The Philippines’ top three economic managers on Tuesday brushed off queries about political troubles besieging the government back home, saying they’d rather focus on the country’s improved economic and fiscal situation, and draw attention to investment opportunities in the Philippines.

The economic team — composed of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. — met with the Filipino-American media at the board room of the Philippine Center on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, following a week-long investor roadshow in London and New York.

ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG hosted the non-deal roadshow in London, while Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs handled the New York leg.

Teves admitted overseas investors were interested in the political developments in the Philippines, but said his economic team instead updated investors on developments in the government’s economic reform program.

“We cannot divide our attention because of political issues,” said Teves, as he parried questions that are political in nature.

“We’ve been implementing reforms that will result in greater macroeconomic and fiscal stability,” he said. “Investors and research analysts worldwide have acknowledged the progress we’ve made in strengthening our economic fundamentals.”

The finance chief said the most important fiscal reform under the administration of President Gloria Arroyo was the expanded value-added tax (EVAT) law, which took effect in November 2005.

EVAT, the biggest revenue-generating measure in a package of fiscal reforms, is intended to help the government achieve a balanced budget as early as 2008.

The law EVAT coverage to include oil and electricity products, and VAT rate was raised from 10 percent to 12 percent in February.

Teves said the reform initiatives are yielding tangible results, citing the January-February period revenue which totalled P136.9 billion, higher than the P127.8 billion target.

Nonetheless, he said foreign investors are watching closely how the Philippines will sustain what it has achieved in 10 months.

Teves said the government for 2006 has also intensified tax administration and collection efficiency, improved debt management, and is now implementing anti-corruption measures. He did no elaborate the last one.

Meanwhile, Tetangco of Bangko Sentral boasted the stability of peso, saying sustained dollar inflows from remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), portfolio investments, foreign direct investments, and export receipts continue to support the peso.

“The record surge in our gross international reserves is another indication of positive investor sentiment toward the Philippine economy,” Tetangco pointed out. “This continued stability in our currency partly helps cushion inflationary pressures.”

He also underscored the money remittance of overseas Filipinos coursed through banks amounting to $10.7 billion, plus $1.6 billion via unofficial channels.

Tetangco said Bangko Sentral also will continue to promote microfinance, as its flagship program for poverty alleviation. The collateral-free loans, ranging from P5,000 to P150,000 have been effective in providing the entrepreneurial poor with much needed capital to start a microenterprise, he said.

So far, Tetangco said banks have provided microfinance to more than 700,000 cooperatives, with an outstanding total loan of P3.3 billion as of the end of 2005. With an average repayment rate of 98 percent, microfinance is now a source of profits for many banks, he said.

Finance Secretary Favila, for his part, said the Philippines now ranks second to India in outsourcing business because of the Philippines’ highly skilled English-speaking labor force, reliable telecommunications infrastructure and low cost of qualified personnel.

For instance, America Online (AOL), the largest U.S. Internet Service Provider, maintains a staff of 600 at its call center in Clark, Pampanga.

Giant corporations like Caltex, Procter & Gamble, Barnes and Noble, among others, also have built large-scale service centers in the Philippines.

“There is a growing interest in IT (Information Technology) services, animation, legal research work, medical transcription, imaging services and graphic design, and health and wellness sectors, among others, which result in increasing foreign direct investments in the Philippines,” he said.

Favila avoided repeating before the Fil-Am press his remarks that infuriated some sectors, including party-list representatives.

Favila earlier told a roundtable discussion with call center executives in Manila that the unemployment problem was due more to the Filipinos’ lack of desire to work rather than the availability of jobs.

During the roundtable talks, Favila said that some Filipinos “have a tendency to aspire to be the vice president immediately upon hiring or they want to be able to pick the time and place of work.”

Favila, nonetheless, shared with the Fil-Am journalists the experience of the Korean shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction at a recent job fair attended by Filipinos.

He said the company needed a minimum of 6,500 naval engineers, but the prospective applicants balked at the prospect of relocating to the jobsite in Subic Bay, Zambales province and undergoing training for two to three months.