The distance between
Thailand and RP

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor ERIC T. LORETIZO Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Perhaps the local Japanese Chamber of Industry was being polite in saying that the Philippine is at risk of being considered an investor-unfriendly country. In the same consoling manner, it also recalled that the Philippines was "the leading economic power in the 1970s but had been dramatically overtaken by Thailand in the past 30 years."

The statements were among the conclusions of the report made in the study of the investment environments of Thailand and the Philippines that the chamber had commissioned recently.

Despite the ongoing turmoil in Thailand caused by the agitations for the resignation of its Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the study still pointed out that Thailand is still very well ahead of the Philippines, particularly where political stability and peace and order are concerned.

The study also pointed out that political instability has been the major obstacle in implementing consistent industrial development policies, and that this has been going on for a long time.

The study also urged the country's leaders to focus on the issues of labor, investment incentives, its tax system and infrastructure.

While acknowledging that labor costs in the Philippines are competitive with those of Thailand, and that Filipino workers hold an edge over the Thais because of proficiency in English, it pointed out the set-backs caused by the country's minimum wage that, it said, has a tendency to increase almost every year. There is also the problem of radical unionism, and the constraints against foreign ownership of land, it added.

It even zeroed in on the Arroyo government's tendency to abruptly declare public holidays which cause disruption to work, especially in factories.

All these we have also heard before from our own economists and technocrats but, sadly, the same conditions continue to hold, year after year. Perhaps our leaders will listen this time because the observation comes from a foreign source?*