Investment Haven

NEW incoming investments will create more jobs, according to President Benigno Aquino III, noting that approved domestic and foreign investments in the country last year increased by 37.6 percent to P746.8 billion compared to P542.7 billion in 2010.

Aquino says the investments apparently created 194,917 new jobs in 2010. And more investments will spell new jobs, a positive outlook amid the sideline of courtroom soap opera that entered our homes inadvertently. We do not need this kind of crap. The solid influx of new investments and creation of jobs will bring change to this country as the Aquino administration invests heavily on education.

“Strong education is the foundation of any profession,” says Aquino. It was the same long-hackneyed line that Mabalacat Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales had been saying that “quality and affordable education will eradicate poverty.”

From all indications, the Philippines is now a preferred site for new investments because of good governance and economic reforms instituted by the Aquino administration. Well, we can see the concrete changes brought forth by the Aquino administration.

For example, no other administration in the past pursued the development of regional airports more vigorously than the Aquino administration, paving the way for the entry of more airlines at the Clark International Airport and more tourists.

The Clark International Airport is now a beehive of activities with more travelers recorded this year. The Clark terminal has become so small that Clark airport authorities have to undertake Phase II expansion of the existing terminal to accommodate more passengers. Soon, it has to expand anew as more airlines contemplate of transferring operations to Clark airport.

Last year, some 1.1 million jobs had been created, according to Aquino. With the readiness of one unidentified investor to infuse a P2-trillion investment in the next five years, he expected that more new jobs will be created. This is what we need – solid investments that will create jobs plus a highly educated workforce.

We should support the government in its endeavors because it is the only way to be at par with our neighboring Asian countries. Vietnam and Cambodia, which were both bombed back to Stone Age, are catching up and if the Filipino people will not change – we will be left behind forever.

Education, investments, jobs. The three-pronged solution of the Aquino administration had been proven feasible and realistic. This should be no mere lip-service.