By ARGYLL CYRUS B. GEDUCOS & BETHEENA UNITE
Since assuming office following his landslide victory in 2022, President Marcos has been out of the country for state, official, and working visits 18 times. This year alone, Marcos traveled a dozen times in Asia, Europe, and North America.
According to President Marcos, 2023 is a year of "structural changes" necessary for the country's post-pandemic recovery as he ensured the government's continued modernization in 2024.
This year, President Marcos had seven working visits or trips:
1. Davos and Zurich, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (Jan. 15-20, 2023)
2. Tokyo, Japan (Feb. 8-12, 2023)
3. Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, for the 42nd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit (May 9-11, 2023)
4. Jakarta, Indonesia, for the 43rd ASEAN Summit (Sept. 4-7, 2023)
5. Singapore, for the Milken Institute's 10th Asian Conference (Sept. 13-17, 2023)
6. San Francisco for the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, Los Angeles, and Hawaii, USA (Nov. 14-20, 2023)
7. Tokyo, Japan, for the ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Commemorative Summit (Dec. 15-18, 2023)
Marcos made five State and Official visits this year. These are trips where the host country shoulders the expenses, while working visits are shouldered by the Philippine government.
1. Beijing, China (State Visit, Jan. 3-6, 2023)
2. Washington D.C., USA (Official Visit, April 30-May 4, 2023)
3. London, United Kindom (Official Visit, May 5-6, 2023)
4. Malaysia (State Visit, July 25-27, 2023)
5. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Official Visit, Oct. 19-21, 2023)
While critics frown upon the Chief Executive's overseas trips, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said his foreign travels this year have resulted in $5.28 billion, or ₱294 billion, worth of actualized investments.
Citing the Department of Trade and Industry-Board of Investments (DTI-BOI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo, the PCO said that, as of Dec. 21, President Marcos' foreign trips have actualized:
• $4.089 billion (₱227.72 billion) investments for eight projects
• $790.58 million (₱44.02 billion) for 11 projects
• $398.17 million (₱22.17 billion) for nine projects
Rodolfo said that the investment pledges committed to President Marcos in his official foreign trips that were actualized into projects have already been registered with investment promotion agencies such as the BOI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
"Some of these projects have short gestation periods and are already fully operational and are already employing full-time Filipinos, producing goods or delivering services," he said.
"Some are already setting up or expanding their facilities – but are nevertheless already employing Filipinos as they already have set up or expanded their offices and physical presence in the Philippines," he added.
200,000 job opportunities
Marcos' overseas trips likewise yielded over 200,000 job opportunities for Filipinos from the last quarter of 2022 until 2023.
In its update on investment leads from Marcos' foreign visits, the DTI said that the President's visit last year generated the following:
• 7,100 job opportunities from his visit to Indonesia (Sept. 4-6, 2022)
• Over 14,932 from his visit to Singapore (Sept. 6-7, 2022)
• 98,000 from his visit to New York (Sept. 18-24, 2022)
• 5,500 from his visit to Thailand (Nov. 16-19, 2022)
• Over 6,480 from his visit to Belgium (Dec. 11-14, 2022)
• 730 from his visit to the Netherlands (Dec. 15-17)
For 2023, the DTI noted the following number of employment opportunities:
• 32,722 from his visit to China
• 24,000 from his February visit to Japan
• 6,386 from his visit to Washington, DC
• 8,365 from his visit to Malaysia
• 450 from his visit to Singapore
• 2,550 from his November visit to the US
• 15,750 from his December visit to Japan
Presidential Adviser on Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go earlier said that ₱169 billion worth of investment pledges from President Marcos' State Visit to Japan have already been actualized, providing thousands of job opportunities to Filipinos.
A year of structural changes
President Marcos started 2023 with key Cabinet seats empty. In a year, these positions were filled in what he called a time of "structural changes."
Appointing the heads of three crucial government agencies—Health, Defense, and Agriculture—was among the most anticipated moves expected from him as these positions have been empty at a time when each department was hounded by critical issues.
Appearing in high spirits during a press briefing in Tokyo, Japan on Dec. 18, the President expressed satisfaction over the movements he made in 2023, saying he was beginning to find "the best people" to place in key positions.
"[E]qually, importantly that we are beginning to find the best people for each of those positions," he said when asked by the Manila Bulletin to assess his presidency this year.
On June 5, 2023, he appointed Dr. Ted Herbosa as the new Secretary of the Department of Health (DOH), which was led by one of the agency's executives for a year.
On the same day, he named lawyer Gilberto "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. to head the Department of National Defense (DND).
Five months later, on Nov. 3, 2023, Marcos finally relinquished his position as the Department of Agriculture (DA) chief— a portfolio he held concurrently since he took office in 2022—and appointed businessman Francisco Tiu Laurel to replace him.
In appointing Laurel, the Chief Executive said he had found "somebody who understands very well the problems that agriculture is facing," stressing that as a fishing tycoon, Laurel has sufficient understanding of the agricultural system in the country.
It was also the same case with Herbosa and Teodoro as both have held positions related to their current posts. Herbosa was a former Covid-19 task force adviser, while Teodoro held the same Defense position during the term of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In the same media interview in Tokyo, he labeled 2023 as a year of necessary structural changes that would allow the Philippines to move away from the Covid-19 economy.
"I think this year, this 2023, was really the year of structural changes," he said.
"So, those structural changes were necessary because we have to remodel or readjust rather, our for example—our fiscal policy, even our monetary policy, our spending policy, so that we are slowly moving— or not so slowly, so, we’re moving away from the Covid economy," he said.
These structural changes have already started to take effect and "will even have a greater effect in 2024 than they did in 2023," Marcos said.
"Some of the changes that we did to the fiscal, tax structure, some of the changes that we did to the ease of doing business, all of these things are just beginning to work now because it’s only now that we have changed the structure of the different agencies," the President said.
Moving in the right direction
While Marcos is pleased with the work he has put in this year and believed that the reforms he implemented and those that are still in the pipeline are "moving in the right direction " under his 18-month leadership, he lamented that " it’s too slow."
"We're moving in the right direction. But if you ask me, I always say it’s too slow, it’s too slow, it's too slow," he said in the interview in Tokyo.
"So, we will just keep pushing and pushing and pushing para matapos lahat ito (to finish this all). So that we can start to feel the effects of those changes that we made," he added.
He was referring to his administration's goal toward modernization, which, he said, would continue to be his mission come 2024.
When sought for his goals and outlook for the coming year, the Chief Executive said: "Mahaba-habang listahan ‘yan (that's a long list)."
While he did not lay out his aspirations for 2024, he said "it does not really change."
"Well, it doesn’t really change, that we have –that we will continue to modernize. Medyo obsolete na yung ibang structure natin sa gobyerno (Some government structures are quite obsolete)," Marcos said.
"That we continue to modernize, we continue to be responsive to the new economy, that we position ourselves properly," he concluded.