March 16, 2006
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I'm not so sure about the idea of foreign investors buying condominiums and other real estate in the Philippines. The future long-term damage that this will have on the national economy will not be outweighed by any short-term benefits to the country.
I attended a presentation by a newly formed business here in Sacramento called "Balikbahay," which means going back home, or something to that effect. There were representatives from Rockwell, a development firm that is supposedly very popular. They had a ritzy presentation and it looked great. The price for the average Californian is more than affordable, especially compared with what they pay for real estate in California.
A couple of things stood out at the presentation. First of all, the design of the 41-story high rise building of condominiums were inspired after the rice terraces. That was pretty cool. Then I learned that the architect was a United States based firm. Can we say outsourcing? Why didn't they hire a Philippine architect to do it? It's like how we in America say buy American.
Secondly, each condominium had a maid's room. It was blatantly displayed on all the literature and the representative also highlighted that feature. This just kind of shows that the building is not meant for the general Philippine citizen, most of whom live well below the poverty line. I don't know the current statistics, but something like 10% of the population control 90% of the country's wealth.
Speaking of wealth, the wealth is not even held in the hands of Philippine citizens. It is held in foreign investors. Which leads me to my problem in the marketing of this business. It's not meant for the average Philippine citizen. In fact, it invites more foreign investors to buy up more property and control more wealth. The result is a larger gap between the lower class and the upper class.
Here's where what we do will be important. Either people purchase property and allow their family that are still in the Philippines to live there, which wouldn't be as bad as if a foreign business person lives in the same property. I just have a problem with the land not being used for its people. Of course, that's not even taking into consideration the environmental effects of all this so-called development.
Comments (1)
I looked at the website and it seems like they're marketing towards filipino-americans. In regards to economics, foreigners buying real estate would contribute to the Philippine economy. They would end up paying our real estate taxes, employ our maids, buy our goods, and ultimately purchase filipino goods. Overall, I think this a good thing as it would pump american dollars to the local economy. Now if it were industries they were buying, say MERALCO, then that's a different tangent.
ps. are they looking for interns for summer?
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