Antonio dela Cruz, Vice President for Trade and Commerce of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said before the U.S. economic slump, the Philippines had been struggling against the domino effects of the series of oil price hikes.  Fortunately, both the government and the private sector were able to cushion the economic burden brought about by oil price hikes.

He said the Philippines also survived the hurting effects of the Asian crisis in 1997.

“We were able to manage our economy in spite of those economic blows,” Dela Cruz also said at the Club 888 Forum last Wednesday.

Although the effects of the U.S. economic crisis are in the offing, the country’s technocrats and the banking sector have already assured that the country’s banking industry, which is considered the engine of growth, is stable.

He further said that the recent plan of the Ayala Group of Companies to buy the embattled PhilamLife also signals the ability of the country’s business sector to cope with the effects of the U.S. economic depression.

“Filipinos are ready to face the U.S. crisis. We have shown that at the height of the 1997 Asian crisis and the perennial oil price hikes,” Dela Cruz reiterated.

Ofelia Domingo, assistant regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment, for her part said the immediate effects of the U.S. economic recession has yet to trickle down on developing countries.

She, however, said this would surely come in the next few months.