MANILA - Most of the investment pledges accumulated during President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s working visit to Japan could materialize this year, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said Wednesday.

Most of the firms have had discussions with their Philippine counterparts, Pascual told ANC.

A total of $13 billion or P700 billion in investment pledges from Japan were gathered during Marcos and his team's Feb. 8-12 Japan trip.

"The beauty of the pledges is that many of them had discussions with partners in the Philippines. It’s very proximate that we will have the investments happening within the year for many of them," Pascual said.

Among the notable investments include First Gen's partnership with Tokyo Gas in its LNG Terminal Project in Batangas City. Japan's Tokyo Gas Co Ltd will have a participating interest in the construction and operation of the terminal.

Pascual said the power that would be generated by the project could augment the supply in Luzon since the Malampaya project's contract is set to expire next year.

"That’s a major investment in the Philippines and will ensure our country’s power supply in the next few years... This project with Tokyo Gas with First Gen for a floating storage regasification unit will be a good replacement for that supply of gas," he said.

Malampaya supplies 40 percent of the power supply in Luzon, the DTI chief noted.

• First Gen subsidiary to rename regasification unit to BW Batangas
• First Gen to begin LNG terminal construction in April
• First Gen, Tokyo Gas break ground on LNG project

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