Japanese investments at the various economic zones in the country have reached P727.679 billion, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) reported.
At the virtual Global Biz Forum featuring Japan, PEZA Director General Charito B. Plaza said there are 962 Japanese locator companies out of its 4,670 registered companies.
These Japanese enterprises have combined P727.679 billion investments and employ 353,763 employees. These Japanese firms also contribute $11.065 billion in exports.
“These companies are engaged in warehousing and storage, fabricated metal products, rubber and plastic products, radio, television, and communication equipment and apparatus, as well as software development,” Plaza said.
During the forum, Plaza emphasized the need to tap more Japanese investors to locate and invest in the Philippines for continued investment opportunities and economic relations between the Philippines and Japan. The goal is to catalyze industrial growth through the establishment of more economic zones.
Present as well in the virtual forum were PEZA ecozone developers, namely the President of LIMA Land, Inc. and Cebu Industrial Park as well as head of Aboitiz InfraCapital’s Economic Estate Rafael Fernandez De Mesa, and President of the First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP) Francis Giles Puno.
De Mesa assured prospective Japanese stakeholders during the virtual forum that “PEZA’s proven track record of attracting investments into the country has been instrumental in helping us at Aboitiz InfraCapital realize our growth and expansion over the years.”
“Today, Aboitiz InfraCapital’s three Economic Estates in Batangas and Cebu employ 100,000 Filipinos and host 192 companies, 74 or 39 percent of which are Japanese,” he added.
For his part, Puno also shared FPIP’s long-standing collaboration with PEZA stating, “With PEZA, we have been able to build a strong and thriving ecosystem within the park, attracting leaders of industries such as in electronics and semiconductors, automotive components and wire harness, aerospace, medical technologies, food and beverage, and many more.”
According to him, “Within this ecosystem, 74 of our 147 world-class locators, about 50 percent, are highly respected Japanese companies who have sought to expand their operations in the Philippines.”
Also present at the virtual forum were Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jose C. Laurel V, His Excellency Japanese Ambassador to the Republic of the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) - Philippine Trade and Investment Center (PTIC) in Tokyo, and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines, Inc., (JCCI).
Celebrating the 65th Anniversary of the Normalization of the Diplomatic Relations between the Philippines and Japan as well as the 10th year of the Bilateral Strategic Partnership of the two countries, Ambassador Laurel said,“Japan continues to be one of our most significant trade, investment, and development assistance partners. For the first semester of 2021, year on year, Japan is our second highest trade partner, the second-largest investment source, and the top Official Development Assistance (ODA) bilateral contributor.”
For his part, Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiko highlighted the country’s important role in the ASEAN logistics network noting that, “Building a strong supply chain and realizing a free and fair trade and investment environment is one of the most important factors for Japan and the Philippines to work towards solving the universal problem on economic recovery brought by the ongoing pandemic”.
According to Ambassador Kazuhiko, Japan also prioritizes the realization of innovation and digitalization. He said, “We want to take investment opportunities in the field of science and technology, as well as in semi-conductors and communication fields, promote start-up support, and develop human resources.”
Aside from being strategically located in Southeast Asia with vast lands for various economic activities, PEZA Chief Plaza underlined the country’s young, dynamic, and English-speaking workforce.
Plaza said, “The Philippines takes pride in our young Filipino workforce with high proficiency in the English language, are college graduates, dependable and hardworking.”
This has been seconded by the Japanese Ambassador saying, “There are several factors that attract international companies and one of those is the Philippines’ rich and high-quality working population. In contrast to Japan where the working population is declining significantly, the Philippines is expected to continuously grow.”
Stating that Filipinos’ skills are beyond his expectation, President of Toshiba Information Equipment Philippines (TIP), Jun Ito joined the Global Biz to represent Japanese investors registered with PEZA. The TIP President said, “Our strong Filipino workforce is skilled in many fields especially in manufacturing and engineering. The Philippines has around 80,000 engineering graduates every year.”