President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said that the memoranda of understanding (MOUs) signed during his 10 trips abroad have started to bear fruit, noting that his foreign trips have generated P3.48 trillion in investments thus far.
Marcos said this a few days after he concluded his official working visit to Tokyo, Japan, last week.
In a video message, the President said the administration has started to go into the details of his foreign travels intended to attract more investors.
"We're starting to go into the details of all of those MOUs and LOIs (letters of intent) that people have seen us witnessing, mga pirma-pirma and exchanges sa different countries (the signing of agreements and exchanges)," Marcos said.
"I can already report that some of the MOUs that we signed in Indonesia and Singapore, mayroon ng resulta (already have results). In fact, I think in the next couple of weeks, we will be starting to inaugurate some of these projects already," he added.
Marcos' statement came after meeting officials of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Office of the Presidential Assistant on Investment and Economic Affairs (OPAIEA). The meeting aimed to combine and follow through with the different investment pledges.
The OPAIEA, headed by Frederick Go, acts as a presidential delivery unit, which pursues the President's priority investment and economic agenda, ensuring timely delivery of investment projects, trade agreements, and pledges, among others.
During the meeting, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual told the President that a total of 116 projects worth US$62.926 billion or P3.48 trillion were generated from his foreign trips.
Total foreign investments committed during the President's official travels include:
- 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
- Japan, US$13 billion
Of the commitments, US$4.349 billion or P239 billion have materialized with the companies in various stages of implementation of their projects in the country. Projects worth US$29.712 billion or P1.7 trillion have existing Memorandum of Understanding or Letters of Intent, while confirmed projects worth US$28.863 billion or P1.5 trillion are in the planning stage.
On Sunday, President Marcos said he would pause his overseas travels to consolidate all the investment pledges and determine what needs to be done so those projects could move forward.
In the video message, he said many things should be resolved, particularly rules and regulations that could be more investor-friendly. He added that they have listed down items posing problems to businesses.
"The next item is going to be-- we will have to converge all of the different agencies of government so that we are working off the same plan. We have to strike while the iron is hot," Marcos said.
"We're moving very quickly to make sure that while the Philippines is still top of mind of these investors, we immediately explore those opportunities and take advantage of the contacts we made during these trips," he added.