THE PHILIPPINES is hoping to approve over $1 billion worth of investment by South Korea’s Samsung group within the first half, the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs said.
“Right now, what is under process is the one from Samsung, which is over a billion dollars,” Secretary Frederick D. Go, who heads the agency, told reporters on Friday.
“I believe they are rushing the inter-agency discussions,” he added, noting that he hopes the process will be completed within the first half.
He said incentives are governed by the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy Act for investments under P50 billion.
“Once you are over P50 billion, it is open. So that has to be processed because there’s no exact definition of incentives,” he said.
“They have asks, so we have to process those asks,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said the Philippine side is still waiting for more concrete updates from the US regarding the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC).
“It is still on. But we are still waiting for more concrete updates from their side,” he said.
He said the Philippines is waiting for a US plan to fund the feasibility study of a flagship project of the LEC, the Subic-Clark-Manila-Batangas cargo railway.
“It is being funded by Sweden and the US. That is what we are waiting for,” he added.
The LEC is being undertaken via a trilateral agreement among the Philippines, the US, and Japan.
Part of a broader collaboration supported by the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, it aims to strengthen connectivity among strategic sites in Metro Manila, Batangas, Subic, and Clark.
“But the LEC is our project. And there is so much interest from so many countries apart from the US and Japan. We have interest from the UK, South Korea, Australia, Sweden, and Canada,” Mr. Go said.
He said that the leaders of the Philippines and the US are expected to meet in May. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
