2 weeks ago
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When asked on the key issue candidates must champion in the midterm elections, business magnate Manuel V. Pangilinan, or MVP, didn’t mince words; and he called it as it is: voters must see through the hollow promises, and leaders must do more than talk; they must create quality jobs.
Government figures boast of record-high employment at 48.8 million, but the truth is still harder to spin—1.63 million Filipinos were still jobless as of December 2024, an increase from the previous year. Numbers may paint a rosy picture, but for the unemployed, prosperity remains an elusive goal.
MVP hits the nail on the head—without quality jobs at home, the brain drain won’t stop. Talented Filipinos will keep packing their bags—not out of choice, but out of necessity—leaving the country running on empty while other nations reap the rewards of our lost potential.
In a conversation I had with Energy Undersecretary Rowena Guevara last week, she also painted a hard truth—Filipino engineers and technically skilled workers aren’t short on talent; they lack opportunities here—like it is well-known that many Filipinos helped build Dubai’s skyline; they’re also running the UAE’s mammoth 5,600-megawatt Barakah nuclear plant, and many Filipinos are also instrumental in developing Taiwan’s offshore wind farms, among others—yet, while we have these world-class talents, we are still scrambling to keep the lights on in our own country.
Even in Silicon Valley, Filipino talents are similarly making waves at tech giants like Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft—and many of them dream of coming home. The problem? The opportunities they deserve don’t exist here, leaving the country as just a memory while their skills and intelligence fuel other nations’ success.
MVP and Usec Gev are right: the Philippines is rich in talent but poor in opportunities. Our engineers, scientists, economists, and analysts aren’t leaving for adventure; they’re leaving because staying means settling for lower pay and fewer prospects. Until we fix that, we’re just exporting brilliance while importing regret.
Midterm elections and job market prospects
Glancing at the frontrunners in the Senate race, one thing is clear—bold promises are plenty, but real plans for quality jobs are not exactly there. If leadership is about solutions, why does it seem like no one on top of the polls offers any?
And here we go again—another election, another lineup of familiar faces with little to show for real legislative work. Instead of lawmakers, we’re getting entertainers who are turning the Senate into just another stage where drama or comedy wins over duty and performance on the policy sphere. So, what now? Do we just sit tight for another three years, waiting to see if recycled political promises magically turn into real jobs? Or do we finally demand leaders who actually deliver instead of just campaigning on empty words?
The May 12, 2025 midterm election is a crossroads—either we elect leaders who will finally advocate for policies or legislations that will create quality jobs, or we squander yet another chance and watch the world race ahead while we’re left clapping for them from the sidelines.
Quality jobs won’t just appear out of thin air—we need real investments in infrastructure like those of railways, airports, roads, and ports; a manufacturing resurgence; booming tech hubs and data centers; and a wave of green jobs from our energy transition. But without solid policies to back them up, these opportunities will remain nothing more than wasted potential.
Apart from policies, Usec. Guevara also laid down another matter to seriously consider: if we want top Filipino talents to return, local companies need to step up and offer competitive salaries. Otherwise, our best minds will keep building a better future elsewhere while we struggle to catch up with many neighboring countries.
The silver lining, she noted, is that some private companies are willing to answer the call, ready to offer comparatively rewarding compensation. It’s a promising sign—and maybe, just maybe, we can bring our top engineers and skilled workers home soon to power our own energy future.
The energy sector is where real money is currently flowing—just look at the Board of Investments' latest report: a staggering ₱3.74 trillion in registered renewable energy (RE) projects. If we play this right, this isn’t just an investment surge—it will be a game-changer for quality job creation.
Yet money isn’t the only battleground—the global race for top energy talent is heating up, and the Philippines is already feeling the crunch. Companies scramble to find skilled solar installers, finance experts, and mid-level managers for power facilities. If we don’t level up, we won’t just lose investments—we’ll lose the people who can power up our energy security.
In the offshore wind sector, in particular, the industry is pushing for upskilling and reskilling of workers so they can cater to the multi-billion-dollar projects that will soon advance to development phases.
Still, industry players see two looming challenges: first, building a strong local talent pool; second, keeping them from being lured away once they’re skilled. With global demand for RE workers skyrocketing, developed nations are ready to snatch up our best—unless we give them real reason to stay.
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