IF the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) will be able to implement its plans between now and 2015, at least four million jobs will be created in the retirement industry.
PRA Chairman Edgar Aglipay said the authority aims to attract $44 billion in investments in the retirement industry in eight years, generate annual revenues of $16.4 billion and lure 859,250 retirees to stay in the Philippines.
With four million to six million jobs in the sector, Aglipay said Filipinos would no longer see the need to go overseas to work.
He said the targeted boom in the retirement industry is also estimated to support three million entrepreneurs.
“This is better than tourism” because with retiring, “they (foreign and local retirees) will stay here forever, while with tourism “they will go back to their country,” said Antonio Plando, vice mayor of the southern Cebu town of Alcoy, where a retirement facility is being planned by the local government.
Aglipay said the PRA has intensified efforts to promote the country among retirees overseas as a retirement destination. He added that the authority has also strengthened ties with private firms involved in the retirement industry.
“We expect to enroll 3,000 retirees for this year alone,” Florencio Orendain, PRA general manager, said.
PRA said more than $43 million in investments entered the country’s retirement industry in the last quarter of 2006.
Aglipay said he is “determined” to bring in retirement-related investments on the target year.
“We should do something to alleviate the difficulties in the country,” Plando said during the launching of PRA’s “Smile at Life in the Philippines” campaign last Friday.
PRA said in a press statement that the country’s “vibrant culture, hospitality, friendly English-speaking population, natural attractions and tropical climate,” are factors that will attract foreign retirees and elderly Filipinos who have been staying overseas.
Aglipay said the inclination of Filipinos to take care of people in need is an advantage to the retirement industry. Filipinos are “known as great caregivers,” he said. So instead of working abroad, he said Filipinos should stay and work in the retirement industry.
He said the PRA is working on facilitating more and better infrastructure in the retirement sector. It is also coordinating with hospitals that are near retirement homes, he added.
“We would like the foreign retirees to enjoy our country the moment they step into the airport,” Aglipay said. He added that he envisions the Philippines to be “the retirement haven in Southeast Asia.” (TEP)
