Doing Business in the Philippines

The Makati Skyline, Philippines

I just finished reading a short article that it is not easy to do business in the Philippines. According to the article based on the World Bank survey, Singapore took the top spot in the rankings in the ease of doing business. New Zealand was 2nd and US was 3rd. Hong Kong was 4th, Japan 12th, and China 83rd. Could you guess PI ranking? A pathetic 140th!!

This is not news to me. Grease money runs the country. Unnecessary paper work slows down the growth of small business. For example just getting a permit takes a lot of paper work and grease money. Even in the business of tourism ( which should be encourage by the government), the presence of "grease takers" really frustrates me. There are other specific examples, that I will not mention for fear that it will have a detrimental effect in my small business in the Philippines. To survive, I follow the principle, "If in Rome do what the Romans are doing". Sad but that is the reality of life.

The article concluded that we should not be discourage from doing business in the Philippines. It says there are some rotten eggs in the basket, but the good ones outnumber the bad ones. It also advise us to know the proper way of doing things and stick to it and most of all ditch those greasers. What do you think? Is this a reasonable advice?