THE archives have no files on trips made by Carlos Slim Helu to troubled Lebanon, where his forefathers came from. Goggle the name of the world’s richest man and you will have a treasure trove of information on his investments in the New York Times and his ownership of a vast array of lucrative businesses in his country Mexi-co and elsewhere.
The affairs of Lebanon and the endless bloodletting there probably do not belong to his list of concerns and priorities. With reason. The profit and investment motives that drive the world’s wealthiest men cannot apply in Lebanon. You can’t do business there, unless you are an arms merchant or you are a Blackwater.
Or, are the Lebanese basically unsentimental? We have yet to read of Demi Moore or Dawn Zulueta (said to be of Lebanese ethnicity) making trips to Lebanon.
The wealthiest men and women in the Philippines, in direct contrast to Carlos Slim Helu, are energized by every trip made to the country of their forefathers, China. They have been investing there as well with both enthusiasm and gratitude. Go to Southern China and you will not run out of SM or Robinson Malls that you can go to.
But none of these return to China can be as triumphal as their recent trip. They were with President Aquino and their talks with their Chinese counterparts were formally arranged by the two governments. This is entirely different from painstakingly seeking out Chinese partners on your own. The cachet of “official” is something that even the wealthiest of the taipans fully appreciate.
Picture this: the wealthiest men in the Philippines making a trip to the country of their forefathers with the president of the adopted country who is partly Chinese. Can it get more glorious than this? Wealth and the perception of connection and gravitas.
The stoking of the egos and vanities, would, of course, be short-lived. The taipans, hard-core business people that they are, went to China for the purpose of snagging additional business. Enjoying the trappings that come with a presidential visit was only 10 per cent of their purpose. The 90 per cent would be devoted to the search for fresh opportunities.
But what would these be?
Our hope, or rather the hope of ordinary Filipinos who cannot even hope to carry the bags of the exalted people going on these trips, is for the taipans to close deals that would involve putting more investments into the Philippines via joint ventures, partnerships and the like.
There is no more need to bring more capital into China. Especially capital from an investment-starved country like the Philippines. The foreign direct investments (FDI) that made its way into China in 2010 alone cannot be had by the Philippines in a full decade or more. China is practically cracking under the sheer weight of eager investors who feel that China or the countries in the BRICS are the go-to areas of foreign investments.
Where can the Chinese put their money in partnership with our taipans?
Improving the rail network is one, including the pioneering work of building a high-speed rail network across Mindanao. There are several draft bills on the creation of a Mindanao Railway Authority and that bill can be re-filed as an administration bill of President Aquino.
A high speed rail network linking Cagayan de Oro with Davao City and Zamboanga City would be ideal, with stops at critical townships.
Our frayed infrastructure is in urgent need of investments and this is an area where Chinese investment and engineering expertise would be most welcome. We have one of the most decrepit infrastructure network in Asia.
Shipbuilding, renewable energy, and building up some pockets of industrial activity can also welcome Chinese investments.
Given the right terms and a stable-enough investing environment, the Chinese investors would gladly put their money here. The Philippines is not a manufacturing competitor. And our consumer spending on Chinese goods, even if we do not have the available data, is much, much higher than the consumption of Americans on Chinese goods, which is not even three per cent of the US total.
That the US has been drowning in China-made goods and that US consumers have been spending substantial sums on Chinese goods have been proven a lie by a recent empirical study by trade associations and economists.
The Chinese investors also do not mind venturing in areas considered dangerous by traditional investors. They are everywhere in Africa, even in the so-called danger spots. They are not even squeamish about going into areas ruled by despots.
The bonus of investing here is clear to them. We have a president whose forefathers on his mother’s side came from Southern China.
In his private moments with the taipans, what can President Aquino ask of them to improve the lives of ordinary Filipinos. Plenty.
First, he can request the taipans to regularize a substantial part of the taipan’s work force. You see, most of their workers are on a contractual basis. Six months and a worker is asked to take a break so he or she can be hired anew for another six months after the break.
The jolly and the tireless faces you see at the malls : baggers, cashiers, merchandising staff etc., these are all hired on contracts of six months. It is an exploitative and inhuman thing, but the armies of the jobless young see to it that no contractual job is left unfilled.
It may surprise many that scores of these contractual workers have impressive skill sets. What is lacking is the opportunity to work in their respective lines.
If PNoy can ask the taipans to allow their regular workers to form unions and enter into collective bargaining agreements with their employers, the better.
What initiative should PNoy refrain from doing?
He should avoid a repeat of the Ramos-era initiative which pushed the taipans into forming an investment consortium. This will not work now. It will not work tomorrow.
The taipans are too proud and too competitive. They do not use the same business models. And you cannot shrink their already substantial egos to make them fit one boardroom.
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