FLORDELIZA, MARY JANTZEN B.

1. What do you think is the impact of Martial Law declaration in Mindanao to the overall business
climate of the Philippines?
- President Duterte declared Martial Law in Mindanao because of the battle in
Marawi between the government forces and Maute group. There would be a great
impact on the Travel and Tourism account since domestic travel to Mindanao from
other province has been curtailed. Airlines have cancelled and reduced flights to
Mindanao areas, as have all passenger vessels by boat or bus. Thus, GDP will be
affected since Travel and Tourism account holds 20% of our economy/GDP and
Mindanao contributes 5% of it. Not just the Travel and Tourism account but also the
agricultural production and exports . But according to Defense Undersecretary
Cardozo M. Luna said that the effect of the declaration is very minimal as of now
since it would take time to determine.
2. Comment on the emerging Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) industry in the Philippines,
Describe its challenge and opportunities.
- Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) describes the outsourcing of core
information-related business activities which are competitively important or form
an integral part of a company’s value chain. The KPO in the Philippines are often
called “non voice” or back office services referring to activities outside contact
center, customer and IT support services. High end services are provided at lower
cost to decrease unemployment and benefit their economy and provide flexibility
in terms of HRM & time management. According to Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, executive
director of Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation for ICT, pointed out 4 challenges.
Marketing program should be planned carefully especially in the international
market since investors are concentrated in Manila and do not consult with local
stakeholders as partners. There is also a need to beef up our roster of fiscal and
non-fiscal incentives for information and communications technology companies
and compete with other countries. We need to break also the traditional barriers
that impede our educational system. Industry and benefit must collaborate with K
to 12 teachers to develop the creative and critical tinking of skills int he primary
level.
3. How do you react to the aggressive infrastructure spending by the incumbent Duterte
administration?
- “What we want to build are not walls but windmills. When the winds of change are
coming you don’t build walls because walls will resist change. You build windmills
because that will allow us to leverage even on headwinds and transform these
adverse pressures to something that is more constructive”, says BSP Deputy
Governor Diwa Guinigundo. I agree with what he said, we need to embrace these
changes and move with it and also believed that this decision of our President will
lead to an improvement to our economy
4. The Philippine economy as reported grew by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2016 outpacing other
emerging economies in Asia pointing a 6.8 GDP in 2016. Furthermore the country’s GDP grows
faster by 6.5% in Q2 of 2017. How do you respond to this development? Can you project a
steady growth of the Philippines economy?
- An increasing GDP means a stable economy in the Philippines. This means that our
country is increasing the amount of production and the citizens have a higher
income and hence are spending more. Higher GDP means more income and
employment for our epople. The economy is in good shape and our country is
moving forward for the next years to come especially when the plans and programs
of our President will take place.
5. Comment on the depreciation of peso in the Philippines.
- Depreciation of the peso means that every dollar remitted by our OFW’s could
translate into more pesos received by their loved ones. I myself is affected and is
happy since my father is working abroad. We are receiving their remittance in a
higher rate compared before and it helps a lot. But for the economy, a depreciation
in peso doesn’t mean a weaker economy. A weak peso makes our export products
cheaper to foreign buyers. This encourage them to buy more from us. With
declining imports and increasing exports, our net export expands. This will result to
higher GDP, means higher production cost, thus negating in part the gains of our
exporters from the peso depreciation.