WASHINGTON DC — The United States and Japan are expected to pour in at least $100 billion in investments — including in energy and in semiconductors — in the Philippines in the next 5 to 10 years, Manila’s envoy to Washington said on Wednesday, ahead of the three countries’ historic summit here.

The investment package is expected to be announced during the Philippines, Japan and United States trilateral summit at the White House on April 11, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez told reporters.

“We’re talking about $100 billion in investments in the next 5-10 years. Perhaps 5 years will be more appropriate because we have a lot of areas where we are putting ourselves,” he said.

“A lot of these investments are mostly in the semiconductor industry… and also in the area of energy,” he said.

“The energy exploration, which involves the West Philippine Sea, is part and parcel of what we are looking at to bump up our energy requirements, which are increasing every year,” he added.

READ: Marcos Jr. off to Washington for summit with US, Japan

He said that the government has been talking to some US companies and looking at potential partners on a joint venture for the exploration of the energy source in the area.”

The semiconductor industry, meanwhile, is an $80-billion industry in Southeast Asia alone, Romualdez said. 

“The semiconductor industry is going to be the wave of the future in terms of the technology that is going to be required for anything,” he said.

“That is an indication of how much potentially can come to the Philippines,” he said.

Washington and Tokyo have decided to launch “new initiatives to accelerate and surge high-quality infrastructure investments in the Philippines to enhance energy security, deepen maritime cooperation, to strengthen partnerships on technology and cybersecurity,” said US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby in a separate interview.

“Our three countries embark on this new era of trilateral cooperation as trusted, equal partners, guided by shared values and an unwavering commitment to a free, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” he said.

“The [US] President is very excited for the joint investment and infrastructure opportunities in the Philippines, and for the first time in the Indo-Pacific, in this sort of scale,” he said.

‘MOMENTOUS AND HISTORICAL’ SUMMIT

Romualdez described the trilateral summit as “probably one of the most momentous and historical moments in our history.”

“This meeting is not only important but it is also significant in the sense that the President, who has always believed in the multilateral approaches to any of the issues surrounding — or challenges we are facing in the Indo-Pacific region — is exactly what we are going to be doing here,” he said.

“Aside from the defense strategies that we have put in place… the enhancement of our economic cooperation with Japan and the US is just as important,” he added.

The US is the Philippines’ fourth largest source of foreign direct investments in 2023, amounting to $110 million.

Japan, on the other hand, is the Philippines’ largest source of official development assistance, with $12.92 billion in aid or about 40 percent of the country’s total portfolio.

Washington, under US President Joe Biden, has been trying to “revitalize” its treaty alliances, Kirby said.

“The President [Biden] felt like those alliances and those partnerships need to be rejuvenated,” he said.

“He’s also taken extra steps… to forge new ones, improving opportunities for our allies to cooperate together as well,” he said.

“If you have more multinational cooperation… you can move the ball forward more than just the security element,” he added.

After their trilateral summit, Marcos Jr., Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are expected to release a “joint vision statement,” which would outline the three countries’ “concrete areas and projects for cooperation.”