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S.M.N.I. Truth That Matters

Welcome back to Business and Politics. We're talking to Dr. Cecilio Pedro of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce.

Sir, no big surprise on the things that you mentioned.

The question is, do you think the Marcos government, which is now scheduled to give a second State of the Nation address,

do you think they are working fast enough to address this? Are you happy?

And what do you think needs more attention from the administration at this point?

I believe we are in the process of moving forward because our beloved president spoke about focusing on digitalization.

We have to find ourselves competitive with the rest of the world.

First and foremost, we have to focus on what we want to attain in the next four years, five years, or perhaps longer than that.

The president is only given six years, and so he had one year spent already.

The remaining five years should be focused on what he or the other cabinet members can achieve within the span of five years.

It's just five years.

Are you happy with the direction that we're headed now?

Since we're talking about digitalization and the president apparently is very focused on digitalization,

I think we are in the right direction. We're moving forward towards the right direction.

The other area is, he mentioned also agriculture, which is also being given priority.

We might have to change some of the laws or the rules of the country. Land reform should be reformed.

We need big tracts of land for agriculture. We cannot lower the cost.

We need economics of scale. We need big area. We need to mechanize. We need to bring investment into agriculture.

If we rely on the poor farmers, they will stay poor forever because they don't have the means and the cost is always very high.

It's cheaper for us to import rather than to support these farmers.

These are things we are focusing on. I think the president knows what is needed to be moving forward towards this direction.

And of course, we're also talking about many other things, our relationships with our neighbors, with the ASEAN, and even with China and the rest of the world.

All of these are taken into context. That's why the president's work is difficult.

Now, what are the areas? Immediate attention will be probably the ease of doing business for businessmen.

Make it available, make it easy, make it competitive with our neighbors.

Vietnam is very aggressive. Indonesia is now doing the likewise. You talk to only two or three people and they will arrange everything.

You don't have to do anything. Just wait for the permit to come out.

These are things we have to stay focused on because investment is the key for job generation.

Of course, we like lesser competition, but that will not help the economy. That will not help the country.

So, we should allow big business to come in and invest and generate jobs.

And this is a golden opportunity because of the strife or the problem between China and the U.S.

Ang daming factories from China, they're moving out. They're locating in Vietnam, Indonesia. Why not locate in the Philippines?

But why not, sir? What have you been hearing? What are the main reasons?

I just mentioned all of those things. The ease of doing business, energy, the focus, the internet.

Sure, yeah.

Let's improve our internet. Let's make it as good as our neighbors in Thailand or maybe in Vietnam and Indonesia.

They're moving forward. So, all of these elements are needed for us to move forward, for us to be competitive, and for us to generate jobs.

Ang dami pong nawawala ng trabaho, ang dami pong walang trabaho, or ang dami pong underemployed.

Sure.

Bakit? Kasi kulang ang job opportunities.

Yeah.

Now, how do we do that? Investment, investment. China is looking for possibilities.

So, they will transfer their factory, transfer their technology, and export to the world. Grab these opportunities.

Sayang pag mawala pa itong opportunity.

All right. Sir, just go back a little bit to farming.

It seems to me, my impression, sir, that your heart is also into it because that's, as you said, what you did for relaxation and going to livestock farm.

How can we convince more people? What kind of help does the government need to provide to encourage more people to go into that business?

You mentioned the limitation on land ownership. Is there something else that can be done to maybe encourage more people to go into agriculture and make it more productive?

Productivity is highly dependent nowadays on technology.

I see. So, we're going back to AI and digitalization.

It's a whole package. It's a whole package. And support from government in terms of ease of doing business.

Pabalik-balik, I talk about this many times. It has to come from the people in government.

Kailangan makita natin yung tulong na may bigay natin para umunlat naman ang bayan natin.

Para may mas maraming tao makakaroon ng trabaho.

Relying on the farmers to produce enough food for us is traditional style, old style.

Hindi na pupwede yun. Hindi na pupwede.

They are now mechanized. So, they can produce much better crops, better monitored, and lower cost in a way that we cannot compete.

It's cheaper now to import. Lahat pwedeng import.

Pati yung manok, in-import na rin. Yung baboy, in-import. We used to export.

Rice is imported. Pati yung mga galunggong yada, imported na rin.

Pati yung mga sibuyas, in-import na rin. Why? Because they can produce it, 40 pesos.

Cost, 60 pesos, 80 pesos. So, how can you compete?

The key is productivity, and the key is technology, and the government comes stepping in to help.

Well, you had some experience. You were, I think, propagating some native pigs or something like that.

But what would have been, I know that's for relaxation, but if you were to maybe view that as a business that you could scale like you did with Lemoyen,

what should be done? What kind of, I suppose, environment would help you, or people like you, pursue something like that?

Yeah, my intention was really to be parang a pilot, a demo farm.

Yes.

To come in with some technology and some hybrid pig or hybrid goats or hybrid whatever.

That's what you cross, yeah, okay.

Yeah, where we can breed animals and help our farmers.

That's so interesting.

Yeah, but to go large scale, iba yung large scale.

Yeah.

It's all, hindi na, it's no rocket science. Everybody knows how to do it.

Yeah.

So, putting all these elements together, and with enough support from the government, we can move forward much, much faster.

Most of the big business in many parts of the world, like in Thailand, is Sipi.

I saw Sipi. Sipi is coming in. Sipi is the name of the owner.

They're very high tech in food production for pigs, for chicken, for feed.

Integrated na sila.

From the breeding, to the feeds needed, to the technology, yung chicken production nila is multi-building na yan.

Building na sila, or vertical.

Tayo nasa ground floor, sila nasa 10 floors building, doing all of this at the same time.

So, the cost is much, much cheaper.

All of this is needed, including farming.

And I was so surprised that Thailand is now moving faster.

I was in the airport moving out.

Ang daming food, yung mga crackers, mga frozen fruit, and even dry fruits.

May manga, may papaya, may pineapple, may guayabano, may durian.

Lahat meron. Lahat ng pinuproduce dito ngayon, meron na sa kanila.

Pero mas maganda yun sa kanila because it's processed.

Nakapacked properly with a very bright packaging.

And everybody's buying.

Mapapabili kayo, kasi nakita mo maganda.

So, you pick up a little to bring home.

So, I was also looking at it, and I decided to buy a few packs to bring home to my wife.

It's a concerted effort on food production in Thailand.

They export rice, they export chicken, they export everything.

As you said, almost everything can be imported.

And sabi nyo nga, there are many products overseas that are better.

Is there some, we have to go to a quick break,

but is there a particular commodity or product that maybe we could concentrate on

and probably be better at than our neighbors?

There are two particular fruits that I'm looking at.

Mango. Lahat tayong galaban sa mango.

Hindi naman walang galaban, mayroon pa rin ng mango in Thailand.

We certainly have the advantage.

Our mangoes are the best in the world.

In terms of lasa, in terms of flavor, we have the best in the world.

But they're catching up. Pero walang, we're still leading.

Pag sinabi mo, Philippine mango, oh, everybody hands up.

The best in the world, Philippine mango.

We have another industry, which is durian.

Durian is something that is needed in China.

Sabi nyo nga, when we were with the president in China,

sabi nyo ng Chinese government,

you produce as much as you want and we'll buy everything durian.

Of course, there is pineapple, papaya, bananas, traditional na yan.

But these are expensive products.

You can charge a premium on durian.

You can charge a premium on Philippine mangoes.

Kilala yan eh.

So why not look into these possibilities?

In a big scale.

And when you talk of big scale, kailangan din ang tulong ng government.

Kailangan may, baka mahalaan, reform na naman yan.

Baka may...

Sayang.

Sayang eh.

To go into agri production, may time schedule yan eh.

You need some years.

It's not going to happen overnight.

And by the time you are already producing,

tapos sasabihin na yan, oh, ito hindi pwede, ito hindi pwede,

ito hindi pwede, ito kailangan namin, ito in DNR, hindi pwede, ito hindi pwede.

Wala na. Wala na.

Nobody is going to invest in the Philippines.

Thank you for watching!