35 investment deals signed during Marcos’ Japan visit

TOKYO – A total of 35 investment deals – including those on infrastructure, energy, health care and agriculture sectors – were signed here yesterday between the Philippines and leading Japanese firms.

President Marcos, who is on a five-day official visit here, witnessed the signing of Letters of Intent on investments and agreements that are seen to further strengthen ties between the two countries.

The signing came a day after his bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Prime Minister’s Office.

In a speech, Marcos thanked Japanese companies and partners for “considering the Philippines as a place and as a partner to grow your businesses.”

The President said his administration has been working to deepen the confidence of foreign investors and companies in the Philippines, noting that the country has been advancing vital and game-changing reforms to improve its business environment. He cited the country’s economic liberalization laws and strategic reforms to attract companies and facilitate ease of doing business.

Philippine policies offer more encouraging incentives to support foreign businesses, he said, citing the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Public Service Act, Foreign Investments Act, and provisions of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act or CREATE.

“We are designing our efforts to encourage you to stay, and to find our country to be a place where your businesses will thrive. We have also eased restrictions on foreign nationals to own businesses in the Philippines. The Philippine government is also enabling cross-cutting mechanisms to ease investments,” the President said.

Foreign investors can also expect “very soon” reduced transaction costs in aspects of doing business in the Philippines with the expected signing of an executive order creating a green lane for strategic investments, he added.

“We are mandating involved government agencies to establish a Green Lane. The lane will streamline the processing of permits and licenses. We are prescribing a maximum of three working days for simple transactions, and 20 working days for highly technical transactions. This will also offer a single point of entry for strategic investments,” the Chief Executive said.

He noted that his administration’s eight-point socioeconomic agenda reinforces the Philippine economy’s steady recovery and high growth trajectory.

“We build our efforts around the intentions to further promote investments, improve infrastructure, achieve energy security, create jobs and develop priority industries. I hope you will find it encouraging that our national priorities align with building enabling environments for companies like yours,” he said.

Signed deals

The signed business agreements include Asti Corp.’s wiring harness manufacturing expansion project; Brother Industries Ltd.’s printer manufacturing expansion project; DoubleDragon Corp./IwataChizaki Inc.’s hotel construction project; Itochu Corp.’s expansion of pineapple production volume; Japan Tobacco Inc.’s factory expansion project; Kurabe Industrial Co. Ltd.’s new factory for autoparts; Marubeni Corp.’s energy, transportation, health care and afforestation projects; MinebeaMitsumi Inc.’s new factory for OIS (optical image stabilizer) production and solar project; Mitsubishi Corp.’s infrastructure development, construction activities, transportation, commercial and residential real estate development and mass housing projects and Mitsubishi Motors Corp.’s automobile manufacturing expansion project and commitment renewal to meet production targets.?Also on the list were Nidec Corp.’s speed reducer gear manufacturing expansion project; Nomura Real Estate Development Co. Ltd./GT Capital Holdings’ property development project; Renova Inc. renewable energy project; Sojitz Corp.’s property development and telecommunications projects; Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc.’s kiln renewal, distribution terminal and berth reinforcement project; Tamiya Inc.’s new factory for plastic models and RC cars; TDK Corp.’s new factory for next generation HDD heads and components project; Toyota Motor Corp.’s light commercial vehicle manufacturing project and Yamaichi Electronics’ new factory for IC sockets.?Other business deals include Kawasaki Heavy Industries/Aboitiz/Amber Kinetics/IKS Co. Ltd.’s mechanical energy storage technology project; Ubicom Holdings Inc./Advanced World Systems Inc.’s software development outsourcing project; Department of Environment and Natural Resources/Marubeni Corp./Dacon Corp. Joint Credit Mechanism project; Hitachi Ltd. and Filinvest Development Corp.’s development, construction and operation of desalination facilities to supply potable water to Metropolitan Cebu; Sumitomo Corp.’s North South Commuter Rail/Metro Manila Subway rolling stock project; Oriental Energy & Power Generation Corp./Marubeni Corp.’s development and operation of renewable power plants; Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.’s multi-layer ceramic capacitors factory expansion; Kenko Tokina Co. Ltd.’s telescope factory expansion; Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp. and W Landmark Inc.’s co-investment in a REIT and joint venture in commercial real estate development activities and JERA Co. Inc. and Aboitiz Power Corp.’s cooperation in the development of ammonia and hydrogen value chains in the Philippines and assessing the feasibility of ammonia co-fired power generation in the country.

The other deals were Sojitz Corp. and Maestro Holdings Inc. joint venture partnerships in health care, logistics and warehousing, education; Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. and Mitsubishi Estates Co. Ltd. housing project; ceremonial handover of Certificate of Gratitude: AMEN and Go Negosyo and Bases Conversion and Development Authority and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization demonstration project for the development of smart mobility.

Among the Philippine officials present at the event were former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Speaker Martin Romualdez, Special Assistant to the President Secretary Anton Lagdameo, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual and Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

Stable LNG supply

Meanwhile, Japan’s largest power generation company JERA Co. Inc. also gave assurance of a stable supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Philippines to support President Marcos’ policy to transition the country to use renewable energy.

JERA president Satoshi Onoda said during a meeting with Marcos on Thursday that his company has been working with the Aboitiz group in the area of renewable energy.

“In order to support the Philippines... which the economy is growing at a rapid pace, in order to secure a stable supply, we are working with Aboitiz and Sabin-san’s team in many fronts. And I may have mentioned this back in June as well we are procuring more than 30 million tons of LNG per year. Therefore, we will be able to contribute to the Philippines in the supply of LNG as transition fuel,” Satoshi told the President.

JERA and the Aboitiz Group, led by its president and CEO Sabin Aboitiz, have been training their engineers for developing technologies that would be beneficial to both parties, he said.

Aboitiz also heads the Marcos administration’s Private Sector Advisory Council.

“And as I have mentioned before, we will be working on co-firing ammonia technology as well. Therefore we would like to be able to provide this technology as well in a timely manner. We would like to utilize the various technologies in order to contribute to the economic growth as well as decarbonization in the Philippines,” Satoshi said.?

Marcos agreed with Satoshi, saying it is vital to explore such options and be prepared for future developments, adding that the Philippines needs the development of new fuels to adequately support the country’s power supply requirement.

“I do not need to illustrate or to explain the critical situation around the world when it comes to fuel, fuel supply, supply chain problems. All of these are requiring a great deal of thought for the planning for the Philippine side so as to be able to ensure that our forecasted aspirations for development are well supported by an adequate power supply,” Marcos said.

“And we, like most countries, are very much in the middle of the process of moving from the traditional to the renewables,” he said.

Marcos also expressed hope that the collaboration between JERA and the Aboitiz power firms would result in the transfer of technology that the Philippine government can actively participate in.

“So the most important part as Mr. Aboitiz has pointed out is... of course the investment is important, but the transfer of technology is also extremely important and that will give the Philippines a self-sufficiency, which we have been missing,” the President said, noting the transition from using ammonia to green hydrogen.