“BPO’s [business process outsourcing] foreign-investment success illustrates the difficulty. Business process outsourcing thrived precisely because it sidesteps the bottlenecks that strangle manufacturing: a call centre does not need a freight train, reliable provincial energy, or a deep-water port – only reliable fibre and English speakers. The IMF estimates about one-third of Philippine jobs are highly exposed to AI, with BPO at greatest risk – an industry worth roughly 7.4% of GDP, comparable to remittances…”
“The Pentagon wants cost-imposing suppliers for the West Philippine Sea and wants a defence industrial base that does not run through Chinese inputs. The Philippines can offer both because it holds a rare, accidental advantage. Most of Southeast Asia is now deeply enmeshed in Chinese capital and technology, from the parks of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, through the financial hub of Singapore, to the dependencies of Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. Those linkages are becoming a liability for anyone selling into the American defence base – leaving the Philippines able to credibly claim allied provenance in a way its neighbours increasingly cannot.”