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GROWL WITH ASIA...I'm still hungry.

I was expecting some entertainment from the Babe: Pig in the City only to be disturbed by these powerful words. Later, I realized why. As a kid, these are the three words that I dared not to speak at the dining table. I had to be satisfied with whatever is available.

Although the Philippines has a promising progress in the 70s, it remains just like that: a promise. Through the years, Asia has produced South Korea, Singapore, Hongkong and Taiwan as the continually roaring four economic tigers. The Philippines can only crawl in hunger.

Among those 88.7 million Filipinos, 10% are hungry ¹. Overall, poverty ² incidence is 39.4% and close to half (46.9%) in rural areas are poor. Income gap ² is 31.8%. These figures are still increasing.

While at these, China and Indian economies are like awakened dragons. Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have joined the East Asian Miracle.

This phenomenal growth ³ is fueled by local business climate, human resource and exports. I believe Filipinos can use this template as a guide.

Surprisingly, the most complicated business systems are those in developing countries. The Philippines is laggard in Asia being 126^th among 175h nations in Doing Business Index which measures starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing business. Five ⁴ neighbors crack the top 20 which means success is possible in Asia. On the other hand, Filipinos are largely devout Christians who have shown heroic capability of toppling tyranny and corruption in a series of prominent bloodless people power. To turn things around, moral compass is one tool which should be used often in business or elections.

The Philippines has a good workforce. Literacy ⁵ is at least 84%. More than this, the overseas Filipino workers (OFW) phenomenon is a testament to world class skills and work ethics. This may be the same argument for brain drain but other statistics show some glimmer of hope. Last year, OFW remittance was $10.7 billion and is increasing at 10% annually. The reinvigoration of local real estate is an indication that many are coming back.

In another front, Call Center wonder is saving many Filipinos who might otherwise wander in spite of college degrees. This is good in the short term. Selling products, other than services is a better strategic point. Apart from exporting people, the Philippines can parlay its rich agriculture and fishery to produce sufficient and affordable food products for local and export market. Local enterprises have these available valuable assets to build on: raw material, manpower, capital in the form of remittances.

I think one critical binding element is education. By this, I refer not only to academics which transform rural boys and girls into proficient employees, but also to the training which stimulates people to become conscientious entrepreneurs. These are the prime movers of the Philippines from a crawling to growling economy.