Though straight talk got US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas Jr. in hot water last September when he volunteered his estimate of the number of foreign male tourists who visit the Philippines for sex (“40%”), straight talk to a packed audience of 250 Filipino Americans at the Intramuros Restaurant on February 4 drew nothing but adulation and a standing ovation.
The event was a dinner sponsored by the US Pinoys for Good Governance (usp4gg.org) which was formed when over 200 Filipino Americans attended the inauguration of Pres. Benigno S. Aquino III in Manila on June 30, 2010 and were welcomed at a Makati reception for them by US Ambassador Thomas.
“Don’t be trapped by history”, Amb. Thomas said in response to a question about past US support for the Marcos dictatorship. “Yes, the US engaged in shameful acts in the past,” he acknowledged.
“We cannot excuse what the US government did to the Filipino WW II veterans after the war. When Sen. Inouye talked about the plight of the Filipino veterans, there was not a dry tear in the room…But this is 2012. We have to live in the present and deal with present realities.”
The first African-American to be appointed ambassador the Philippines, Thomas shared that he grew up in South Carolina at a time when there were separate fountains for whites and blacks. “We’re all victims one way or another but we can’t go around acting like one. We have to deal with the present and not allow ourselves to be trapped in the past and by the past,” he counseled.
A question about how US aid to the Philippines could be increased received a mild rebuke from Thomas. “The Philippines is the 5th largest recipient of US aid amounting to more than $500 million a year which includes more than $200 million in Veterans Administration (VA) payments a year that is outside of the $200 million allocated in 2009 by Pres. Obama for WW II veterans. There are more than 8000 Peace Corps volunteers in the Philippines, the largest in the world.”
“But aid is just band-aid. You shouldn’t
rely on it,” he said.
When asked his opinion about a bill in the US Congress that would discourage the outsourcing of call center jobs to India and the Philippines, Thomas replied that as a US ambassador he has no opinion on the subject.
“Don’t blame Pres. Obama for that bill. As president of the United States, it’s his job to keep jobs in the US,” he said.
But Thomas said he understands the attraction of call center jobs that pay better than average wages. “I just can’t understand why a college degree is required just to pour latte at the Dusit Hotel in Makati. I can’t understand why “umbrella girls” at the Intramuros Golf Club are fired when they turn 30,” he said.
“How can the Philippines produce a Jonas Salk when graduates of medical schools in the Philippines can’t get jobs in local hospitals unless their parents have enough money to buy ownership shares in those hospitals?”
“Graduates of law schools from the provinces can’t get jobs in the top law firms of Manila which pick only the crème of the top six Manila universities.”
Thomas expressed a concern that if all the focus is concentrated on just increasing the number of call centers in the Philippines, “what would happen if the call center industry falls like the Philippine textile industry did?”
The Philippines needs to diversify its industrial base and also move away from being “Manila-centric”, he said. Industries that create jobs should be set up all over the Philippines, not just around Manila and Cebu.
But industries can’t create jobs without capital and local capital is insufficient to meet the national demand.  While Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) remit about $2B a month through official bank channels, these funds are generally used to pay for the consumption needs of their relatives and not to invest in infrastructure projects that create jobs.
Without specifically mentioning the Foreign Investments Act of 1991 more commonly known as “the 60-40 law” – which limits the amount of ownership of a Philippine business that foreign companies can own – Thomas asked how it is possible that a war-ravaged country like Vietnam could develop its economy ahead of the Philippines.
In one study about the competitiveness of South East Asian countries in attracting foreign investments, the Philippines ranked 7th out of the ASEAN-7 – with Singapore and Vietnam at the top and the Philippines at the bottom far below  its nearest competitor, Indonesia.
Simply put, foreign investors are not willing to invest in countries which require that majority control be in the hands of locals which would not allow them to determine the fate of their funds. They are also not willing to invest in countries with legal systems that are corrupt, Thomas said although couched in a more diplomatic way.
Thomas was asked about the progress of his campaign against human trafficking in the Philippines and he replied that it was frustrating. “We bust prostitution establishments that prey on young girls in Angeles City and the next day, they’re operating again because the owners obtained court orders allowing them to reopen.”
We know parents who sell their young daughters into prostitution because they have no other means to feed their families, he said. You can’t get rid of human trafficking without getting rid of poverty and you can’t get rid of poverty without providing good-paying jobs in the Philippines, he said.
“The Philippines is projecting a 4% annual growth of its economy but the problem is that it needs to grow annually at 9% at least to sustain a population that is nearing 100 million,” he said.
At the end of the open forum, when Amb. Thomas had completed answering more than a dozen questions, the audience stood up spontaneously to give the ambassador a standing ovation to express appreciation for his love and concern for the Filipino people.