DICT garners huge chunk of FDIs

Digitalization is both a significant divider and a powerful enabler. In a disruptive digital era, the Marcos administration is revisiting traditional government policies and focusing on digitalizing government functions and bureaucracies, with the Department of Information and Communications Technology among the top recipients of foreign direct investments.

Indeed, with the $72.178 billion (P4.019 trillion) worth of investments pledged and actually realized from President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s foreign visits, a big chunk is earmarked to the DICT's various initiatives to build up interest in the Philippines.

"These investments, realized and in the pipeline, are mostly in IT-BPM, data centers, and telecommunications, manufacturing, and renewable energy sectors," said Undersecretary Ceferino "Perry" Rodolfo of the Department of Trade and Industry's Development Group. Rodolfo is also the managing director of the Board of Investments.

Marcos has designated the DICT to spearhead the modernization of the country's digital infrastructure to promote the country as a viable investment destination through conducive policies and extensive marketing efforts both here and abroad to generate these investments.

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, the investment pledges were in the following areas: Business, investment promotion agency registered with operations ($205.53M or P11.4B), Business/IPA reported ($983.21M or P54.75B) IPA registration in progress operations ($5.079B or P282.8B), signed agreement with clear financial project value ($9.771B or P544.152B), signed memorandum of understanding/letter of intent ($28.529B or P1.588T) and confirmed investment not covered by MoUs/LoIs and still in the planning stage ($27.345B or P1.522T).

"The P4 trillion investment value is comprised of 148 projects, according to its 21 December 2023 monitoring of consolidated and processed investments," Rodolfo added.

During Marcos' visit to Tokyo in September, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy secured an additional $100 million (P5.6 billion) in new investments from Japan's telecom giant IPS Inc. for the DICT.

Uy said the investment would "ensure unhampered data connectivity via the Eastern Seaboard away from the highly contested South China Sea."

In addition, IPS Philippines' affiliate InfiniVAN Inc., signed another P4 billion package with Uy under a public-private partnership arrangement that would fast-track the deployment and connectivity of the National Broadband Plan, also known as Broadband ng Masa Program.

Uy and InfiniVAN representatives began the exploratory talks with InfiniVAN, proposing the acquisition of dark fiber pairs on the Infinivan-led Philippine Domestic Submarine Cable Network to complete the backbone of the BBMP.

"Securing dark fiber-based capacities on international submarine cable systems that have touch points in major hubs such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, the United States and Europe with landing points in the Philippines was also discussed during the exploratory talks in Tokyo," Uy added.

InfiniVAN's proposal covers a distance of 2,700 kilometers of fiber optic cable linking Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao and covers 26 new landing points.

The DTI said it is also monitoring 20 projects that have been greenlighted and registered with the IPAs of the DTI, Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

The trade department said these investments, realized and in the pipeline, are mainly in manufacturing, IT-BPM, renewable energy, data centers, and telecommunications.

It added that the business engagements during the President's visit to Japan for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit were added to the monitoring, adding $263.08 million or P14B to the total value and nine investments to the total number of projects.

The DTI reported three signed agreements with clear financial project value worth $85.07 million and six MoU/LoIs valued at $178.01 million.

In DTI's 14 December update, it said the presidential visit to the United States for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting in San Francisco was added to its monitoring, adding $672.3 million (or 37.2 billion) to the total value and six to the entire project.

These include $400 million (P2.2 billion) investment in telecommunications, $2 million (P110 million) in artificial intelligence; $250 million (P13 billion), manufacturing; $20 million (P1.1 billion), health sciences/pharma manufacturing/health services; $300,000 (P16 million), energy; and an undisclosed amount for another investment in health sciences/pharma manufacturing/health services.

Those projects comprise signed agreements with clear financial value and MoU/LoI.