Marcos trips bag P4-T investments, pledges

THIS YEAR’S foreign trips of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has cornered a total of P4.019 trillion or $72.189 billion in investments and pledges for various Philippine development projects, according to an updated report by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

In a statement on Tuesday, the DTI said the amount covers 148 projects, including 20 that have been approved and registered with the Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

“These investments, realized and in the pipeline, are in mostly in the sectors of manufacturing, information technology, renewable energy, data centers and telecommunications,” the agency said.

The DTI’s data was based on its monitoring of investment pledges bagged during the President’s trips this year ending Dec. 21.

Mr. Marcos’ business talks in Japan earlier this month resulted in about nine investment commitments from Japanese firms that amounted to P14.5 billion or $263.08 million. The deals were related to cooperation in semiconductor, healthcare, infrastructure, development, security and agriculture.

The commitments secured by Manila are expected to generate about 200,000 jobs, the Presidential Communications Office earlier said.

The President’s trip to San Francisco last month for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Meeting yielded $672.3 million in investments in telecommunications, artificial intelligence, manufacturing and health sciences, the DTI said.

The agency said the investments were related to investment promotion agency deals (IPA), and other memorandums of understanding tackling planned investments.

The President has visited China, Switzerland, Japan, the US, the UK, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore this year.

Earlier this month, Mr. Marcos signed an executive order creating an office that would provide him with strategic advice on economic concerns and investment opportunities.

PEZA Director- General Tereso O. Panga had said his agency observed a significant increase in investments from China and Australia, both members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), that was ratified by the Senate in February. PEZA said it is preparing for global supply chain disruptions and other external headwinds that may affect new investments.

Investments approved by PEZA this year would likely reach over P170 billion, Mr. Panga said.

Foreign Investment pledges approved by IPAs more than doubled in the third quarter from the same period a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Nov. 14.