President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday expressed his hope for the Philippines to become the next logistics center in Asia.
Speaking at the grand opening of the Clark International Airport's terminal, Marcos lauded the project as a perfect example of a public-private partnership.
"This is a perfect example of what government and the private sector can do. A private sector cannot do this alone, the government too," he said in his speech.
"It is also important because this facility is another building block to what we hope to become a logistics center of Asia, the Philippines," he added.
Marcos said he understands the requirements of potential foreign investors and promised to attend to these.
"It is a signal to the world that we are open for business. It is the message that we try to carry when we were in New York," he said.
"The idea was to tell them that we are willing to change in terms of documentation, procedure, structure, and even legislation to encourage you to come to the Philippines," he added.
Marcos urged investors to venture into PPP, citing that it is mutually beneficial to both the public and private sectors.
"This is exactly what we needed. We need this, we need more and we do have many plans for the airport in Manila. We have many plans for the airport surrounding Manila," he said.
The President also pointed out the need to open airports in other regions in a bid to decongest air traffic in Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
"While the airport in Manila has yet to be fixed, Bulacan and Sangley are yet to open, we need to open the airports at the regional level. Let us not force them to go through at Manila's airport," he said.
The P19.25 billion worth of new terminal building at the Clark International Airport was funded through PPP between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, Department of Transportation, and Luzon International Premier Airport Development.
The 110,000-square-meter new terminal building is expected to accommodate around eight million passengers yearly, more than double the average number of passengers the airport can accommodate.
