The intensifying conflict between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio may deter foreign capital and funds from flowing to the Philippines, according to Dutch financial giant ING.
In a Feb. 14 report, ING cited the Marcos-Duterte rift as a key investor concern as the campaign season for the forthcoming midterm elections in May kicked off this month.
"The political drama between the two political families could de-incentivize foreign inflows in the near term," ING warned.
Vice President Duterte-Carpio is facing impeachment pushed by the President's allies in Congress. President Marcos also kick-started the campaign for the administration-allied senatorial bets by publicly dissing the preceding Duterte administration of the Vice President's father, Rodrigo.
However, ING pointed out that the current administration itself may not be entirely clean.
"President Marcos' 2025 budgeted spending sparked debates around misallocation and a lack of transparency," it noted.
Despite the political noise that may spillover to the economy, ING said the Philippine peso "continued to be one of the strong performers in Asia last month, appreciating by 0.9 percent in the month after hitting lows of 59" against the US dollar.
"We expect the currency pair to trade in the 58-59 range in the near term," ING said.
ING also believes that the Philippines could withstand any tariffs to be imposed by US President Donald J. Trump on imports from its trading partners enjoying a trade surplus, or more exports than imports, with Washington.
"India and the Philippines are less at risk because these economies are domestically demand-driven and export fewer sophisticated goods that compete directly with the US," ING Asia-Pacific regional research head Deepali Bhargava said in a Feb. 12 report.
"The risk, however, is that their share of services exports to the US is large. If services trade is targeted by Trump's tariffs, sectors such as outsourcing and software services could be negatively impacted," ING added.
India and the Philippines are both the world's biggest outsourcing hubs, especially among American firms.