More companies target Manila as regional hub

More companies target Manila as regional hub

MANILA (UPI): The government said yesterday four more foreign
firms are planning to make the Philippines the center of their
Asia-Pacific operations, boosting the country's bid to become the
region's next business hub.

The Trade and Industry Department said the latest firms eyeing
Manila are the Swiss medical instruments maker Allo Pro Ag, Hong
Kong's shipping consulting firm Caterlog International, German
pharmaceutical firm Asta Medica and British Virgin Islands' cargo
company TransAsian Air.

"There really is a lot of interest to come here in the
Philippines," Dennis Miralles, chief of the Trade Department's
regional investments group, told United Press International. "In
terms of operating costs such as cheap rental and labor, we have
an advantage."

The entry of the four foreign firms brings to 19 the number of
companies that have registered with the Board of Investments to
set up regional centers in the country since January.

Those companies include baby foods maker Gerber Finance Co.
and heavy machineries manufacturer Demag Delaval Turbomachinery
Corp., both U.S.-based firms.

Analysts have down played, however, the Philippines' potential
to become the region's next business hub. They have said that
despite the economic and social advances made during the first
half of President Fidel Ramos' term, the sectors crucial to
business such as telecommunications and transportation are still
undergoing birth pains, having been deregulated only recently.

But Millares is confident foreign firms will see that the
Philippines is catching up with the development of its
industrialized neighbors.

With a goal of reaching a newly-industrialized status by the
year 2000, Ramos opened up long-protected industries such as
aviation, banking and telecommunications.

In the last three years, the government has opened the
country's doors to 10 new foreign banks, broken the former
monopoly of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and
allowed new carriers to compete freely with Philippine Airlines.

The government has also generously given special incentives
such as tax breaks and duty free importation of goods to foreign
firms.

Special economic zones, which offer the most incentives, have
also been attracting labor intensive industries to their fold.
A former U.S. naval base in Subic, just north of Manila, has been
the most aggressive among the growth centers in luring foreign
firms. The Subic Bay Freeport Zone -- which has already taken in
international cargo firm Federal Express and oil company Coastal
Petroleum investing in its area -- aims to become the next Hong
Kong-style free port.

Miralles said other Hong Kong-based companies have also
expressed interest in taking a look at the Philippines as an
alternative base for their operations.

He said some 175 firms attended some two weeks ago a Manila-
sponsored investment seminar in Hong Kong aimed at wooing in more
investors to the country. Some of those firms have already
coordinated with the Trade Department for setting up possible
bases in the country.