poor krista.

@Marj & Bob - our discussion here is way off topic :D


i too want to see the Philippines back on its feet and running. i would want to see again the good nature of Filipinos... that a 9 year old kid can travel by public transport from cubao to baclaran and make it home safely. that people get rich because of pure hard work and not because of pay offs and corruptions. when government service means serving the people and not the way around.

Let us think out of the box because we have a lot of lost ground to cover. Because P-Noy promised change, he is in the best position to upset the traditional apples carts and introduce new thinking in the things we do. After all, it is st*p*d to continue doing the same old things we have proven decades ago to be ineffective and unable to make a real positive difference to our economy and our lives.

I am still on the optimistic side. A Filipino investing big in his own country will reverberate all over the world. If a Filipino is confident of his own country, foreign investors will start coming in. This will cushion the effect of the peso appreciation (i.e. price of real estate will go up, increased purchasing power because of more jobs, etc.). I am not an economist but I am bullish on the Philippines given the right investment climate. It is time for the Philippines to move. The big Philippine companies prospered during the GMA administration but the poverty level increased dramatically too. Why? They did not re-invest their earnings in the Philippines. This should not happen in a robust economy (as they say). It is the OFW's who invested in their own country (i.e. real estate, small business, etc.).

@Marj, He may have a good track record (and I did acknowledge that with what he did with SMC), but can we, as a country, afford to have the peso appreciate too rapidly as Mr. Ang predicted? Is it really wise for the government to sell PAGCOR and its subsidiaries? He said, $10B is the price and at today's exchange rate would be P450M, but he also said that the peso would then strenghten to P34 to $1, so in effect we lose P110M and maybe even more. It's not like the prices of local commodities will also go down, especially fuel. what about the OFW and exporters? do we sacrifice them for a "stronger peso" let's face it, they help keep the economy afloat, especially the OFW as they are the ones who are buying real estate and starting small businesses... whereas income derived by the new owners of PAGCOR will simply invest their earnings back in their country. it is different when you deal with private companies as compared to selling off state assets. i'm not arguing Mr. Ang's brilliance and expertise in his field, i just hope that before anything is done, that it be studied carefully and look at the long terms and not just the short term gains. again i ask, why does china and japan undervalue their currencies? what is their reason for doing that? export economy. also, it will also mean that the country's BPO will not be as attractive to foreign companies and may move their operation to India.

@ Kit, Ramon Ang has a good track record of success in his field. I trust him more than any other government technocrat. After years and years of being sick the Philippines has to move faster than a speeding bullet.

why is it a jewish wedding???? sino jewish sa kanila??????? the guy she married is a filipino chinese who migrated to the US

That is very irresponsible for Ramon Ang to make such a prediction on the exchange rate. In the first place, that should be taken with a grain of salt, regardless of what he did for SMC. If the peso appreciate too rapidly, this will not just affect the OFWs, but even the exporters and SMC itself as it has major investments overseas. There's a lot of repercussions... negative repercussions if this should happen. Why is it that Japan and China are trying their best to undervalue their currencies? Because it doesn't do them any good to have a strong currency against the US dollars because their economy is export driven. As for overtaking Thailand? DREAM ON Mr. Ang, despite the month long protest and political instability in the kingdom, the Thai baht have remained resilient. I'd bet that Viet Nam will be the next tiger economy.

For stuff like this, leave it to PEP. Who cares about Krista anyway? I want to see more coverage of Ramon Ang's offer to buy PAGCOR. Imagine, we will overtake Thailand's economy daw and exchange rate for US$ will be 34? I would love to see more discourse on that vis-a-vis OFW income.