By Peter Alagos/Business Reporter


The Philippine embassy in Qatar is planning to promote real estate companies back home and encourage Qataris and other expatriates to invest in the Philippine property market as a potential retirement haven, Ambassador Wilfredo Santos said.
“More than just attracting tourists from Qatar, the Philippines welcomes possible retirees from Qatar to settle in our country. Through the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA), which offers a wide array of incentives and benefits, we hope to entice more Qataris and expatriates in Qatar to retire in the Philippines,” the ambassador stressed.
The move comes as part of Santos’ thrust to revitalise economic and trade relations between the Qatar and the Philippines, first secretary and consul Gonaranao Musor told Gulf Times yesterday.
Following his appointment to Qatar in April, Santos stressed the need to bring more Qatari investments to the Philippines through tourism and business to business (B2B) linkages, among others.
According to Musor, a significant number of real estate firms in the Philippines  have expressed interest to encourage Qataris and Qatar’s growing expatriate population to retire in the Philippines.
This was evident during a trade fair where several real estate firms from the Philippines were present at the June 12 celebration of the 117th anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine independence held in Doha.
Aside from Qataris and expatriates, Musor also underscored the importance for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) to consider the Philippine property market as a major investment option.
“We are actually encouraging OFWs in Qatar to become investors in their own country. Being an OFW is only a short-term arrangement; there will come a time when the person will retire and he or she must have some form of investment to look forward to after retiring from overseas employment,” Musor explained.
Musor noted that “real estate firms back home should look for ways to collaborate with the PRA through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme and maximise the opportunity to entice more foreigners to retire in the Philippines.”
“Only recently, a British expatriate had consulted us because he wanted to retire in the Philippines. The PRA and these real estate companies could play a huge role to address this need.
“They could complement each other because basically they’re targeting the same client base. Real estate companies could provide the retirement location while PRA could facilitate the necessary arrangements for the retiree such as visa requirements and other services,” Musor said.
In its website, the PRA states that it is “mandated to attract foreign nationals and former Filipino citizens to invest, reside, and retire in the Philippines with the end-view of accelerating the socio-economic development of the country, contributing to the foreign currency reserve of the economy and by providing them the best quality of life in the most attractive package.”