Electronics sector on road to recovery, says SEIPI

MANILA, Philippines – There will be no additional retrenchment in the electronics industry as local players announced they are heading towards recovery.

In a press conference, Semiconductors and Electronics Industries of the Philippines Inc. (SEIPI) president Ernesto Santiago said that they have already reached the bottom and they are on their way to a recovery.

According to Santiago, month on month comparisons showed a healthier exports performance picture. He said that the sectors’ January export performance was less than one percent better than December, February is one percent better than January and March was 19 percent stronger against February.

Santiago said he sees that the trend will continue. “We don’t have the figures yet but we know that May is better than April.”

Likewise, they have revised their yearend target of 30-percent contraction to only 20 percent.

Santiago estimated that 20 percent to 30 percent of the workers were affected by the crisis. This means that the livelihood of more than 100,000 people were affected by the slowdown in global demand.

Santiago said that it doesn’t necessarily mean that these people lost their jobs. Some may be required to decrease their working hours while others were asked to go on training while awaiting orders from abroad.

The good news, Santiago said, is that some of the retrenched workers are already coming back. He said companies have started to recall the displaced workers. “We have not heard any more retrenchment,” he said.

Likewise, Santiago reported that there are new investments in the industry from January to May. The industry recorded $40 million but this is significantly lower than the $200 million recorded last year.

“In order to survive the crisis, we must look ahead and prepare ourselves for the upturn. This way, we are put on the global radar screen by showing we are still here and we’ll still be here even after the crisis,” he concluded. –Ma. Elisa P. Osorio, Philippine Star