Investments from Marcos' trips reached over P4 Trillion —DTI

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said Tuesday that the amount of consolidated and processed investments from President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr.'s foreign trips has reached P4.019 trillion or US$72.178 billion.

In a press release issued by the Presidential Communications Office, the DTI said that these investments are in various stages, noting that the amount comprises 148 projects. 

The DTI further described the investments as business, investment promotion agency (IPA) registered with operations (US$205.53M or P11.4B), Business/IPA registered (US$983.21M or P54.75B) IPA registration in progress operations (US$5.079B or P282.8B), signed agreement with clear financial project value (US$9.771B or P544.152B), signed memorandum of understanding/letter of intent (MOU/LOI) (US$28.529B or P1.588T) and confirmed investment not covered by MOUs/LOIs and those that are still in the planning stage (US$27.345B or P1.522T).

The DTI said it is also monitoring 20 projects that have been greenlighted and registered with the IPAs of the DTI, Board of Investments (BOI) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

The agency said that the investments are mostly in the sectors of manufacturing, IT-BPM, renewable energy, data centers and telecommunications. 

Meanwhile, the DTI said that the business engagements during the President’s visit to Tokyo, Japan for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit were added in the monitoring of the agency as this includes US$263.08 million or P14B to the total value and nine investments to the total number of projects.

The DTI reported that there were three signed agreements with a clear financial project value worth US$85.07 million and six MOU/LOI valued at US$178.01 million.

Further, the President's participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco, California was added as well in the DTI monitoring, including US$672.3 million or P37.2 billion to the total value and six investments to the total number of projects. 

There had been criticisms on the President's frequent foreign travels since the start of his administration, but Marcos defended his trips, saying that his participation and attendance at the events abroad would help other countries to "think" about the Philippines.

Marcos also said the public should look at the return on investments of his previous trips. —VAL, GMA Integrated News