The snorkeling and scuba diving around the archipelago are well-known, and international surf bums often compete here for relatively small purses just to groove on the beauty of the place. I also reflected on the wondrous hospitality of the Filipino people. As long as you're willing to put some effort into understanding the culture and deal fairly with people, it's a great place to do business. One of the wonders of globalization is that a great deal of today's business can now be conducted over the web. Tasks that were previously accomplished at a centralized location like San Francisco or Tokyo can now be done virtually anywhere.
Geographical proximity is no longer a key criterion.
Thanks to the Internet, multinational companies now contract such IT-enabled work to locations scattered around the globe. They look for an optimal blend of a talented, English speaking work force, good technological infrastructure, and favorable political climate. In short, somewhere like the Philippines. Realizing this, many major international firms have relocated their customer service, applications programming, and other back office operations to the Philippines in recent years. The Philippines has a virtually unlimited pool of talented, well-trained, and motivated workers.