FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. | Associated Press Photo/Aaron Favila
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) reported that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s foreign trips have obtained P4.019 trillion ($72.178 billion) worth of investments as of December 21.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said its total value consists of 148 projects based on DTI’s latest monitoring of consolidated and processed investments.
However, the exact period of when the investments – whether pledges or actual – were acquired was not mentioned.
“These investments – realized and in the pipeline – are mostly in the sectors of manufacturing, IT-BPM, renewable energy, data centers, and telecommunications,” DTI said in a statement released by PCO on Tuesday.
According to the PCO, the DTI categorized the investments on the following:
- Registered as business or investment promotion agencies (IPAs) with operations – $205.53 million or P11.4 billion
- Registered as Business/IPAs – $983.21 million or P54.75 billion
- IPA registration in progress and ongoing operations – $5.079 billion or P282.8 billion
- Signed agreements specifying a clear financial project value – $9.771 billion or P544.152 billion
- Signed memoranda of understanding/letters of intent (MOUs/LOIs) – US$28.529 billion or P1.588 trillion
- Confirmed investments not covered by MOUs/LOIs and still in the planning stage – $27.345 billion or P1.522 trillion
Another 20 projects, which have been given a green light and registered with the IPAs of DTI, Board of Investments, and Philippine Economic Zone Authority, are also currently being monitored by the DTI, according to the PCO.
The DTI said the investments were gained during Marcos’ business engagements in the United States and Japan, among others.
This month, Marcos attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Japan Commemorative Summit this month where he secured nine investments worth $263.08 million or P14 billion.
In November, Marcos visited the US for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Meeting where he secured six investments worth US$672.3 million or P37.2 billion.
RELATED STORIES
Marcos defends frequent foreign trips
‘President’s trips seek to rebrand Marcos in int’l community’
Marcos says Romualdez needed in trips: Biz people ask questions that Congress can answer