The Philippines rank almost at tail end occupying number 94 out of the 139 participating nations in terms of competitiveness. European countries, lead by Switzerland, France and Italy occupied the top three based on various index.
In Asia, Singapore and China leads. On travel and tourism regulatory framework, we were ranked No. 98 on a scale of negative 3.7 %. On business environment and infrastructure, we improved to No. 95 or a negative of 3.2%. We got an encouraging higher rating of No. 20 or plus 5.2% on price competitiveness.
While on cultural and natural resources, we rank No. 75 at negative 3.7%. This low rating should serve as a wakeup call to the mining and mineral explorations proponents.
We did poorly on safety and security at No. 109 or negative 4.1% with the hugging headlines of kidnapping and disturbing sensational crimes aggravated by the various travel advisories issued by foreign nations.
But it was on the ground transport that we got clobbered by the traveler’s index at No. 114 or negative 2.8% which showed some weakness to the PNoy government that should have a stop gap with the appointment of Sec. Mar Roxas to the DOTC. Ground transportation does not only speak of the modes of transport but on the general conditions of moving travelers by land. This covers infrastructures like good roads and bridges and traffic management.
Perhaps on infrastructures, the government realized the folly of their actions after withholding money for various public works improvement which the Department of Budget and Management released only early January 2012.
While on traffic management, we have made slow inroads, it’s still a daily grind in Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao City.
In our native language, we call it “kalandrakas”. Many cities in the Philippines like Cagayan de Oro and Baguio City have to go to the banks to finance their Flyovers in the City which were built on national highways.
A city government taking over the road jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works and Highways? The government funds which were not available in 2011 for public works brought down our competitiveness among the lowest 20’s in the 139 nations in the world.
The government logic in releasing the budget in the 1st week of January as priming the economy with P182 Billion infrastructures for 2012 is a positive acknowledgement that in did, we lost grasp of the economy which has already gone down with an anemic growth of 3.7% compared to the higher economic growth of 7.2% in 2010.
According to Mr. Benjamin Diokno of the UP School of Economics, “the lack of public funds for infrastructure and low government expenditures last year slowed down the economy”.
NEDA officials understood that but maybe the Budget Secretary has another economic interpretation to cover up for the weakness of Malacañang? The Competitive Index showed however that there is a good indicator of priming the economy which can spark tourism growth with foreign investments welcomed to the Philippines. On Visa requirements, we rank No. 3 on good policies and regulations. Hotel price index for foreign travelers stood at No. 15 or plus 10.05% in spite of fewer hotel rooms.
We rank No. 132 of the 139 nations having low capacities for hotel density per 1,000 square kilometers. It relates to a message clearly understood by big property developers like Ayala Land, Fil-invest, SM Prime and Megaworld to bankroll development for more international standards hotels.
Ayala Land’s Kukun Hotel is scheduled to open in the 3rd quarter of 2012 in Cagayan de Oro City with two more properties at the Bonifacio Global City and at the Abreeza in Davao City. On the pillar of human resources, the Philippines stood No. 69 or 11.03% on the quality of the educational system. We were No. 46 or 11.05% on the extent of staff training due to our English literacy.
But wait until you see some shocking and arbitrary revelations that shows, we are No. 1 out of the 139 nations with” HIV” prevalence which brings a negative of 11.09% or No. 83 on business impact of HIV/Aids lowering life expectancy to the rank of No. 87 or negative 11.10%. We are low on the pillar of health and hygiene, rank No. 127 or negative 4.04% on the resurgent of tropical disease like Dengue fever, Malaria and Leptospirosis plus the inadequacy of hospital beds. Don’t cry for me Argentina, on the scale of 1 – 10, where do we stand? This is for our government policy makers and our leaders to ponder to earn their mandate.
Ped T. Quiamjot is one of the brilliant columnists of a local newspaper in Cagayan de Oro City and currently the General Manager of Pryce Plaza Hotel Cagayan de Oro. His column talks on various issues and concerns affecting the business sector and tourism industry.
0 comments:
Post a Comment