Marcos crusade for foreign direct investments yielding results--Romualdez
At A Glance
- President Marcos' relentless efforts to woo foreign investors are beginning to bear fruit, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said on Sunday, March 10.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez (left), President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (Speaker’s office)
President Marcos' relentless efforts to woo foreign investors are beginning to bear fruit, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said on Sunday, March 10.
Romualdez gave this assessment based on the data released by the Board of Investments (BOI) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which is led by Secretary Alfredo Pascual.
“The President's efforts to attract FDIs (foreign direct investments) are yielding results. We are making steady progress, and the House of Representatives fully supports his initiatives,” said Romualdez, president of the dominant Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) party,
“Executing $14.2 billion in FDIs from the projected total of $72.2 billion is significant, and there are many more projects in the pipeline. This demonstrates the government's commitment and hard work in improving the lives of Filipinos," he said.
“We aim to gradually enhance the economy to its full potential, so that the rising tide will lift all our boats, so to speak,” Romualdez added.
The leader of the 300-plus strong House of Representatives was referring to DTI’s latest figures, which indicate that FDIs are now at “different stages” of construction, “as recorded as of December 2023".
He also noted that the ongoing projects, which has stemmed from President Marcos' international visits, now constitute 20 percent of the total pledges for the administration.
According to the Speaker, the $14.2 billion in projects have “already been actualized", with some already “operating and/or having completed the process of registering the project with DTI's Investment Promotion Agencies", while others have “commenced implementation.”
These FDIs, as recorded by DTI, cover a variety of industries, including manufacturing, IT-BPM (information technology-business process management), renewable energy, infrastructure, transport and logistics, agriculture, and retail.