...the WEF most improved country overall

WEF Declares Philippines Most Improved Country in Global Competitiveness

 

September 10, 2014

By Leandro Tan

Asia Foundation

 

 

The Filipino workforce has long been considered to be internationally competitive, exemplified in its impressive performance in the business process outsourcing and overseas labor markets. However, it is only recently that Philippine competitiveness has been recognized on a global scale.

Last week, the World Economic Forum’s new Global Competitiveness Report, which looked at the competitiveness of 144 economies based on 2013 data and a survey of business perceptions up to May 2014, declared the Philippines the “most improved country overall,” rising seven notches to 52nd place.

The World Economic Forum recently declared the Philippines as the most improved country in terms of global competitiveness. Photo/Karl Grobl

This is welcome news to the Philippines, particularly since it has been rocked by numerous natural calamities, most devastating of which was Typhoon Yolanda last November that left nearly 8,000 dead, affected 16 million people, and resulted in the virtual destruction of the major productive assets (e.g., agriculture and food manufacturing) amounting to about $10 billion in economic damages according to the International Disaster Database. The country’s rise in its competitiveness standing is all the more surprising on several counts.

First, the Philippines has risen 33 places since 2010 when it ranked 85th, marking the biggest improvement among all countries during that period. The other top 10 gainers include: Latvia (+28 to 42nd), Nepal (+28 to 102nd), Tajikistan (+25 to 91st), Georgia (+24 to 69th), Kazakhstan (+22 to 50th), Lesotho (+21 to 107th), Azerbaijan (+19 to 38th), Zambia (+19 to 96th), and Rwanda (+19 to 62nd).

Such gains show that significant progress is not only possible among the lower ranked countries, but that there is room in the top one-third (48th or better, the official target of the National Competitiveness Council) for countries other than what the report calls advanced economies.

The Philippines’ current ranking is now close to this official ranking, in running with Panama (48th), Italy (49th), Kazakhstan (50th), and Costa Rica (51st), and ahead of more industrialized countries such as Russia (53rd), South Africa (54th), Brazil (57th), Mexico (61st), India (71st), and the Ukraine (76th).

Second, this development helps to change the public image of the Philippines as the “sick man of Asia” and the “odd man out” in a dynamic ASEAN region. The improvement is the highest in the ASEAN region since 2010 and has narrowed the gap with the top five ASEAN countries. Vietnam, which ranked 59th in 2010, has since slipped to 75th in 2012 and recovered slightly to 68th in 2014.

The next closest ASEAN country Indonesia, which ranks 34th, has only shown a 10-point increase since 2010, compared to a 33-point increase for the Philippines.




Third, the competitiveness data shows that this positive development is not a one-time fluke but an improving trend in the Philippines since 2010 that is generally consistent across the board with the 12 pillars of competitiveness. The improvements have been occurring every year with only slight slippages in 2014 in terms of market size (-2 to 35th) and financial market development (-1 to 49th).

According to the government, the latest credit rating upgrade to investment grade by the South Korea-based National Information & Credit Evaluation (NICE) group is the 18th positive rating action since President Aquino became president in 2010.



Fourth, the major improvements in the state of Philippine competitiveness are related to pillars that many Filipinos still perceive as being problematic, including innovation (+59), institutions (+58), and the macroeconomic environment (+42). The participation of Filipino workers in fields of innovation is well known and reinforced with the rise in capacity for innovation (+50 to 30th) since 2010. But what is not well known is how government-purchasing decisions are fostering innovation (+76 to 53rd), company spending on R&D (+43 to 42nd), quality of scientific research institutions (+33 to 75th), and the availability of scientists and engineers (+25 to 71st). However the Philippines has lagged further behind in terms of patent applications (-17 to 88th).

On the macroeconomic front, the country registered higher rankings based on economic data on public debt levels (+44 to 58th), government budget balances (+38 to 25th), national savings (+23 to 51st), and inflation (+16 to 57th). The latest employment figures indicate that the macroeconomic performance has reached the grassroots level. Excluding the region devastated by Typhoon Yolanda, over 1.654 million new jobs were created year-on-year in April 2014 – the first time that the government’s target of 1 million new jobs per year has been attained since April 2012.

Historical experience shows that Filipinos have shown the world glimpses of their true national character when faced with bad news in back-against-the-wall situations. The question remains on how Filipinos – whose penchant for self-effacing humor in the face of economic turmoil is well known – will react to success stories on national competitiveness that are so few and far between in their history. That outcome may pose the biggest surprise of them all, or not.


Leandro Tomas David D. Tan is Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist for the USAID Advancing Philippine Competitiveness (COMPETE) project, being undertaken by The Asia Foundation in partnership with Nathan Associates Inc., the REID Foundation, the Foundation for Economic Freedom, and Asia Pacific Projects, Inc. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and not those of USAID, The Asia Foundation, or other COMPETE implementing partners. An employee of Nathan Associates, he can be reached at ldtan@competeproject.ph.

 

...the most gender equal nations

Women on top: Phl among most gender equal nations

            

By Camille Diola

(philstar.com) 

Updated April 19, 2013

 

File photo from the World Bank Photo Collection.

 

 

MANILA, Philippines - The World Bank identified the Philippines as a world leader in gender equality, particularly in the fields of legislation, management and government.

In its World Development Indicators report released on Thursday, the international organization cited latest data showing that 55 percent of Filipino lawmakers, senior officials and managers are female.

The number, taken from 2007 to 2011 statistics, is the highest in the World Bank report with data from 88 countries.

The Philippines is among the two only countries in the world with more women than men in the said professions, using the International Labour Organization's standard classification of occupations.

Although the report said that gender inequality is most prevalent in developing countries, the Philippines, a lower middle income nation, is one exception.

"The share of women in high-skilled occupations ... indicates women's status and role in the labor force and society at large," the report explained.

Following the Philippines' lead is The Bahamas, a chain of island in the Caribbean, with 52 percent of leaders who are female.

Barbados, another island country in the Caribbean, is in relatively far third with 47 percent.

Ranking fourth is Latvia with women landing in 45 percent of top occupations, while the Cayman Islands are fifth with 44 percent.

The United States, the largest economy in the world, is tied with Latin American country Puerto Rico with 43 percent.

Indonesia, one of the Philippines' peer in Southeast Asis for one, only records 22 percent of high government and business positions given to women.

The world's most gender unequal nations in the world include those that have a dominant Muslim population, the lowest being Pakistan with women occupying only 3 percent of seats in legislation, governance and management.

Also at the bottom of the scale are Azerbaijan (7 percent), Lebanon (8 percent) and Saudi Arabia (8 percent).

"These patterns of inequality begin at an early age, with boys routinely receiving a larger share of education and health spending than girls, for example," World Bank said in the report.

The study, World Bank said, is a compilation of "relevant, high-quality and internationally comparable statistics about global development."

Other indicators cited in the report under people development are prevalence of malnutrition, HIV, unemployment and underemployment, as well as maternal mortality, adolescent fertility and under-five mortality.

 

...the smalltown wonder

Small town kid bags silver in World Taekwondo meet

Nueva Vizcaya wonder boy’s secret: pancakes

INQUIRER.net

Sunday, August 7th, 2011

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia – An hour after bagging the silver medal in dramatic fashion at the 6^th world Taekwondo Poomsae Championships over the weekend, in this historic port city by the sea, 17-year-old Marvin Gabriel’s  joy over his achievement was overtaken by his youthful wonder that a tall, blond, blue-eyed nurse was now personally collecting his urine sample, a random doping procedure for select athletes who had ostensibly displayed suspicious domination in their respective divisions.

MARVELOUS MARVIN smiles for the crowd with champion Korea, and third placers Turkey and Iran. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

“Medyo na-weirdan ako dahil di niya ako pinatalikod habang jumi-jingle ako sa bote..titig na titig sa akin. Baka tuloy kung ano mangyari… (“I felt a bit weird because she stared at me while I peed into the bottle. Something embarrassing could happen”),” he laughed.

Informed that the test’s objective was to make sure he hadn’t taken any performance-enhancing drugs, Gabriel turned serious. “Do you think pancakes count? I’ve been a eating a lot of them during training,” he asked.

Gabriel’s touching weltanschauung (world view), momentarily masked the stunning impact of his near flawless performance earlier in the day when the rookie Taekwondo-jin from the boondocks of Solano town, Nueva Vizcaya, in the main  island of Luzon,  finished a threatening second to Korea’s Yu-seok Kim in the 14-18 men’s individual juniors division, while completely demolishing powerhouse veteran martial artists  from all over the world, including Turkey’s Habip Okeu and Iran’s Mohamed Aderi, who eventually shared the bronze.

Toughest category

Gabriel’s achievement electrified the capacity crowd at the 5,000-seat Olympic Sports Complex at the Vladivostok sports arena, many of whom marvelled at the diminutive, but sleekly-muscled Filipino who came from nowhere to display controlled power, focus and poise while performing the difficult Taekwondo forms of Taeguk 7, Koryo, Keumgang and Taebek. When the smoke had cleared, Gabriel, a University of Santo Tomas (UST) freshman studying applied physics, had nailed the first medal won by the Philippines in an event long considered as one of the toughest categories in world competitions that began in 2006.

Small wonder then when tournament officials immediately earmarked Gabriel for drug testing (which he passed with flying colors), due to the strikingly muscular impact of his performance, sheathed in unerring accuracy and ‘clean poomsae lines’, all packaged in rhythmic grace and tempo.

Poomsae was introduced at the Southeast Asian Games in 2009 and will make its Asian Games debut in Inchon in 2014. Poomsae is like kata in karate where an athlete is judged in terms of mastery, accuracy, speed and strength showing fighting form against an imaginary opponent. Poomsae does not involve sparring and isn’t a contact sport.

Rigorous training

KEUMGANG. Marvin Gabriel displays iron balance in the finals of the junior men’s individual division to nail the first medal won by the Philippines, in an event long considered as one of the toughest categories in world ‘poomsae’ competitions that began in 2006. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

“Marvin strong, work hard. I promise…Marvin win many, many more medals for Philippines in future world championships,” said Philippine team coach, South Korean Jeong Tae Seong, in his trademark, halting English.

The naturally friendly Jeong, who turns taciturn taskmaster inside the central gym headquarters of the Philippine Taekwondo Association (PTA) in downtown Manila, is himself a legendary Taekwondo coach and acknowledged trainer of Poomsae champions in Kukkiwon, the mecca of Taekwondo in Seoul, South Korea. Over the last two months, he admitted using his iron will and technical know-how fashion a rigorous training regimen that ultimately forged Gabriel, and his teammates in the national team, into a disciplined fighting unit, now envied by many Taekwondo-practicing countries all over the world.

Paving the way

Gabriel’s  silver fired up Philippine team to win more medals over the three-day competition.

On the second day, the dusky Taekwondo-jin claimed a bronze in the first pairs division with 18-year-old Shaneen Sia, another UST student and a freshman of the Manila-based Taekwondo Blackbelt Sorority (TBS). This was soon followed by another bronze medal from cousins Rani Ann Ortega, Janice Lagman and Camille Alarilla, in the women’s first team event.

Ortega, Lagman and Alarilla capped the Philippines’ harvest with a bronze, pushing the country up to 10th place overall in the medal standings. There were 570 athletes from 52 countries in the three-day meet where 18 gold medals went up for grabs. Other countries that garnered medals but ranked below the Philippines were China, Denmark, Turkey, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Holland and Thailand.

The Philippines also won a bronze medal in the free-style poomsae exhibition matches, which featured a routine with taekwondo techniques performed to music and choreography. Vietnam won the gold with a 7.58 score and Turkey, the silver with 7.50. The Philippines tallied 7.38.

Free-style poomsae is now being introduced as a regular event in international Taekwondo competitions to blend the ancient tradition with new, dynamic and artistic forms.

The Philippines had brought home a gold in each of the last two stagings of the world championships. At the fourth championships in Cairo, Ortega, Lagman and Alarilla won in the women’s first team event in 2009.

Last year, Jean Pierre Sabido, Brian Sabido and Anthony Ray Matias captured the gold in the men’s first team event.

TAEBEK. Marvin Gabriel and Shaneen Sia throw synchronized side kicks in the finals, to win the bronze medal in the junior pair division. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

“Although we didn’t win gold this time, the team performance really went up with the new medals in the individual and pairs events where we had never won medals before,” said head of delegation Igor Mella.

“Our world champion ladies team returned to the podium with a third place finish, an improvement from fifth last year. We’re excited and encouraged by the performance of Marvin and Shaneen. They teamed up for the first time in the world championships and brought home a bronze with Russia finishing first and Vietnam second.”

Brian Sabido and Matias did not compete this year, leaving Jean Pierre Sabido as the only holdover from the men’s first team champion. Sabido teamed with new partners Gabriel and Galilee Tinaya to finish eighth.

The Philippines’ first medal in the world championships came in 2008 when the Sabido brothers and Matias took the bronze in the men’s first team event in Ankara, Turkey.

Banner field of taekwondo-jins

Topping the competitions this year in Vladivostok was Korea with nine gold medals and a silver. Vietnam was second with two golds, four silvers and a bronze. Germany had two golds, two silvers and a bronze.

Chinese-Taipei took two golds, a silver and five bronzes.

The tournament set age groups for different events. The first pairs had a range of 14 to 35 and the second pairs, 36 and over. Singapore nun Sister Linda Sim, 56, competed in the women’s individual second masters class. The men’s third individual masters class brought in competitors 61 and over while the men’s first individual masters class, 41 and over.

The event drew the largest participation of athletes since its inception. The US showed up with 24 athletes but none took a medal. Iran had 23 competitors, Russia 21 and Chinese-Taipei.

A total of 60 international Taekwondo poomsae referees officiated in the event.

The opening ceremony featured various programs, such as a Russian Taekwondo demonstration, and a 15-minute power-breaking, sparring and self-defense display by the WTF demonstration team.

There was also a five-member demonstration team competition involving four countries — Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia and Korea. The latter won the competition.

Martial arts warriors

SUCCESSFUL campaign for the Philippine taekwondo ‘poomsae’ team. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

This year’s tournament also unveiled a new competition uniform, or the “dobok” approved for universal use by the federation. Tournament officials explained that the new uniform brought back the “sense of authenticity” of the poomsae discipline.

But for the young Gabriel, he acknowledged not having the time nor the inclination to explore the roots and philosophical aspects of the poomsae discipline, or the new uniforms, before or after the championships.

“We did nothing but train hard, push hard and condition our minds and bodies for the last two months, and the crucial  week going into the competition,” Gabriel revealed. “Our strategy was, as Master Jeong taught us, to have a ‘competition mind’ everytime we train. No relaxing allowed. “

“Actually, towards the end, the competition itself had stopped being our goal: training with 100 percent effort became our goal…without making any mistakes,” Gabriel said.

For Gabriel, and his teammates in the national team, they had become true martial arts warriors: the journey had become their destination.

Pancakes galore

Next stop for Gabriel and the national team is the 2011 World Hanmadang Competitions in Namyangju South Korea from August 10-14, where the Filipino-jins are the defending champions in the team category.

The athletically-demanding Hanmadang competitions consists of synchronized creative poomsae and power-breaking demonstrations.

The team will then fly to Shenzhen, China to compete against battle-hardened medallists from the World, Olympic and Continental Championships in the three-day 26^th World University Games.

Intensive mind and body preparations have ostensibly become the norm for the young Gabriel. Queried about his stamina to compete relentlessly in such high-level competitions, while juggling his studies at UST, he had a ready answer: “Pancakes….lots of it”

...the junior pug

Pinoy nabs gold in World Jr boxing

 

abs-cbnNEWS.com

07/30/2011

 

 

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino amateur boxer Eumir Felix Marcial won a gold medal in the AIBA World Junior Boxing Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

 

The 15-year-old boxer from Zamboanga City defeated Turkey’s Cengiz Onat in the finals of the 53 kilogram category.

Marcial first defeated Henrik Hovannisyan of Armenia and Azerbaijan Nasraddin Mammadov.
He outboxed Eduard Vaha of Belarus in the semifinal round to arrange a final showdown against Onat.

Marcial is coached by 3-time Olympian Romeo Brin.