Golden visas and dual citizenship

Stephen CuUnjieng

WHEN I was a student, except for the very, very elite, and usually those with Western blood, nearly everyone from what passed for the elite went to the leading local schools for grade school and high school, then most of us stayed in the Philippines for university and if we went abroad, it was for graduate degrees.

Then, just before martial law, the first President Marcos sent the present President Marcos to study in England, followed eventually by his daughters. Some of the Marcos cronies started doing the same for their children. It was still a handful at that time. You still primarily saw most going to Philippine universities for their undergraduate work.

In fact, we used to snicker at some who went to minor grade universities in the United States after floundering in the leading Philippine universities. Some who failed or were in danger of doing so at Ateneo, La Salle and University of the Philippines went to the University of San Francisco that we used to call the University of Stupid Filipinos. Then came the financial crisis of 1983 and many stopped as the dollar cost in pesos increased from 7 to 1 to 21 to 1.

By the 1990s, you started seeing those who could afford it sending their children to universities abroad and prior to that international-style schools in Manila. Then came 1997, and the more than doubling of exchange rates and some parents reluctantly pulling their children out of international schools and back to local schools purely due to cost and affordability, and not a newfound confidence in the leading local schools.

Why do I bring this up? Because the present wave is a big jump from that. With now an unprecedented 20 years of stable exchange rates and until recently, low interest rates in the region, you see many parents sending their children to international-style schools from elementary level onwards, then university abroad, if not sooner.

I have previously worried about the social effects of that if all the children of the elite only socialize and study with the elite, but that is related, too, but not this column’s topic, which is not just preparing their children to be competitive beyond the Philippines, it is ensuring they do not have to stay in the Philippines. Now it is beyond education.

Next generation prospects

Thus, we now see many of the especially professional versus ownership class elite getting “golden” visas, dual citizenships and all that comes in between those two which provide permanent residence and right to work in other countries for them and their children, but primarily for the latter. What do I ascribe this to?

First, grave concern over what future the Philippine job market holds not for them but for their children.

Second, even with global quality education, increasing restrictions on visas for employment in many countries, making reliance of employment-sponsored visas many of these professionals were sponsored for earlier in their career, especially in Hong Kong and Singapore, less forthcoming.

Third and related, the insecurity and lack of flexibility that sometimes comes with working abroad on an employment-sponsored visa or work permit. This has been developing over the last two decades and is not a new trend but one that I have seen grown quietly.

Privately ask C-suite executives in the Philippines if they have dual citizenship, golden visas, or permanent residence elsewhere. You will be surprised by the answer. It is a completely rational and prudent response to take. I hope that rather than blame them, our officials should ask why so many people come to the same collective conclusion, especially over the last 20 years or so? Rather than cast blame for a rational choice, I suggest dealing with why this is happening.

While many of these C-suite executives are satisfied with their jobs and lifestyle, they do not see the same opportunities for their children. One of the best gauges of whether a country is doing better or not is, all things being equivalent, does the next generation have it better than the prior?

I see prospects getting better for succeeding generations across the board since the 1980s in most of Asia and since the 2000s in Vietnam as well and spectacularly so. What about us? From having Chinese amahs from the 1950s and 1960s to now being their amahs. Guess who supplied much of the labor that built Baguio? Japan, hence, there being some Japanese mestizos there as some stayed on. Now we are among the diaspora doing Japan’s lower end labor.

This is different as we are discussing white collar and professional level opportunities. Just like artificial intelligence (AI) is causing consternation as automation is coming for white collar jobs, executives were wondering even before AI what kind of white collar careers their children will have in the Philippines. For AI, obsolescence, which the chattering classes praised and called efficiency when blue collar jobs were at stake, is now causing a different response now that their jobs and careers are at risk.

Inclusive growth

What are possible solutions to declining job and career prospects? I am not a macroeconomist or specialist in development economics, so do not claim to be an expert, but a hint may be in the new mission of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which is really what the more forward-looking economies are now seeking. Hint, it is not the Washington Consensus, leave it to the private sector, and unbridled capitalism and free trade we seem to be uniquely stuck on. It is inclusive growth that includes prudent protection and social safety nets.

Even in the US, this is becoming a mantra as the issue is a priority of both political parties though they have opposite ways of proposing to deal with it. In the 1980s, the average chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 company made about 36 times the median worker. Think that was bad? It is now over 300 times. That, however, is another issue.

But how did all countries globally that provided substantial generational improvement in prosperity and quality of life achieve and sustain it? At least for countries with a population exceeding 10 million, the success story included manufacturing and industrialization, which is a mass employer with multiplier effect as it has been stated that each major manufacturing job creates five others.

Think of a job in the assembly line at Toyota, where many additional jobs result from that. They create jobs in sales, with suppliers, and transporting the vehicles, and you get the point. Yet what have we seen since the 1980s in the Philippines? The near total defenestration of manufacturing except for the food industry.

By contrast, an overseas Filipino worker creates no other jobs and business process outsourcing work perhaps a few fast-food restaurant jobs due to the extra shift needed to cater to their hours. I have discussed why manufacturing has been the only proven mass employer in prior columns.