Arangkada Philippines 2010 is the result of the efforts of a small team immensely assisted by a generous outpouring of support from countless stakeholders of Filipino and multiple nationalities. The Arangkada team was led by principal author, John D. Forbes, in partnership with Jan Matthew Neri, who performed yeoman service in editing the entire draft and coordinating publication details, and Ryan Jacildo, who made an otherwise dull document glisten with his multi-color, creative, data-laden graphs. Others who researched, drafted or edited sections were: Ray Cunningham, Neicy Nicdao, Maria Cherry Lyn S. Salazar-Rodolfo, and Gllian Virata. The Arangkada project was written under the guidance of Robert M. Sears, Executive Director, American Chamber of Commerce. Background studies for the paper were contributed by Krystle Bagay, Carla Marie G. Grino, and Adrian Lao To. Joan Orendain proofread the paper. Zara Castillo provided several original maps and colorful graphics.
Arangkada reflects extensive inputs from a series of nine focus group discussions organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers on the Seven Big Winner sectors: Agribusiness; IT-BPO; Creative Industries; Infrastructure (Airports and Seaports, Power and Water, Roads and Rail; and Telecommunications); Manufacturing and Logistics; Mining; and Tourism, Retirement, and Medical Travel. Over three hundred corporate executives, investors, and sector experts participated in the FGDs contributing their proposals on needed reforms. They were guided by ten moderators, each an expert in the subject of the FGD: Henry Basilio, President, REID Foundation; Ray Cunningham, First Vice President for Business Development, Aboitiz Power; Jon Lindborg, Advisor for Public-Private Partnership, ADB; Johan Raadsma, Manager for Asia, CGA Mining; Michael Raeuber, CEO, Royal Cargo Combined Logistics; Twinkle Rodolfo, Research Fellow, CRC Foundation; Oscar Sañez, President and CEO, BPAP; Henry Schumacher, Executive Vice President, ECCP; Philip Soliven, President and Country Representative, Cargill Philippines; and Arthur Tan, President and CEO, Integrated Microelectronics. Several FGD participants provided recommendations after the FGD including Steven Crowdey, General Manager for Australia, Micronesia, and Philippines, Delta Airlines; Doris Magsaysay Ho, President and CEO, A. Magsaysay, Inc; Atty. Roderick Salazar III, Managing Partner, Fortun Narvasa & Salazar Law Offices; and Avelino Zapanta, President and CEO, Southeast Asian Airlines.
Members of the dedicated AmCham staff who contributed to Arangkada included Divina Combes, Aurora Galvez, Analyn Grace Germo, Chet Guevara, Celine Laurel, Ben Millo, Ricardo Peji, Ernesto Rivera, and Carol Singson, and student interns Zara Maria Castillo, Mark Jason Espina, Maria Eunice Felipe, Maria Suzette Gamido, Edgar Joseph Tecson, and Jenica Camille Velilla.
Officers from the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines and other Philippine business groups reviewed and commented on the paper, especially John Casey, AnzCham; Don Felbaum, PAMURI; Sean Georget, CanCham; Julian Payne, CanCham; Sally Monteiro, PIP; Oscar Sañez, BPAP; Henry Schumacher, ECCP; Ben Sevilla, PACCI; and Shameem Qurashi, PAMURI.
The Arangkada team thanks the presidents of the Joint Foreign Chambers for their continued support when this paper was being written: Austen Chamberlain, AmCham; John Daniel Casey, ANZCHAM; Julian Payne, CanCham; Hubert d’Aboville, ECCP; Edward Chang, KCCPI; Yasuhiko Arimitsu and Nobuya Ichiki, JCCIPI; Shameem Qurashi, PAMURI. The authors also thank the executive directors of each of the chambers for their support: Robert Sears, AmCham; Angelica Pettersson, ANZCHAM; Sean Georget, CanCham; Henry Schumacher, ECCPI; Daigo Hayashi, JCCIPI; and Iluminado L. Mendiola, PAMURI.
The more than 300 participants in the nine FGDs whose recommendations became the core content of Part 3 of Arangkada deserve heartfelt thanks for their contributions. While we have not listed them by name, we do include group photographs from each FGD at the end of each Seven Big Winner
subsection. Also the recorders of the FGDs, AmCham staff members Jan Neri and Krystle Bagay, transcribed the proceedings and drafted ten matrices for the FGDs that contained background data and the FGD recommendations.
We also wish to recognize various contributions of other business associations and organizations without whose partnership in advocacy of business and economic reforms for the Philippines the Arangkada project would not have been possible: Bankers Association of the Philippines, Board of Airlines Representatives, Business Processing Association of the Philippines, Capital Market Development Council, Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Export Development Council, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Federation of Philippine Industries, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, National Competitiveness Council, Management Association of the Philippines, People Management Association of the Philippines, Petroleum Institute of the Philippines, Philippine Automotive Competitiveness Council, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Philippine Contractors Association, Philippine Export Confederation, US-ASEAN Council, US Chamber of Commerce, the Wallace Business Forum, the Zuellig Foundation, and several American chambers of commerce elsewhere in Asia.
We can only begin to cite all the offices in the several branches of the Philippine government that provided information, joined meetings, and otherwise assisted the Arangkada project. Special contributions were made by the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, Congressional Planning and Budget Department, Senate Economic Planning Office, Senate Secretariat for Legislation, DOF, DTI, and NEDA, among others. Contributions also came directly or indirectly from experts at the Asia Foundation, Asian Institute of Management Washington Sycip Policy Center, Ateneo University, the University of Asia and the Pacific, and the University of the Philippines. Staff members of the Asian Development Bank, Australian Aid, the International Finance Corporation, the Philippine Development Forum Technical Working Groups, Philippine Institute for Development Studies, UP Open University, US Agency for International Development, and the World Bank also participated. Other individuals who made helpful contributions include Jaime Faustino, Ruy Y. Moreno, Romeo Bernardo, and Peter Wallace.
Research for this publication was made possible with the financial assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its LINC-EG (Local Implementation of National Competitiveness for Economic Growth) project. The views expressed and opinions contained in this document are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, USAID or LINC-EG.
To all partners, if we have used one or more of your original advocacies without appropriate credit, we hope you understand that good ideas seek multiple sponsors and success knows many fathers and failure none.
Arangkada Philippines 2010 can be a living document, evolving as reforms led by the new Philippine administration unfold in cooperation with the private sector, together encouraging stronger investment, economic growth, job creation, and reduction of poverty.
John D. Forbes
Principal Author
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