‘Influx of US firms expected post-pandemic’

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may see an influx of American companies, including those leaving China, looking for alternative investment sites in the Asia Pacific region, a top diplomat said.

Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez said there are “quite a number” of American companies looking at the country as an investment base post-pandemic.

“As you know, there have been some movements specifically coming from China. They’re looking to expand or to move from China to other parts of Asia,” Romualdez said in a virtual economic briefing yesterday.

He said the economic section of the Philippine embassy in Washington as well as in New York and other consulate offices in the US have received a number of inquiries from potential investors.

“We are confident that there will be a lot of businesses that will be looking at the Philippines in the coming year. Hopefully, this pandemic will be over sooner than later,” Romualdez said.

He noted the recent news on the interim results of Pfizer’s phase 3 clinical trials for a possible breakthrough would ease the burden on healthcare systems and facilitate the reopening of economies worldwide, including the Philippines.

US-based Pfizer was, in fact, among the first companies developing a COVID-19 vaccine that reached out to the Philippine government to initiate talks that would facilitate access and deployment.

Romualdez also cited the decision of global investment firm KKR to invest in Pinnacle Towers in its bid to strengthen and expand the Philippines’ telecom infrastructure through its local subsidiary and support the country’s digital transformation.

“This is KKR’s second infrastructure investment in the Philippines and fourth overall investment since it entered the market in 2018, indicative of the company’s commitment and confidence in the country’s growth story,” he said.

The US is the country’s sixth largest source of foreign direct investments with $226.4 million in 2019, bringing to $7.1 billion the amount infused by American companies to manufacturing, wholesale trade as well as professional, scientific, and technical services since 2017. Bilateral trade also increased to $19.6 billion in 2019 from $17.4 billion in 2017.

Romualdez is confident the Philippines and the US will remain strong allies under the new administration of President-elect Joe Biden.

“The US will find a reliable partner in the Philippines given the proven resilience of our economy and the Filipino people. We look forward to working closely with the new administration and the US Congress in further enhancing our bilateral relations, as we address the unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Romualdez said.

Mark Shorney, vice president for operations in Southeast Asia at FedEx, said the company decided to expand in the Philippines via the Clark international airport due to infrastructure improvements especially under the administration’s Build Build Build program.

“The facility that we are opening there in April next year will give us a great capability into that part of the country but also allows connection in Manila because the transit time is very low,” Shorney said.

With the $30 million gateway facility in Clark, Shorney said the logistics giant would be able to increase its sorting capabilities to 9,000 documents and parcels per hour.

Cargill Philippines Inc. corporate affairs director Christopher Matthew Ilagan said the company would plow investments into the country due to its huge market, skilled Filipino workers, continuing economic reforms and consistent six percent growth, among others.

“We see the largest potential in this market with close to 110 million people with a median age of 20. The domestic market itself provides a lot of opportunities for companies like us,” Ilagan said.

Aftab Ahmed, country officer for the Philippines at Citi, said the American bank established in 1902 remains committed to the country.

“Both from the loan and deposit growth standpoint, the opportunity is very large and we are very well positioned to participate in this growth,” Ahmed said. Citi has over 8,600 employees in the Philippines of which 6,400 are in its service center.

Concentrix Corp. president Christopher Caldwell said the company picked the Philippines over India when it decided to make its first investment outside of the US 12 years ago.

“We chose the Philippines and have never looked back and we are currently happy with our continued investment here as we have not only grown organically but we have purchased a number of companies that have operations in the Philippines,” Caldwell said.