PH’s next leader should be a ‘connector’—Apec businessmen

The country’s next top leader should have a positive vision for the country’s economic track and can unite the public in achieving a common goal by generating more jobs for Filipinos, leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) business advisory council said on Monday.

“I think that leader has to be a connector. We do have challenges, and I think we need somebody that rallies everyone towards a common goal,” entrepreneur and philanthropist Doris Magsaysay Ho said during the Meet the Inquirer Multimedia forum in Makati City.

“There’s so much opportunity in front of us. It is not us against each other—it is the Philippines and the opportunities that this world offers, so we have to get competitive,” she added.

Ho, CEO of the Magsaysay Group of Companies, said a leader should not be afraid of having a vision and “putting strategy in front.”

“I think personally that one of the things that have held us down is that we focus on what we don’t have,” she said. “I hope we all leave from this hosting with a new vision and a new mindset about the possibilities beyond our borders.”

Guillermo Luz, private sector co-chairman of the National Competitiveness Council, said the private sector and the government are well coordinated in successful economies.

“The countries that really execute well are countries where the business delegation and the government have a lot of open channels for discussion on what policies best suit their country,” he said.

Luz also noted that above anything else, the country’s next top leader should focus on creating new jobs for Filipinos.

“Curing poverty is much more complex than any of us have ever imagined. The key is job generation,” he said.

Echoing Luz, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala called on the next president to create an environment that generates employment, saying that it will be fulfilling from an economic point of view.

“If you look at the surveys on what people are looking for, they want to get employed. People are hungry to work,” said the chairman and CEO of Ayala Corporation.

Comparing the Philippines to a business company, Zobel de Ayala added: “Most people would prefer to work for an inspirational and optimistic leader. That’s what this country needs.” AU