| Paco Sandejas | Posted: October 22, 2009 3:30 PM |
 Joined June 9, 2009
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Just bumped into Ambassador Cesar Bautista and he still tirelessly works to make Philippine industries more competitive. Seeing him and remembering his team at the BOI and DTI, I remembered how this BGN service can allow him and other government agencies to reach out to the many Filipino experienced professionals around the Philippines and in other parts of the world. Collectively good ideas can come to light (also bad ideas, shot down). DG Lilia de Lima of PEZA is another good and effective public servant who listens and serves well by taking quick action to make government services better and to enable economic progress. Let's improve the public-private sector partnerships! |
| Nicole Paterno | Posted: October 23, 2009 11:58 AM |
 Joined June 5, 2009
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AGREE! I'm with you on this Paco. But the reality is - when these people get out because their term has expired, everything gets rehashed. :-( I guess there are some exceptions but generally, that is how things work in the public sector. While the heads of agencies are key to making things possible, the ones at the ground should be able to understand the concept of sustainability and how important they are carrying it out in the whole process. There should be a change in mindset talaga. If a particular institution can do it, I believe we can effect the change we want for the entire nation. |
| Judith Magnaye | Posted: December 24, 2009 12:02 PM |
 Joined September 14, 2005
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Thanks Paco and Nicole for this posting. In this connection, I recall this wonderful article by Dr. Federico M. Macaranas re Winning brains back to the Philippines dated 09/26/08 (pasted below for your reading convenience). He raised very important points which require some follow-up actions and it would be great to hear views from members of this BGN sub-group on how to move forward (I assume a combination of private and public/social entrepreneurs). Also, there have been similar or follow-up articles on a similar topic by other authors on the Philippine Daily Inquirer website. Through my personal networks, I got this reaction on this posting from a Fil-Am IT professional based in California: “I would also propose that an extension to the Balik Scientist Program be made. One of the growing trends I have heard of is the number of senior citizens and retirees going into the peace corps. Well, one concept that I would like to see explored is if it would be possible for the Philippine government to encourage many of the folks who were in the exodus of the late 60's and 70's to come back to the Philippines. As most of these folks are of retirement age they may be looking for their "second career". I would hope that many of these career folks could come back to the Philippines and serve as educators, advisors, entrepreneurs, scientists, or in some other capacity. With their wealth of professional experience, it could be a good resource to improve the capabilities of the Philippines. While the Balik Scientist Program does exist, I remain doubtful that many people know of the program, how to participate, and what opportunities exist. Furthermore, I don't know if it would allow some of the retirees to serve as educators in the non-targeted priority areas. I know that many Filipinos abroad have considered retiring in the Philippines. The cost of living is considerably lower, the quality of life can be higher, and it is possible for people to be with or reconnect with friends and family. I think, from a market perspective, it may be difficult for the Philippines to compete with what is being offered abroad. Retirees, though, may be in a position to work on their legacy in lieu of monetary rewards. At this time, is there a way to see what opportunities exist in the Philippines to work on? I know Paco's BGN database has quite a few people registered as resources but how do we get the two together? Do people looking for resources know how to find them, and do people that want to give back know how to offer help? Personally, I know I don't.” _________ Winning brains back to the Philippines 09/26/08 Posted under Brain Drain By Federico M. Macaranas AFTER posting its highest growth rate in more than three decades in 2007, the Philippine economy is poised to slow down in 2008 on account of external factors whose domestic impact its managers cannot fully tame. This should be less of a problem for those who are more long-term oriented and less swayed by medium-term political goals. After all, given the past economic reforms in banking and finance (capital adequacy ratios of commercial banks and the expanded value-added tax) among others, it is these long-term factors that really matter for sustained growth. Yet short-term gains from the much-vaunted outsourcing bonanza that could result from the US slowdown, as corporations cut down costs, should be taken with much caution. Even the call for greater financial integration in the region espoused by the ADB should be tempered with a focus on the production of real goods and services — lest the economy be trapped forever in its low-level growth. More fundamental than these financial factors is the need for the Philippines to align its economic growth with the path taken by dynamic Asia-Pacific countries and the developed world — a path that is based on innovation and technology. But more productive raw materials or chemicals, machinery or equipment, processing or marketing ideas do not grow out of trees. They come from people, educated men and women — be they peasants tutored in appropriate technologies rooted in indigenous practices or PhD’s able to translate scholarly learning into commercial ventures. Short or even bereft of a science and technology culture, the Philippines must now seriously harness its human resources spread around the world to boost its productive capacity in real goods and services. Services in this case includes an appropriately risk-managed banking and finance system that should respond to the needs of smaller enterprises to generate more jobs relative to capital, and bring about an increase in employment numbers. This is the time to win back more brains to return. Successive Philippine administrations attempted to do this after the big brain drain in the 1970s and later in the 1990s. But this time around, it is not only the government that must act; the private sector must do its share in permanently harnessing Filipino overseas talents – not through permanent return but through permanent connections, not through remittances alone but transfer of technology and market information. These are the very areas that the private sector can concentrate its efforts on — but there must be appropriate government policies, both national and local, to attract these overseas resources to come home to roost. Here is where a new public private partnership (PPP) must come in. The Philippines’ Balik Scientist (returnee scientist) program should be redesigned to enable the private sector to be its immediate and direct beneficiary in the current priority areas namely: alternative energy, biotechnology, information and communication technology, pharmaceutical, and environment, and even areas outside these government-identified R&D interests. Many agriculturists and fisheries experts, industry specialists, etc. are needed by the country, as special scholarships set up for these fields attest. These areas include biofuels, coco-chemicals, business process outsourcing, herbal medicine, marine remediation and afforestation. The Philippine private sector should be enticed to identify talented Filipinos abroad so that they can partner with them to develop new process technologies or new products. For example, Filipino food scientists abroad can be tapped to help raise farm productivity. Rather than simply market the Balik Scientist Program through the typical academic routes, wouldn’t it be better to try matching available private sector R&D funds with overseas Filipinos who are expert in their fields? This means a call for pro-active public-private partnerships, starting with the development of an inventory of Filipino human resources designed like a talent bank for specific industries. This proposed overseas Filipino talent bank should be a roster that is frequently updated by a public-private group. It can serve as a potential skilled supply base of R&D partners that can be tapped by young entrepreneurs, established firms, cooperatives, etc., in the Philippines. It can be a national roster that can be developed from professional organizations, alumni chapters, hometown associations, etc. based abroad. This talent bank should contain information on the special skills of these expatriate Filipinos, whose homing instincts could be fanned by attractive professional and commercial prospects in their home country — similar to how Taiwan, Korea, India, China and other countries succeeded in attracting their own nationals to their science parks to incubate new products. Such a human resource talent bank will truly engage the Philippines in planning an innovation and technology-based strategy. After all, are we not in a networking age in the creative knowledge era? Knowing where its talents are at any time could truly be one of the wisest investments the Philippines can make as it reaches the fork of low vs. high growth possibilities — most recently documented by the study of De La Salle University economist Dr. Michael Alba, in his book on the long-term decline of Philippine competitiveness published by the AIM Policy Center (December 2007). (Editor’s note: Author clarifies that Mike Alba is the author of an article in a book published by AIM Policy Center. He is one of several contributors. DLSU did not publish the book). Creative products and services generated by human innovation are the comparative advantage of the Philippines even in a financially volatile global economy. Local production of farm goods and improved logistics services can be stimulated by higher food prices. For example, higher value products and processes are likely to come out of research laboratories — as the coconut coir ventures being used to prevent soil erosion shows. But more networks abroad are needed by the Philippines to connect to the larger overseas markets, including those that are decoupling from globally frenzied industries as local initiatives are linked to each other through new financial schemes (for sourcing and using of funds) such as carbon credits, pooled financial resources, fair trade, etc . The Science and Technology Advisory Councils (STAC) that were once organized by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the purpose of linking overseas Filipino high-level talents to Philippine institutions, agencies, firms, universities, etc. through short-term consultancies among others, were funded by a UNDP scheme called TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals) that is now managed by UN Volunteers. After about a decade of successfully stirring the interest of top-level scientists and engineers, the Philippine program, which was actually cited by the UNDP TOKTEN administrator as one of the most successful in the world, ceased to operate in 1998 – but many of its chapters and erstwhile members are independently working for the same cause today. It is high time that the Philippines seriously embarks on setting up these talent banks through public-private partnerships. The successful Science and Technology Advisory Councils could serve as a model. Dr. Federico Macaranas is the Executive Director of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center, argues that the Philippines needs to organize its overseas science and technology diaspora into talent pools for possible collaboration with Philippine industry. He currently sits as a Technical Advisory Council member of the bicameral Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) |
| paul palugod | Posted: November 6, 2010 11:47 AM |
 Joined November 6, 2010
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Thanks Judith for these very thoughtful comments. I am wondering why there are no further threads. Is there a possibility of renewing the TOKTEN program? why did it stop? perhaps we can learn some lessons from the experience? we can also tap the previous memebrs for their insights about the program? are you aware of previous members who are stil active in this regard My wife and I just came back from the Philippines to research on outsourcing. We both have academic backgrounds and she spent 3 months at UP as a visiting professor. The growth of outsourcing has been phenomenal. Here are some observations -- the pHilippines has not developed its own companies on outsourcing unlike India - most of the companies are captives of multinationals or large third party providers from India. What does that say - it shows the lack of talent at the management, entreprenerial, and technical level. we can participate in the outosurcing boom but at the lower end of the value added. The higher value added are captured by multinationals and indian companies and other major players |
| Francis Egenias | Posted: November 8, 2010 6:57 PM |
 Joined November 27, 2009
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"What does that say - it shows the lack of talent at the management, entreprenerial, and technical level" there are a few big home-grown and locally-owned contact centers. PLDT has a contact center. SPI is a local company. yes, a good number are from India. but i think the lack is in the entrepreneurial level. Filipinos are never lacking in the management and technical level. Filipinos are already exporting software in the 1980s. its a wonder why none of them grew as big as Infosys and Satyam. (Tata and Wipro leveraged their non-software foundations that helped them to be the Big 3 of India IT outsourcing, along with Infosys)
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| Astrophel Arquiza | Posted: January 17, 2011 8:33 PM |
 Joined September 6, 2008
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In my opinion, it is not the lack of entreprenual capability but the bureaucracy and too many steps for any enterprise to be made into reality. Furthermore a lot of us Filipinos dwell too much into politics and spend a lot of time pointing fingers and putting the blame on someone, instead of taking ownership of their own plight. Fortunately I'm inching myself in establishing a small operations back home, currently not flowing into reality as I would hope for, but patience is one of my virtue and working with what is the "right" steps to do is the only recourse that I have to face with. Slowly but surely it will come. |
| Michelangelo Du | Posted: March 27, 2011 1:20 PM |
 Joined March 16, 2010
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I would just like to comment, though I dont know anyone in the group I would just like to comment on 1 country as a sample. Korea developed a large Industry base it had close Industrial Relations with Japan, and they provided the resources, over a decade or two to make Korea what it is today. Like India, they had a very large labor force in the technical sector. It would take large amounts of resources to develop the Industrial sector, and there are many competitors (Vietnam, Malaysia, probably Indonesia) with similar resources as ours ( from My view in the Agriculutural Sector). China will still be the Industrial Center of the world for a very long time. Why should we use up valuable resources fighting the same battles most of these countries are (meaning replicating competing Industries here, and only by ourselves). Lets leverage the exisiting resources of our own, and make Business Matching Precise, like a smart bomb, and inexpensive, thru web enabled technologies, and with governments and Call Centers assisting us. Lets Magnify capabilties, with the assistance of Government Agencies (DTI, DOST, TRC), the existing BGN members and with assistance from partner overseas cities (carefully selected for their capabilities to bring complementary upstream and downstream linkage industries to our existing Philippines --- an info agency, much like a stock brokerage research firm, studying every detail of contactable overseas Industries outside and those in Phl, maybe by having an interbranch agency or desk with the Embassies, DOST and DTI ). The Philippine embassies in selected countries would have a DOST-DTI desk (they would have data on the skills, industries possible in the Philippines, and the Directory of the Companies or associations to contact ). You could also outsource this to a call center --- Business Matching Services. They would use Advanced Analytics, Search Engine Technology, and DTI data, to background check all Industries that our existing ones can match, and provide translators and messageboards for communicating between companies. A desk of DTI here would also fastrack the paperwork, especially for the big companies. Lets save efforts by having a one stop agency handle all the needs, efficiently, effectively and with little communication error. By the time, these people meet in Trade Exhibits or Business Tours, the deal has been signed and sealed already.
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| Michelangelo Du | Posted: April 5, 2011 2:09 PM |
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Joined March 16, 2010
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Let me make a scenario of how this looks from an SMEs point of view: Traditional method: 1. I am a trader of a certain product. I visit a country and attend a trade exhibit to showcase my wares. 2. the people I meet are with the industry , but most are not that interested in the product ( I didnt have enough time to show my products in detail or know the customer more thoroughly), or do not speak english. In essence, the trip was wasted. 3. I f I did get a few customers ---- how much do I really know about them ? I cannot \background check and I lack resources to do that. 4. End result ---- I spent almost a few months preparing for a trade exhibit where I had little contacts. Now the premise---- what if it was a web-enabled and assited meeting: 1. I am the same trader of the same product, but I did two things right: a. I used the skill of a search engine analyst to thread to the web, and find the right directories, contacts, ecommerce sites for my matching customer. They are in the vicinity of the next trade show. b. I emailed and contacted DTI and the Philippine embassies to act as medium, with their translators and country representatives assisting in communication. This is a public service, they do it to further economic interrests of the country, since you are attending an exhibit, especially if you are in Industry and have something to export. (this is a few months in advance) c. The effect of being in contact with the a possible customer far ahead ---- you have all the time to know them, their company, and what matching product you can offer, sort out the wrinkles, and maybe even seal the deal before any visits. 2. End result ---- you can relax in knowing that, once you have visited the tradeshow --- all your customers are already encouraged to deal with you. THIS TECHNIQUE is web enabled, utilizes existing skills, leverages Industry with excellent govt support, And, I'm proud to say we did this somewhere, sometime last year. If Govt had a one stop shop where we could do all transactions (permits, taxes, foreign trade, clearances), it wouldnt just be saving effort -- it could make or break deals in Industry, since organizational momentum ( should we still have resources in this new venture if the deal drags on to some permit?), customer trust ( competitor country Y can do it faster. I cant wait for you to deal with me), and possible foreign partnerships can only be encouraged, under the right Business and Governmeny "Ecosystem" . I learned that in our Agri sector.
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| Michelangelo Du | Posted: April 7, 2011 4:21 PM |
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Joined March 16, 2010
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My best example is our homegrown mall Lim Ket Kai Center in Cagayan de Oro -- DFA and LTO are inside the malls; that takes care of accessiblity and common service facilities while waiting. What if DENR, DOST, DTI, NBI, BLT, City hall, etc were combined into one big office - all in one government, inside a mall. You could handle transactions more quickly, and someday, you leave the opportunity for it to be electronically integrated (DTI and DENR on permits, and DTI and DOST on market research, BLT and City Hall on Properties, etc). It saves building disparate facilties that should be close together, and they can have their own set of common service facilties to reduce government expenses.
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| Jose Quesada | Posted: April 7, 2011 10:46 PM |
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Joined May 24, 2010
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I am happy to read the posts above and the ideas regarding making our government agencies more efficient through the use of web enabled technologies so that government can help promote and encourage growth of local businesses internationally. The challenges that I have seen and experienced first hand in helping government agencies embrace web enabled technologies, are the following: The first challenge is that of being able to overcome inertia required to get the staff and management of a government agency to adapt and accept changes to their way of doing things. The second challenge is the long and tedious process of approving budgets for building Information Technology systems for government agencies. The third challenge is building the right Information Technology systems that we be of real benefit to the government agency and the citizens that it serves. My experience with helping a government agency embrace web enabled technologies has to do with a four year on going process to help computerize the paper based business processes of Laguna Lake Development Authority. I started helping LLDA take steps towards computerization by assigning several groups of my students to LLLDA. The students completed their course work of going through the Systems Development Life Cycle with LLDA as their client. The output of their work were several web based systems that did the following: One system allowed clients of LLDA to apply for discharge permits over the internet. Another system computerized the internal processes of LLDA in processing the permits. A third system mapped out the geographic locations of clients of LLDA on a GIS Map. The LLDA staff and management were and are committed to implementing the computerization of their business processes to make their agency more efficient in servicing their clients. It just takes a long term commitment and determination to see things through to so that the agency will be able to change and to embrace new , web enabled technologies to make their processes more efficient and more responsive to the needs of their clients. |
| Michelangelo Du | Posted: April 9, 2011 4:32 PM |
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Joined March 16, 2010
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Dear Mr. Quesada, Thank you very much sir for your words of encouragement. That's a very interesting project, connecting GIS and databases in a government website; It has many interesting commercial applications. I recall another website pioneer here by Mr. Edge Dalmacio of Haybol.ph ( http://www.haybol.ph/ ) which is a Real Estate portal ---- a social network where people can sell their real estate and show it on GIS Map. If you are not yet aware of this sir, You can actually find many of these unique services here ( might give you ideas ) : 100 of the best Google Maps Projects People have used this to showcase rent-a-car services like ZIPCAR --- which have GPS and you can park anywhere after using it. I am not saying this is practical in the Philippines, but with GPS, GIS maps like Google, Social Network sites like Facebook or LinkedIn you can easily do inexpensive commercial services from the same technology. Regarding websites, we are approaching the age where we can do interactive and databased websites without any or little need for programming at all. I came across these websites 2 years ago, but I had no particular use for them ( since I am more of a Search Engine Analyst and entrepreneur). They are WEB-BASED DATABASES, something you can subscribe to use for a monthly basis. Lightspoke CEBase I dont know if this can fit your requirements, but my point is, because of IPAD, Androd phones and the Open Source (almost free software) movement, there are now these powerful web-based services (ASPs) that constantly provide you the services you can utilize at a fraction of the cost. Concerning Transactions with government ----- maybe we should all be in Facebook, or friendster --- combining it all, web based services, social network, it would be Ideally nice if we can transact with most government services all from the comfort of our computer. I will name a few excellent ones: 1. SEC -- it is now online. anyone who needs to view the FS or GIS of a registered Philippine company can do so; just purchase the cards from the POEA office near Robinsons Galleria. Its quick, and I do not have to go to far flung Manila to transact. What if we could do the same for Register of Deeds or BLT? 2.Customs - Export is about to go Automated, almost --- just search for E2M or Electronic to Mobile --- someday, processing your documents will be very quick. I just want to state this, but what if we could have every government office have a COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, connected to FB, to handle most transactions with them, especially in Congress and Senate ---- FB has its own minutes of the meeting, why cant we use that as a medium for dealing with issues 24/7? It would reduce all arguments in Congress to a minimum ( especially if there was a manual or protocol in online meetings, just like Robert's Rules of Order ). It was very effective in reducing confusion in our Export business, I believe it will do the same here. There sir, I have overloaded you with too much information already. Again, it is nice to talk to people like you. Best Regards, Michelangelo Du |
| Judith Magnaye | Posted: May 14, 2011 4:45 AM |
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Joined September 14, 2005
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Dear Paul, Francis, Astrophel, Michelangelo and Jose, Thank you very much for sharing your insights, experiences and innovative ideas on this subject. I am very happy to read your substantive contributions! Sitting from New York it's great to hear from people with enriched local knowledge. Question for Paco/Nicole: Would it be possible for BGN to synthesize the above into a concrete proposal/recommended actions to concerned government line agencies and/or influential policy makers? Through a formal cover letter from the BGN, at least we can get a proper response from relevant parties and would have a basis for monitoring. BTW are strategic partners in government line agencies members of the BGN? I would really like to see great ideas perculating from the BGN translate into concrete actions. Some of the ideas can be a concrete project in itself. What do you think? With best wishes to all, Judith Puyat-Magnaye |
| Judith Magnaye | Posted: May 14, 2011 5:48 AM |
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Joined September 14, 2005
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The Philippines’ Balik Scientist program should be redesigned to enable the private sector to be its immediate and direct beneficiary in the current priority areas namely: alternative energy, biotechnology, information and communication technology, pharmaceutical, and environment, and even areas outside these government-identified R&D interests. Many agriculturists and fisheries experts, are needed by the country, as special scholarships set up for these fields attest. These areas include bio fuels, coco-chemicals, business process outsourcingmarine herbal medicine, Many agriculturists and fisheries experts, industry specialists, etc. are needed by the country, as remediation and afforestation. The Philippine private sector should be enticed to identify talented Filipinos abroad so that they can partner with them to develop new process technologies or new products. For example, Filipino food scientists abroad can be tapped to help raise farm productivity. Rather than simply market the Balik Scientist Program through the typical academic routes, wouldn’t it be better to try matching available private sector R&D funds with overseas Filipinos who are expert in their fields? This means a call for pro-active public-private partnerships, starting with the development of an inventory of Filipino human resources designed like a talent bank for specific industries, regularly updated and could serve as a potential skilled supply base of R&D partners that can be tapped by young entrepreneurs, established firms, cooperatives, etc., in the Philippines. It can be a national roster that can be developed from professional organizations, alumni chapters, hometown associations, etc. based abroad. This talent bank should contain information on the special skills of these expatriate Filipinos, whose homing instincts could be fanned by attractive professional and commercial prospects in their home country — similar to how Taiwan, Korea, India, China and other countries succeeded in attracting their own nationals to their science parks to incubate new products. |
| Judith Magnaye | Posted: May 14, 2011 6:01 AM |
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Joined September 14, 2005
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Hi Paco/Nicole: I made a mistake in pasting my last posting (these are the salient points from the Macaranas article already posted above). I could not find the delete button for this posting. Sorry about that. |
