FILE PHOTO: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his speech upon arrival from Japan on Sunday, February 12, 2023, at the Villamor Airbase in Pasay City. Screengrabbed from RTVM
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s foreign trips have generated P3.48 trillion in investment pledges, according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).
The PCO on Friday enumerated the investment pledges from seven of nine foreign trips that Marcos made since assuming the presidency in June 2022. They are:
- Indonesia – US$8.48 billion (P468.96 billion)
- Singapore – US$6.54 billion (P361.67 billion)
- United States – US$3.847 billion (P212.74 billion)
- Thailand – US$4.62 billion (P255.53 billion)
- Belgium – US$2.20 billion (P121.68 billion)
- China – US$24.239 billion (P1.34 trillion)
- Japan – US$13 billion (P719 billion)
Marcos said that in the coming weeks, the government would start inaugurating some projects that the Philippines signed through various memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with other nations.
READ: Bongbong Marcos to go on state visits to Indonesia, Singapore; US visit being ‘worked out.’
“I can already report that some of the MOUs that we signed in Indonesia and in Singapore, mayroon ng resulta (already have results). And in fact, I think in the next couple of weeks, we will be starting to inaugurate some of these projects already,” he said in a video message on Friday.
READ: Two trips left for Bongbong Marcos and his travel bug
Of the P3.48 trillion, the PCO said P239 billion are already being used for projects in various stages of implementation.
It also specified that P1.7 trillion of the total were projects with existing MOUs or letters of intent, while P1.5 trillion were projects still in the planning stage.
Marcos said the government has to “converge all of the different agencies of government so that we are working off the same plan.”
“We’re moving very quickly to, as I say, make sure that while the Philippines is still top of mind of these investors that we immediately explore those opportunities and take advantage of the contacts that we made during these trips,” he said.. — MJ Soriano, trainee
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