The Responsibilities Of Investors, Korean Or Not!

Comments from readers on The Korean Invasion

As an American I find these comments racist and I sincerely hope readers realize that not all Americans are this bigoted. If a Korean had written an article saying how bad Americans are and how we're ruining the Philippines, it would also be offensive.

I am a guest in this country and have been treated well by my Filipino friends. I hope they treat all nationalities with equal respect.

If foreigners bother you, why don't you go back to the US?

[The Subic Bulletin] The article you are commenting on was written by a Filipino about the relationship between Filipinos and Koreans. Most of us would like to know about the dynamics of this relationship and abuses of the system that are occurring. We agree the journalist was a bit harsh but there was nothing American about it.

And Another....

You have no prejudices against any nationality? HAHAHA what a joke. Just by reading your comments, it is clear that you are as biased as the author. You should change your banner to read "Straight Talking, Politically Neutral, Personally Biased against Koreans....and most of all Racist"!!!

[The Subic Bulletin] Well thanks for that, I lost brain cells just reading it.

The Subic Bulletin supports legitimate investment in Subic from any country or race and we will comment on abuses against Filipino's or things that are not good for the Philippines (especially Subic) whether you are Korean, American, Japanese, Australian, Chinese whatever.

Its our goal to keep this blog upbeat and positive about Subic but we won't be dragged into politically motivated sweet-talk. We knew this article would be controversial but as it was sent in by a reader so we decided to share it. The follow on article from the same author back peddles on some of his comments and focuses more on Hanjin, so we will print it soon.

Koreans weren't always the big spenders here in Subic, now old timer Filipinos in Subic tell you stories about how locals were horrified when the Americans rolled in and took over big areas of land and made a base, like it or hate it the Subic area prospered from the jobs and infrastructure that came with it.

Since the Americans there has been waves of investments from Japanese and Taiwanese and while some people grumble mainly out of jealousy the Subic area has enjoyed the prosperity that these investors have brought.

The moderation team of The Subic Bulletin is made up of several nationalities and we all have Korean friends, one of our very good Korean friends is a Business Adviser that moderates a blog in Korean advising Koreans how to integrate and communicate when entering into business ventures overseas. She is often frustrated with the steamroller way some Koreans approach there entry into another country. Many Koreans are interested in the opinions of others on what they are doing because it may not be obvious to them coming from a different culture.

The Subic Bulletin is also very supportive of Hanjin's presence in Subic or any other major employer who comes here and we can see the improvements especially in Subic Town where the increased family incomes has brought so many improvements, but this does not mean we should let them off the hook for social or corporate responsibilities and calling anyone who takes investors to task on their responsibilities a racist is letting down Filipinos and letting down Subic. Its a bit like blaming workplace accidents on "subcontractors", in the words of the Irish-born British statesman Edmund Burke: “The only way by which evil men prosper in society is for the good to do nothing."

It makes no difference to us where your from, acts that are good for Subic get commented positively and mischievous acts especially anything not good for Subic gets exposed. When we said "please keep your comments on the subject" we meant that we are talking about business and social changes the Koreans were bringing, we were not talking about Koreans themselves, it seems some of our readers are too driven by political correctness to be able to differentiate the two, but then different people with different ideals is what makes life interesting.

We support all investment, Korean or otherwise but our priority is to Support Subic!