spot undervalued businesses and up and coming opportunities, he narrated his story, and how he has always been able to acquire businesses that were seemingly underdelivering on their promise, and how he was able to make them deliver their potential. With his life motto of always “moving forward,” he certainly wowed the audience with his keen sense of the possibilities of business opportunities out there.

It was Cebu’s turn to shine under the lights, and the island certainly did not disappoint. If there were any doubters among the country’s top financiers about Cebu’ s future growth prospects, all of them certainly left convinced about the island’s potential. More next week.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 17, 2009.

What’s in a name (conclusion)

CORPORATE names count for a lot, es-pecially in today’s overcrowded marketing space.
Household brands like Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Marlboro have proved priceless for their corporate parents, and their reputations are being zealously guarded by their trademark owners, like the golden treasures of Fort Knox.

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And quite rightly so.

Who would, for example, not recognize the name Coca-Cola? From the hinterlands of the Amazon to the foothills of the Himalayas, it would probably be difficult to find somebody who would not be able to identify the unmistakably curvy bottle that embodies the brand.

And then there is the new Coke – Microsoft. It would not be a stretch to imagine that not a soul in the whole wide world would be oblivious to the name. Just in our own country, the ubiquitous Internet café is everywhere, and even street urchins are now savvy enough to create their own Friendster and Facebook accounts on Microsoft-operated PCs.

With the age of globalization, of course, comes the age of the global brands. Spread by the increasing reach of mass media and, of course, the all-conquering worldwide web, the powerful advertising messages of these global brands have become almost impossible for anyone to escape.
The other trend that has fuelled the rise of brand empires is the advent of mega sports franchises like Manchester United and Real Madrid. With an audience estimated in the billions, and a passionate following circling the world many times over, the brands that the shirts of these teams carry is guaranteed instant name recognition.

This is what AIG experienced when in 2007, it sponsored the Manchester United name, and had its brand emblazoned across the chest of sporting gods like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. Almost instantly, the heretofore almost anonymous AIG name became synonymous with the Red Devils, and fans all overwere mouthing the brand like a mantra, from the pubs of Manchester to the beer gardens of Bangkok.

The AIG name worked like a charm for United, too. In 2007, the team won its first Premier League title in many years, and in the next year retained the title, along with winning the Champions League for only the second time in almost a decade.

Then came September 2008, and the world changed for AIG. From a name synonymous with victory, it suddenly became an object of ridicule and loathing–exemplars of the greed that people had now come to associate with corporate America, and the genesis of the global financial crisis.
Today, the name that AIG has built so painstakingly with its business success over so many years, as well as the added Manchester United boost, is about to be consigned to history.

Its component companies —including our very own Philamlife—are scrambling to rid themselves of the AIG tag, and reinventing their images behind new brands, preferably as far away from the AIG association as possible.

And little wonder that they are. Corporate brand names may be global franchises, and they may reap golden rewards for their owners when used properly. But once tarnished, they become like lead weights that only drag their companies down, if not abandoned in time.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 25, 2009.

What is in a name?

WHAT'S in a name?

Apparently, a lot!

In the United Kingdom today, for example, the IN thing to have is what is called a double-barrelled name, or the hyphenated (or sometimes non-hyphenated) combination of one’s maiden and married names (or for males, their maternal and parental surnames or even grandmaternal and grandpaternal surnames, if the name has extended to more than one generation).
Thus, you have people like Anthony Worral-Thompson, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Sascha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter standing out from the rest of their crowds, their names adding cachet to their already celebrity standing.

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Names count for a lot, too, even in the Philippines.

In my generation, it was American names for babies that were fashionable. Thus, many of my contemporaries have names like Randy, Leslie, Joy and Florence.

In my grandfather’s generation, their names tended to be Spanish-sounding ones, such as Juanito, Fernando, Vidala and Elena. Today, in the generation after us, Spanish names have become fashionable once more, usually given as combinations like Juan-Emmanuel. Likewise, “old-sounding”

English names have come back into vogue, like Jacob Anthony or Joshua Thomas.

Corporates, too, have their own favorites as far as names are concerned.

In the early part of the last century, the IN thing to have was long and rather formal sounding corporate names, just like the double-barrelled English surnames in our example. Jardine Davies, The Imperial Chemical Company, Patons & Baldwins, Procter & Gamble—these were just some of the organizations that were famous during that era, with some surviving and being even more famous today.

Organizations established in more contemporary times had shorter, and in some instances, “weirder” names than those founded before them. Sprint, Verizon, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle are probably good examples of these.

And yet for all the generational nuances, once established, names are likely to be kept for a long time by the organizations that have them. Today, for example, the turn-of-the-century Jardine organizations and Procter & Gamble stand shoulder to shoulder with more recently established ones, like Amazon and Google. Different generations with different norms on the form and structure of their company names. And yet, all of them are powerful brands, with name recognition very high among their target customers.

What this seems to show, then, is that it is not the names as such, but the positive associations that come with the name. Be they the long versions of a hundred years ago, or the abbreviated ones from the turn of the millennium, so long as the names themselves have earned the credibility and respect from their customers, the name is a winner.

But what happens to those with long-established corporate identities, that now suddenly find themselves out of favor in the name recall game?

The global financial crisis has forced this question into the open, with erstwhile “famous” names like Citicorp (Citibank), Merrill Lynch, The Royal Bank of Scotland, AIG and many others having had theirs tarnished—and some would even argue—beyond repair.

What is to be done with them?

More next week.
(http://asbb-foreignexchange. blogspot.com & http://twitter. com/asbbatuhan)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 18, 2009.

A sleeping giant awakens

IN the era of the truly global economy, few players stand out from the rest. These are the giant multinational corporations, whose reach transcends borders, and whose activities dwarf many of even the world’s biggest economies.

And among those business organizations that can be considered truly global in scope and reach, perhaps none could claim to have such a profound influence on the world’s economy than the American International Group (AIG).

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Prior to the meltdown of the world’s financial markets last year, AIG was a behemoth among giants, casting its influence in all corners of the world, and having a stake in all sectors of the financial services industry, from retail to corporate banking, to corporate finance and investment banking, and to securities underwriting and insurance.

So huge was its business expanse that if we were to borrow an old phrase from the English colonialists, we could say that “the sun never sets on AIG’s business.”

Of course, fate has a way of dealing with even the most mighty, and it did deal AIG an almost fatal blow on the occasion of the global financial meltdown.

As it turns out, one of the reasons for the organization’s dominance in the international scene was its large-scale participation in the burgeoning business of assetsecuritization—the now infamous sub-prime mortgage saga, which brought down in its wake a number of well-respected financial institutions, including Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and many others.

When the American housing market started to turn sour, the assets underlying the securities that AIG and the other market makers were issuing shrunk in value, forcing the issuers to ante up collateral to guarantee them with the subsequent buyers. The resulting need for huge amounts of cash collateral forced many into bankruptcy, consolidation and even liquidation.

As the old adage goes, “owe the bank a few thousand dollars, and the bank owns you; owe the bank a few million dollars, and you own the bank.” Fortunately for AIG, the sheer size of its exposure into the global debt markets made it impossible to allow its collapse. If it were to happen, the knock-on impact would be unimaginable. So to stave off a complete financial Armageddon, the Federal government stepped in and rescued the financial giant, propping it up with billions of dollars in federallyguaranteed loans.

While many had written off the financial giant to eventual collapse, slowly but surely AIG rebuilt itself from the ashes of its former self. Many of AIG’s core businesses remained strong, with dominant positions in the major global markets.

For example, Philamlife remains the Philippines’ largest insurer, with a franchise envied by all of its competitors.

A significant part of AIG’s resurgence is the contribution of its current chief executive, Edward Liddy.
A respected investment banker and insurance executive, Liddy brought with him to AIG a credible reputation, which allowed AIG to have an effective dialogue with the Federal government, its current backer and guarantor. It also gave the insurance company a better image in the financial markets.
Today, after a successful stint at stabilizing the wounded giant, Liddy steps down and gives way to an equally respected executive in Robert Benmosche, former MetLife CEO.

Where AIG will go from here on is still a big question mark.

But as Admiral Yamamoto once said after bombing Pearl Harbor, the sleeping giant might just be reawakening.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 15, 2009.

Are you ready for this?

NO, it’s not an excerpt from the Queen song.

I am referring to the path-breaking choice that Americans may have to make in the presidential elections in November.

Never has the world’s most powerful democratic nation been confronted with as unprecedented a choice — in fact two choices — at least concerning one half of the electoral process.

Would they elect a white woman or a black man to the presidency of the most influential nation on earth?

Never before have the gender and color barrier ever been breached in the contest for the American presidency. The Rev. Jesse Jackson tried and failed to secure his party’s nomination for the presidency, and Geraldine Ferraro, although managing to gain her party’s confidence, was only running for the post of vice president.

But a woman or a black man for the highest elected post in perhaps all of the world? Is America ready for this? Is the world even ready for this?

All the way from George Washington to George W. Bush — 43 presidents and 212 years later — there has never been a person of color of any gender or a female person of any color who has managed to occupy the highest office of the land. And even that exclusive club is limited still.

White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs), with the exception only of a few with Irish-Catholic roots, have tended to keep the office of the presidency as a virtual monopoly for themselves.

Only the Americans themselves can really say if they are ready. As a shining beacon of hope, democracy and liberty to the rest of the world, is the nation finally at a stage where it can actually practice what it has preached for so long?

Oh yes, indeed. We forget that among America’s nation-students, many have already breached the gender or color barriers long ago. Even a conservative male-dominated Moslem country has had Benazir Bhutto as prime minister, and an ethnically more homogenous Peru has elected a Japanese-Peruvian, Alberto Fujimori, as its president.

But in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where women and persons of color have enjoyed success in almost any field of endeavor, the long line of almost exclusively WASPs has remained unbroken — that is until this year’s election rolls along.

The Democratic Party will certainly break the mould first, for the first time nominating a candidate belonging to either category as its standard bearer for the electoral contest. Because apart from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, everyone else in the party has put away his or her presidential ambitions on hold, at least for another four years.

But the bigger question remains — can America go all the way and break the mould as a nation, by choosing whoever it is that the Democrats put up for the public vote?

It all remains to be seen, of course, because America today is saddled with a host of serious problems that have neither to do with race nor gender. Its economy is badly in need of rejuvenation, and issues of security continue to haunt its collective consciousness — both problems which Democrats have not been known to be very good at solving, apart perhaps from the Clinton years being economically prosperous times for the nation.

But the implications for America will be significant if it does go ahead and break new ground. For it will give the rest of the world the unequivocal message that all of us — black or white, male or female — are truly equal as people on this earth.

(asbb.mbm91@aimalumni.org)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on February 9, 2009.

In the eye of the storm (Conclusion)

WE have seen the enemy, and it is us.

As far as the American consumers and the current financial crisis are concerned, the above phrase could not be any more appropriate. The biggest share of the collective blame lies squarely with them, and the way the United States lives today.

Many of us have friends and family in the United States. A good number will have been there ourselves.

Therefore, when I make a statement like this, it should come as a surprise to no one. How many of our friends and acquaintances Stateside own large SUVs? How many live in nice homes, with all the furniture and furnishings obtained through easy credit? How many generally live a lifestyle that seems to be beyond their reach, and act as if money is always there when they need it?

The truth is, watching the crisis unfold has been like witnessing a runaway train in slow motion.

We all knew the accident was bound to happen at some point, but everyone was powerless to stop it.

All the fingers are now pointed at the banks, the financial institutions and the car companies, for all having acted irresponsibly and caused the world to fall down. But if we really stepped back a bit from the burning rubble and tried to sift for evidence, we would probably conclude that the fire had its origins somewhere else.

Take the car companies, who are now being accused of making the “wrong” cars and not being “sensitive” enough to the needs of their consumers.

Well just a year ago—and probably even more recently than that, what their consumers wanted were large gas-guzzling SUVs. Back in the days when petrol was more affordable, did anyone, apart from Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, ever consider being seen in a hybrid car? I don’t believe so. So really they were not being irresponsible, they were just being market savvy.

And what of the savings banks which were all rushing to grant more outrageously priced mortgages, the investment banks tripping all over themselves to package the loans and sell them off as investment-grade Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), and the insurance companies like AIG thinking they could benefit from the whole situation by insuring the CDOs by means of Credit Default Swaps?

If we are really being very honest about it, they were just acting according to their roles in a free market. They saw a demand, and went ahead and tried to fill it. This is, after all, the mantra of capitalist economics—give the consumer what he or she wants, and your business succeeds.
The consumers want cheap loans, give it to them. They like to ride in large SUVs, make some for them.

We cannot, and most especially the Americans, cannot have their cake and eat it too. The capitalist world (and today this means all the world) has made a choice, and it is a simple one. It wants free markets to work without state intervention. It resents overregulation, and prefers only minimum oversight to ensure the compliance to laws and regulations, but not a sense check of their “greater good” to society.

In such a society, where the free hand of the market governs, the premise is that the ultimate responsibility lies with the consumer. This is the whole premise of a capitalist society—that no matter what happens, we believe that we should be free to make our own choices, and to create our own opportunities.

Unfortunately, this choice has a flipside, too. We should also be responsible for our actions, and accountable for the consequences of our excesses.

This crisis is simply a reminder to all of us consumers, and to the American consumer in particular, that the buck stops right here.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange. blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on December 05, 2008.

The modern business of slavery

IT is a well-know fact, even to basketball-crazy Filipinos, that football—for most parts of the world - has become the equivalent of religion.

In Manchester, for example, Church of England Sunday services are now rarely attended, especially by younger parishioners. In contrast, Old Trafford, home of the world-famous Manchester United team, draws tens of thousands to its Sunday matches.

It is, thus, a surprise when one hears a word that is probably not always equated with successful phenomena of this magnitude. That word is slavery.

Yes, slavery. A word with connotations of squalor and poverty. One that denotes bondage and oppression, and so far-removed from the success and opulence that those in the game now enjoy.

Sepp Blatter, president of football’s governing body FIFA, made the allusion recently in describing the situation facing Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo—arguably one of the game’s best players today—and who is reportedly linked with a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.

The move makes good commercial sense for both parties.

Ronaldo has recently won the Champions league with United —an accomplishment seen as second only to winning the World Cup. Real Madrid, on the other hand, although considered “Kings of Europe” for having won the tournament the most number of times, has not done so in recent years. For them, having a player of this caliber just might propel them to their former heights of glory.

For Ronaldo, on the other hand, winning it with another team will prove that he did not achieve victory the first time around simply by riding on the coattails of a great team like United. It will recognize him as a truly one of a kind player that wins tournaments for teams, and not just with them.

Just one hitch stands in the way of this dream partnership, however. Ronaldo is still contracted to United for a few years to come yet—until the Olympics come around to England in 2012, to be exact.

This is where Sepp Blatter steps in and pronounces the player’s situation as “slavery.” He further advises United to respect his wishes, and to let him go to Real Madrid, should it be his desire to do so.

FIFA has never had good relations with English football for a variety of reasons, and Blatter and Alex Ferguson, United’s fiery Scottish manager, have never gotten along particularly well over the years. But this perceived interference by Blatter in the club’s affairs did not exactly qualify as diplomacy on Blatter’s part.

Today’s players of Ronaldo’s caliber are simply no slaves, in whatever terms we may describe slavery to be. They earn in a day far in excess of what even top executives in the Philippines can hope to make in a year. They and their dependents are set for life, and this through doing the thing they love the most – playing football.

How many of us can claim to enjoy such privilege?

The business of slavery is alive and well in the modern world.

Young girls from Eastern Europe and Asia are trafficked against their wishes to brothels in the West, where criminal gangs make huge amounts of money from exploiting them.

Modern sportswear manufacturers realize huge amounts of profit by sub-contracting their goods with sweatshops in China and India, employing child labor at ridiculously low wages. And back home, syndicates employ street children to beg and steal for their benefit.

Yes, slavery is still a thriving business in the modern world. But it would do Sepp Blatter well next time to think twice before comparing Ronaldo’s dilemma, to the real slavery that confronts us every day in our part of the world.

(http://asbb-foreignexchange.blogspot.com)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on July 26, 2008.