Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (R) listen to their national anthems at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo on February 9, 2023. Yoshikazu Tsuno, Pool/AFP/file
MANILA — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Saturday touted the gains of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.'s meeting with businessmen in Japan, saying some of these have already materialized.
Vichael Angelo Roaring, OIC of DTI's Foreign Trade Service Corps, said Filipino business delegates have spoken with their potential counterparts in Japan.
Roaring noted that based on reports, the Foreign Buyers Association of the Philippines (FOBAP) said they were able to get $6.48 million worth of order from Japan for their manufacturing.
"In the coming days, hindi lang natin pagtutuunan ng pansin iyong investment figures kasi marami pa po tayong mabubuo na trade, iyong pagninegosyo na nangyari during the visit," he said during a press briefing.
"Ang magiging role po ng DTI is to facilitate all of these leads generated whether they are on the investment side or on the trade side," he added.
"Malinaw po ang instruction po iyong instruction ng Presidente – he wants an all-of-government approach in addressing the pain points – iyong ano ba iyong challenges ng mga namumuhunan sa Pilipinas."
There were 560 meeting requests from the Japanese side, he earlier noted.
GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS
When asked if investments could be affected by recent geopolitical tensions, the DTI official answered on the affirmative but noted that these are "founded on actual feasibility and profitability."
"They wouldn’t approach us and think of setting up in the Philippines if there weren’t the opportunity," he said, citing Chinese investors.
"We cannot fully say na 100 percent immune iyong mga projects that were presented to the President. But then again, these are the result of actual studies and economic opportunities," he said.
"So before, even with all these geopolitical tension, we would see that Chinese investments and trade with the Philippines went on amidst the so-called tension."
Philippine Board of Investments Director Lanie Dormiendo echoed the DTI official, saying most of the investments made recently in China, such as manufacturing and agribusiness, were likely to be unaffected by the tensions in the West Philippine Sea.
"As we note naman for manufacturing and agribusiness, these are parang basic industry that we would want to grow para po makapag-contribute in sectoral development and in job generation," Dormiendo said.
"So parang malayo siya doon sa sinasabi nating geopolitical tension with China. And part of it po would be trade commitments."
The Presidential Communications Office this week said Marcos' trip to Japan yielded $13 billion of investment pledges.
Most of the investment pledges accumulated during the President's working visit to Japan could materialize this year, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said Wednesday.