MANILA — The 3-day state visit of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to Malaysia fast-tracked a P3-billion investment deal between the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and a Malaysian firm on developing the country's rail network, Malacañang said on Friday.

Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil said the deal between Malaysia’s Hartasuma Sdn. Bhd. might reach P3 billion in rail projects in the Philippines.

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This is on top of the $285 million investment pledges committed so far by Malaysian business leaders, Marcos Jr. said in a media interview.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez, for his part, said they were informed during a private dinner about the investment commitment. Metro Pacific Investments Corp Chairman, President and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan supposedly entered into a memorandum of agreement on this, he said.

"[This was to] explore opening up the airports along the missionary routes," Romualdez said during the same interview.

"They have a very, very... long string of success stories here in Malaysia. And they like to replicate it in the Philippines. I will actually give you a copy of the MOA immediately so you’ll have all the pertinent details. So it was actually signed," he added, referring to Hartasuma.

“Literally, because of the visit, the President’s presence in KL [Kuala Lumpur] hastened the progress of this agreement and.…three billion will be pledged for investments into the Philippines,” he added.

Marcos said the rail project is part of the vision under the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) road network.

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"The BIMP-EAGA group have really decided that the way forward for us all is for us to continue improving the connectivity... physical connectivity: roads, rail, and all other forms of transportation. So, this is another part of that effort," he said.

The Palace said Hartasuma is a leading firm in the Malaysian rail industry due to its range of services such as engineering, cable systems, and rehabilitation of transport, among others.

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