Singapore gets big lift from Pinoys amid crisis

Filipinos in Singapore have helped their host country stay afloat despite the onslaught of the global financial crisis, Singapore Ambassador to the Philippines A. Selverajah said on Wednesday.

According to Selverajah, there are more than 150,000 Filipinos in his country who play key roles in various sectors of the economy including banking, healthcare, retail, food and beverages and digital media.

“Their attitude toward work and their warm nature make them highly demanded,” he said in a speech during the Singapore National Day held at the Mandarin Hotel in Makati City recently.

Selverajah also cited Filipino tourists who continued to flock to Singapore even with the ongoing global economic meltdown. The city-state was also affected by the global crunch because its economy depends much on exports.

“Singapore’s tourist arrival from the Philippines has continued to increase, there are in fact 400,000 Filipinos who visited our country in 2008,” he noted.

The ambassador credited the continued influx of the Filipino tourists to an expanded air transportation agreement between Manila and his country.

“We have really worked on more direct flights to Singapore from Manila, Clark, Cebu, Subic and Davao. It would not be only good for business, but for better understanding between peoples as well,” he said.

Based on records of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Singapore is the Philippines’ fourth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to

$8.5 billion, or P382 billion in 2008.

Selverajah told The Manila Times during an earlier interview that Singapore was continuing to upgrade its trade mechanisms so that it would not have to depend on one industry. He said that Singapore has also become a hub for knowledge-based industries such as biotechnology, logistics, tourism and financial services. –Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter, Manila Times