 Peter
L. Wallace
President, Wallace Business Forum
When Peter Wallace first came to the Philippines in 1975,
he admits that he never thought he’d stay in the country
as long as he has. In the course of more than 20 years here,
he has established two companies — the Wallace Business
Forum and AYC Consultants; met and married a Filipina; raised
a family with her; and built his own vacation house in Caliraya.
The Philippines has indeed become his home.
Did you ever think you’d
stay for the long term when you came here in 1975?
No. When I first came here, it was to build a factory for
an American company and it was a two-year contract. During
that time, I had an Australian wife. She didn’t like
the Philippines so she left. We decided to divorce and then
I met a Filipina. Then one of my friends came to me and said
that he was leaving and asked if I would like to take over
his job in Columbian Philippines. I discussed that with my
new wife and we decided, yes, we’d like to stay here
for a bit longer. I still wasn’t thinking long-term so
we decided we’ll stay for another couple of years. Then
I was approached by another American company – Getz Corporation.
By then, we were pretty well-settled and had a couple of children.
We bought a big boat, and I was very active in the yacht club.
Did you have difficulties in adjusting
to living here?
Yes, still do. The interesting thing is I lived in Japan for
a year as well, and I’ve often said that I actually had
more difficulty in the Philippines than in Japan because,
in Japan, I knew it was very different – different language,
different customs. So I was a lot more careful.
Here, it was just like home so I thought — Filipinos
are just like Australians. As you probably know, Australians
are very forthright, very frank – I thought, well, you
can get the same thing here. And I get into trouble. You have
to be much more sensitive. It was also very hard to get Australian
food here. I’m used to meat pies and potatoes. Back in
those days, very little was available in the Philippines.
I missed the variety of foods that I was used to. I missed
the ability to shop for things I needed.
So, living here was just short-term
for you.
Yes, two or three years, then a few more years. I don’t
know when it finally hit us, but it would have been after
we’d started our own business, I think. We were happy
here anyway. I think we began to realize that this would be
our home.
Please describe AYC Consulting
and Wallace Business Forum
The Wallace Business Forum was called EIU Philippines before.
It’s basically providing what I would call country-risk
analysis and interpretation for chief executives of multinationals.
We help to bridge the gap between multinationals in the Philippines
and the Philippine government so that both hopefully understand
each other. AYC is a specific-issues company so there we do
the market research, feasibility studies, helping people with
problems on a specific thing.
Have you picked up some Filipino
traits?
Oh, yes. Well, I think I’m much more patient these days,
I’m much more sensitive of other people’s feelings,
more tolerant, if you like, more polite perhaps. I’m
still just as demanding as I ever was – my staff would
tell you. I’m still very time-conscious – I’ve
never gotten used to “Filipino time,” — still
work very hard which lots of Filipinos don’t do, I’m
afraid, particularly out in the provinces. I’m still
driven to do things. I’ve gotten to like Asian foods,
Filipino foods.
What do you hope for the future
of the Philippines?
What I hope is that there will be structural, fundamental
change. I do not have a great deal of confidence in the future
of the country to be really successful unless it makes those
changes. I think that if it stays the way it is, we will just
have modest growth as we’ve had in the past. The sad
thing about the Philippines is that everybody has always said
it has tremendous potential. But they’ve been saying
that for the last 30 years. When do you stop being potential
and being actual? I mean, everybody says that the Filipinos
are probably the best in Asia, but somehow the country never
becomes the best country in Asia. So, we have to do something
to make it change. I keep pushing for those changes as I want
the country to be the success it should be.
How did you view the ‘EDSA
II, EDSA III’ happenings?
I was part of “EDSA II”. I certainly didn’t
join “EDSA III.” You know, when I’ve been travelling
overseas – how do you explain to anybody that you take
your children to a revolution? I took the kids to the revolution,
to EDSA, because I wanted them to be a part of history, to
see what it was like because I knew this was going to be a
major change. And I was at EDSA I. We lived at Wack-Wack at
the time so we were up there. We spent a fortune on providing
sandwiches to everyone we could find. My wife and her maids
spent virtually all day just making sandwiches in the house
and then taking them out to EDSA
How would you describe the Philippines
to other foreigners who are not very familiar with the country?
There was an article in an Australian newspaper today that
someone just gave me. [Reading from the paper] ‘The biggest
problem with the Philippines is the perception’ –
right. The perception is not the reality. And that’s
the hardest thing to get across – how do you get across
to people that what you read in the international press and
what you hear in the international news is actually not what
the Philippines is.
What do you like about living
here?
The excitement of the job. The variety of the job. Everyday
I’m doing something different. I like to be intellectually
stimulated. We love our place in Caliraya. I like on weekends
to be able to work with my hands. All my friends are here
– it’s always nice to be in a place where you’ve
got friends. I’ve got a good family. We’ve lived
reasonably well.
So you really see your future
here in the Philippines?
Oh, I have no intention to leave.
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