#Philippines: Brain drain abroad, drained brains at home, brain-dead in charge

English is the established language of international business, law, internet, and yet despite a significant headstart over its ASEAN neighbours, the Philippines just sat back and did little to capitalise on its initial comparative and competitive advantage, resulting in Filipinos being relegated to menial jobs worldwide - always the servants, never the masters -, and consequently the country has now been overtaken economically, and culturally, by its ASEAN neighbours, who garner international respect for their work ethic, innovation, and whose companies climb in the Global 1000.

Even within the much lauded BPO industry it is simply providing 'cheap bums on seats', but the drive and control come from foreign companies, who could depart as quickly as they came, and already the signs of changes in the voice market are starting to bite Filipino apathy in the bum (the largest voice company in the UK has just closed all operations in the Philippines and transferred all activities to India, with the loss of over 1,000 jobs).

The current Philippine BPO strategy - get more well trained motivated nurses to work in mind-numbing call centres!! Between the brain drain abroad, and draining brains at home, and the brain-dead in charge, the inevitable outcome is a no brain.

Of the millions of OFW's, Filipinos abroad, how many climb to the top, or even get anywhere near it? They prefer an easy life in the ghettos they establish in Los Angeles, Las Vegas etc. (Many landlords in Dubai refuse to rent to Filipinos - due to their 'habits')

Culturally there is no getting away from the fact that Filipinos are inherently lazy, lack creativity, and have little passion to inquire/learn, and with hard work, innovation, and self-improvement being the keys to business and economic success, then no change in culture means no change in structural and societal prosperity, simply national monopolies extracting excess profits for as long as they can, without any desire to innovate, research, or re-invest.

[This is a Featured Comment]. Source:
http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2014/04/indeed-the-real-issue-is-not-the-philippines-it-is-filipinos/comment-page-1/#comment-235078