Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers. 

There are bigger and better things in the pipeline under the Marcos administration, according to Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers. 

This, as Barbers praised on Sunday, March 10 the Board of Investments (BOI) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for green-lighting 41 foreign-funded projects of the current administration. 

"This is a welcome development for all of us. And this is what we all need....This will spur growth in our domestic market, which really needs a boost at this point," said Barbers, one of the few veterans of the House of Representatives in the 19th Congress. 

“We thank President Marcos Jr. for doing all he can in enticing foreign direct investments (FDI) to come. We also commend Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez for the support in helping make this happen,” he said.  

Earlier, the DTI reported that BOI had granted “green lane certification to 41 projects” as of Feb. 8 this year. There is a total of 148 projects, with 46 of them are already ongoing, leaving about 102 pending. 

“We have started the ball rolling so to speak. And all we need is just to take a pro-active stance by consistent follow-ups so that these will all come into fruition. By then, we will be creating more jobs and generate more activities for the economy to boom even more,” Barbers said.  

The Mindanao solon said the BOI's implementation of green lanes has sparked significant interest among foreign investors who prefer streamlined approval processes. 

Barbers said that out of the 41 projects granted “green lane certification", 20 were “submitted commitments during the presidential visits (of President Marcos) or directly result[ed] from follow-through activities".

The most generous countries in terms of investment sources are Japan with 21 projects, and the United States (US) with 13 projects. "They have produced the most number of projects that have already been actualized,” said the son of the late senator Bobby Barbers.

As it is now, he said foreign investors are still conducting pre-implementation and planning activities in their respective countries for the remaining 102 projects, which involve $58 billion in investment pledges to the Marcos administration.