DTI's Pascual: $88M worth of investments from Marcos' foreign trips to materialize this 2023

Some $88 million worth of investment from President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s foreign trips are seen to materialize this year, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said Wednesday.

"Ang nag-materialize na, the number that we expect to materialize in 2023 will total around $88 million. 'Yun lang 'yung up to June this year and we expect some more to ripen and eventually live to the inflow of investments," Pascual said at a Palace briefing.

"It's not so large as yet but the potential is as we announced before we have a pipeline that we were able to build up amounting to around $70 billion," he added.

Pascual said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the progress of investment leads from Marcos' previous foreign trips.

"We ensure transparency and accountability, although we cannot always disclose the names of specific companies that we deal with due to confidentiality demanded by private companies, which are subject to competitive pressures," he said.

"While some leads may take longer to materialize, we exert continuing efforts to facilitate investment implementation and address any attendant obstacles," Pascual added.

Pascual said six companies met by the President during the past foreign visits already started their investment projects in the country.

He said these firms would contribute to the Philippines' manufacturing, renewable energy, and IT-BPM industries.

Data from the DTI had indicated that these investments could generate at least 4,200 direct jobs.

In February, the DTI said a total of 116 projects worth US$62.926 billion or P3.48 trillion were generated from Marcos' foreign trips since assuming the presidency.

Projects worth US$29.712B or P1.7 trillion have existing Memorandum of Understanding or Letters of Intent, while confirmed projects worth US$28.863 or P1.5 trillion are still on the planning stage, the DTI said.

The DTI said the total foreign investments include the following: Indonesia, US$8.48 billion; Singapore, US$6.54 billion; United States, US$3.847 billion; Thailand, US$4.62 billion; Belgium, US$2.20 billion; China, US$24.239 billion; and Japan, US$13 billion.

In 2022, Marcos went on state visits to Indonesia, Singapore, and China; attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York; and participated in the ASEAN 2022 in Cambodia.

He was also in Thailand in November for the APEC 2022 and in Brussels, Belgium for the EU-ASEAN Summit.

Marcos also traveled to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum and had an official visit to Tokyo, Japan this year.

Marcos also secured $1.3 billion worth of investment pledges during his official visit to the United States in May.

In October of last year, National Economic and Development Authority chief Arsenio Balisacan said investment pledges made during Marcos' state visits could take time to materialize. —KBK/RSJ, GMA Integrated News