DURING THESE TIMES WHEN THE whole world is in the grip of an encroaching financial turmoil, unlike a decade ago when it was only us and our Asian neighbors, we in the National Competitiveness Council continue to talk about how the Philippines is rising again in the global economic ladder.

I have been saying now and again that we can see the country rejoining the world's top one-third economies. I draw conviction from the achievements resulting from three years of combined efforts from the government and private sector to rebuild our national competitiveness. No less than six working group champions and some 100 top business leaders--who "talk competitiveness for breakfast" everyday--have volunteered and joined hands in the National Competitiveness Council's projects.

To prove this point, the Philippines' global ranking based on the World Competitiveness Yearbook, issued by the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development, shows that the country has been gradually recovering from being in the bottom third.

In the past three years, our ranking improved from 49th in 2006 to 40th in the WCY 2008 despite a considerable weakening in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis.

It is in this light that the NCC continues its endeavor, with initiatives slated in the next few months and which hopefully will allow us to sustain the gains that we have achieved so far.

For the rest of the year, we will continue with the NCC Provincial Roadshow, which we are conducting with the help of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. To date, we have covered eight provinces and cities, including Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Sta. Rosa in Laguna, Tagbilaran in Bohol, Cagayan de Oro, Rizal, General Santos, Baguio and Butuan.

We intend to cover at least four more provinces by the end of the year. The idea is to spread the "Gospel of Competitiveness" to the regions and generate nationwide support for the NCC. The response of our provincial stakeholders has been quite overwhelming and very encouraging.

In fact, there are many companies from global-scale industries/services wanting to knock at the doors of LGUs as they need to locate outside Metro Manila. The challenge is for local chief executives to be more business-oriented in charting the economic development of the regions.

Even then, we have many progressive-minded LGU heads--at least 85 of them--who have been trained by the City Development Strategies of the World Bank and by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia of the Institute for Corporate Directors. For this, at least 100 LGU heads crafted road maps that will enable them to attract investments in their localities that will make them globally competitive.

There are many institutions that compare certain conditions in several countries to synthesize a bigger picture of the so-called "competitiveness." We try to take note of most of them. One is the IMD business school in Switzerland, whose WCY I have mentioned.

Another is the German Technical Cooperation or GTZ, which introduced an approach to the improvement in business processing and licensing systems in LGUs especially in the Visayas. The NCC is considering to adopt the GTZ approach nationwide.

Third is the World Economic Forum which is more involved in the overall financial standards of countries and their business adaptability to environment. Similarly, the E-standards Forum Foundation (EFF) of bankers and finance leaders in New York evaluates similar parameters as the WEF.

Fourth is the International Finance Corp. which comes out with the Doing Business Report--a potpourri of 10 factors that reflect a poor state of affairs due mainly to target regulations and burdensome tax rates.

EFF data show that the Philippines is ranked 26th out of 81 countries in the so-called Standard Compliance Index, which has 12 key standards for "sound financial systems." Based on that rank, the country's level of compliance is "medium."

Also, the EFF ranked the Philippines 64th out of the same 81 countries in the Business Indicator Index, compliance to which the country is "below standard."

However, even IFC will state that significant improvements have already been achieved. First is that the difficulty of getting credit for small and medium enterprises has been mostly resolved by the Magna Carta for SMEs, which provides for the availability of more funds and technology from both local and foreign institutions. There are now volunteer business leaders to upgrade SMEs in their business skills.

Second is in trading across borders in which the Philippines is already on top third.

Third is in protecting investments, in which the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development finds Philippines is already No. 1 in corporate governance in Asia. The OEDC will hold its Asian Business Roundtable on Corporate Governance in Manila on July 2009, with the aim of showcasing the Philippine experience.

- Cesar B. Bautista, Philippine Daily Inquirer