The investment pledges secured by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. during his roundtable discussions with Chinese businessmen is expected to create many jobs for Filipinos.

“It’s certainly going to produce many, many jobs, when the investments come into play, when they start their operations,” the President said in a media interview in Beijing.

“Mag-uumpisa pa ‘yan sa training… capacity building— doon sa magiging empleyado nila… that will be starting very soon,” Marcos added.

Chinese investors have committed USD 22.8 billion in investment pledges after President Marcos met them during his state visit to China on January 3-5, including USD 1.72 billion for agribusiness, USD 13.76 billion for renewable energy (RE) and USD 7.32 billion for strategic monitoring (electric vehicle, mineral processing).

“Some of these investments have already started their construction, have already started opening their offices, all of that,” the chief executive pointed out.

President Marcos said these are pledges that are backed up already by concrete actions in the Philippines.

“Nagbukas na sila ng mga opisina, kumukuha na sila ng mga permit. ‘Yung mga iba na nakakuha na ng permit, inumpisahan na nila ‘yung mga construction. So that is included in that number,” President Marcos said.

“But there are other areas na medyo bago-bago, kagaya ng sa processing ng minerals at saka sa battery production at saka sa electric vehicle production. Ito bago lahat ito. Kaya’t siguro, kailangan natin pa ipakita sa kanila na mga Chinese, potential Chinese investors, na maganda mag-invest sa Pilipinas,” Marcos added.

The president likewise mentioned during the interview the significance of the transfer of technology and minimizing the repatriation of profits.

“So that’s what we are looking for now. To make sure that these investments not only provide jobs for the local economy, but there’s also a transfer of technology that the repatriation of profits are minimized and the value added is left in the Philippines,” Marcos said. #