23 October 2015 – A Philippine delegation composed of CEOs and top executives from the private sector in the Philippines, led by Ambassador Jose Cuisia, Jr. and Dr. Bernardo Villegas, participated in the Philippine Investment Roadshow on October 19, in cooperation with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development (represented by Mr. Bill Flanagan, Chief Corporate Communications Officer), the Filipino-American Community in Pittsburgh (FAAP), and the Consulate General and Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in New York, led by Consul General Mario De Leon, Jr.

The Investment Roadshow is a private sector-led annual event that highlights the positive economic developments and growth industries in the Philippines, as well as investment and trade opportunities for the U.S. business community. This year, the cities of Pittsburgh, Dallas, and Seattle were selected as venues for the Roadshow. First organized in 2012, previous years’ Investment Roadshows were held in Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, among other U.S. cities.

In Pittsburgh, Dr. Villegas, who headed the delegation and a leading economist, gave a presentation about the Philippine macroeconomic situation, followed by presentations by Mr. Ronaldo Elepano, Jr., First Vice President for Business Development of DM Consunji Inc.; Mr. Juan Pena, President of RAJI Inc.; Mr. Engelbert Camasura, Partner of ZMG Ward Howell – International Consulting Firms; and Mr. Jose Mari P. Mercado, President and CEO of Information Technology and Business Process Associations of the Philippines (IBPAP).

In his remarks, Mr. Flanagan welcomed the participants and the collaboration established between the Philippines and Allegheny Conference, as the latter hosts the Philippines in its venue which is actually the first such hosting for a Southeast Asian economy. He saw many pluses in this activity which raise the profile of the Philippines among the business community of Pittsburgh and he hopes that the event is a start of deepening relations between the Philippines and the Allegheny Region on matters of trade and investment, particularly in areas covering healthcare, ICT and renewable energy.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Cuisia said that this was the first Investment Roadshow held in the Allegheny Region and Pittsburgh. He welcomed the partnership with the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, which is allied with major regional business councils in Pennsylvania. He cited the importance of bringing Philippine CEOs to establish contact with potential U.S. investors, pointing to the success of previous roadshows in North America. He gave credit to the efforts of Dr. Bernie Villegas and his co-participants who traveled to the U.S., at their own expense and out of service for the Philippines, to encourage U.S. investors to consider the country for their business operations because of its strategic importance as a gateway to the Asian region.       

Dr. Bernie Villegas provided the context of the Philippine economy to complement the other presentations, citing the necessity to pay attention to the countryside and focus on agricultural sufficiency, including building more farm-to-market roads and irrigation systems.  The current administration can be credited for part of the current economic boom for its anti-corruption platform and ongoing construction/infrastructure projects that support economic recovery. He gives credit where is credit is due when he attributed the sustainability of the country’s economy to the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry’s US$22 billion dollar contribution to the national GDP as well as the 1.1 million employment it provides. He also cited the US$25 billion remittances of overseas Filipino workers and the English-speaking work force to this sustained economic growth. 

Dr. Villegas underscored the Philippine advantage citing positive trends such as a stable democracy, strong macroeconomic fundamentals, educated and young population, strategic geographic location in ASEAN, which resulted in increased manufacturing activities, and dollar and personal savings. This made the Philippines least vulnerable among countries in the region to external shocks as it is not dependent on exports. However, the Philippine economy continues to experience structural weaknesses such as corruption, red tape, the anti-foreign direct investment provisions of the Constitution and the Mindanao tribal conflicts, he added.

Mr. Elepano spoke on the country’s energy prospects and the booming property market.  He urged investors to invest in the power sector because of the gap in the required minimum capacity and buffer energy requirements in the Visayas and Mindanao.  Citing the rise of BPO business and the need for more commercial space to host BPO operations, Mr. Elepano urged U.S. investors to set up BPO operations in the country.

Mr. Johnny Pena, who served as the Philippine Ports Authority Manager in the 1990s, spoke about opportunities in transportation, ports management and railways in his presentation.  He explained that the Greater Metro Manila area will stretch as far as Angeles City, Pampanga in the north and Lucena City, Quezon province in the south.  That being said, there will be a huge demand to serve the transportation requirements of local businesses and residential populations.  A government and private sector collaboration to improve and achieve sustainable in the railway system and port services,  as well as the freight cargo industry, is necessary to sustain economic growth in major cities, he underscored.

Mr. Engelbert Camasura mentioned the idea of the Global Pinoy in a a video presentation which gave the audience an idea of unique Filipinos traits – malasakit (compassion), concern, and selflessness – and underscored that the Philippines is in a demographic sweet spot where a young, highly-literate, and English speaking labor force is driving the economy and attracting potential investors to find opportunities in the Philippines, particularly in the BPO and contact center industry.

Mr. Jomari Mercado, who has served in the BPO industry since its inception, emphasized that earnings from BPO businesses will overtake Overseas Filipino (OF) remittances – now at US$25 billion – in a few years as BPO is growing at an 18% clip compared to OF remittances growth of 3-6% only.  He believes in the business potential of BPO – now the biggest in the world surpassing India – in the U.S. market, citing that, historically, 77% of BPO business came from U.S. companies and that customer satisfaction ratings spike when an American becomes that he is speaking to a Filipino contact point.  There is a huge potential for U.S. investors outside Metro Manila,  in the next-wave cities like Metro Cebu, Clark, Bacolod and Iloilo, that offer a talented and scalable labor pool, he added.

In his closing remarks, Consul General De Leon said that the importance of the Investment Roadshow is to re-tell the narrative of the country to inspire confidence and boost the profile of the Philippines in the U.S. He believes that the U.S. will remain the Philippines number one trading partner for many years.  He thanked the Allegheny Conference for partnering with the Philippine Embassy and the Consulate General,  and to Ambassador Cuisia for his leadership that inspire positive change and out-of-the-box thinking in the Foreign Service.

The 2015 Philippine Investment Roadshow will continue on to Dallas, Texas and then Seattle, Washington. The Philippine Investment Roadshow in the U.S. was initiated by Ambassador Cuisia as a flagship project during his assumption as Philippine Ambassador to the United States. END