Zubiri says foreign investors wary of PH labor problems, wage issues

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

THE perception that sweatshops proliferate in the Philippines has been driving away foreign investors who also feared being accused of paying low wages, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said.

“They want to move to the Philippines, but they’re looking at our wages, our labor problems… they don’t want to be accused of moving to a country which runs sweatshops due to the low pay they’re giving,” said Zubiri, who recently returned from an official trip to the United States.

Zubiri was referring to American officials he talked to during his three-week official working visit in Washington D.C.

The Philippine contingent led by Zubiri and Sen. Francis Tolentino met US State Department officials and sev- eral congressmen who aired their concerns on foreign companies who would like to invest in our country.

“They want to move to the Philippines, believe it or not, this is their concern,” he said.

According to Zubiri, the prospective American investors want to pay the right wages, which is higher than what workers in the Philippine have been getting.

He cited a big disparity of the wages they’re paying in countries where the American investors have located and in the Philippines.