Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper sees something about the Philippines that even a lot of Filipinos may not see.

Over the weekend, the visiting North American head of state said the country was on its way. It had, he said, become “an emerging Asian tiger.”

That bears noting and repeating. The Philippines is an emerging Asian tiger, and not just a tiger cub. Once, the country was the latter, but instead of reaching full maturity, it seemed to go into hibernation. But now, the beast is wide awake, and it is a full blown tiger, ready to compete with the rest of the world.

Those were neither kind words nor safe motherhood statements said by Harper, but rather a statement of fact.

Call it a tiger economy or call it a dragon economy, but the country now stands on solid ground. Where before the country would invite outside investors to “give us a try” with some degree of shame, today it is with pride that we send out our representatives to tell those investors that this is the place to be.

It is hard to ignore that the Philippine economy has been growing at a healthy clip even as most of the world is having serious difficulties on the economic front. Even the worst enemies of the administration of President Benigno Aquino 3rd cannot deny this reality. At worst, they will claim that the economic growth of the country is not filtering down to the poorest of the poor, and that too many Filipinos still go to sleep at night without enough food in their bellies.

While it cannot be denied that poverty and unemployment still remain difficult challenges for the government, the growing signs of expanding wealth cannot be disregarded.

Ask any Filipino who has been away from home for one or two decades what he or she thinks of the country now, and he or she will have to say that signs of progress are everywhere. It can be seen in the residential high-rises and malls that are sprouting everywhere. It can be seen in the endless streams of new vehicles plying the streets of the metropolis. It can be seen in the hundreds of thousands of workers with excess money to spend the moment they leave their offices.

Harper’s bullish outlook for the country bodes well for the trade between the two nations, currently pegged at $1.5 billion a year. The prime minister has promised to hike Canadian investments in the Philippines, and there is no reason to see why this will not be so. After all, it makes perfect sense to invest in a country where returns are bound to be healthy.

The tiger cub has grown
Once upon a time, the Philippines was dubbed as Southeast Asia’s new tiger cub economy. This was during the Ramos administration when the country experienced five years of steady economic growth.

Almost immediately after President Fidel Ramos stepped down in favor of President Joseph Estrada, the Philippines lost that status. The country’s growth stopped, primarily because the business community did not have much faith in the administration of the former actor-turned-politician.

Investors refused to plunk down their money in a country led by a self-confessed womanizer with atrocious work habits and whose idea of receiving sound advice was to convene a “midnight Cabinet” of cronies for regular drinking sessions.

The country did not return to tiger cub status during the nine-year Arroyo administration either.

The reason for this is not too different from what was perceived during the Estrada administration. Graft and corruption was still a way of life, and foreign and local investors refused to place their money in a country where no major projects could be signed without some influential person or persons demanding kickbacks and rebates.

Foreign investors, in particular, could always look at other countries in the region which offered better returns on their investments, with less bureaucratic red tape, and where government officials engaged in dirty practices were punished to the full extent of the law.

This is not to say that graft and corruption has been eradicated in today’s Philippines. Far from it. There are still disturbing reports that some high ranking government officials do not march to the ‘Daang Matuwid’ tune that President Aquino plays.

But by and large, the business community—international as well as local—can expect to engage in their activities without worrying that some ranking official and/or his or her close relatives will demand a piece of the action.

As the nation becomes more and more economically secure, it becomes the job of the stakeholders—every Filipino adult who is qualified to vote—to guarantee that the status of “emerging Asian tiger” not only be sustained, but reach the most advanced stage of First World economy.

Impossible? We think not. And Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agrees with us, we are sure.