President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s foreign travels have resulted in actualized investments worth nearly P300 billion in the country, Malacañang and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday.

Malacañang, citing a DTI report dated 21 December, said that Marcos had made $5.28 billion, or P294 billion, in "actualized" investments due to his foreign trips.

DTI-Board of Investments (BOI) Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo said that through Marcos' international trips, actualized investments of $4.089 billion (P227.72 billion) for eight projects, $790.58 million (P44.02 billion) for 11 projects, and $398.17 million (P22.17 billion) for nine projects.

"Some of these projects have short gestation periods and are already fully operational and are already employing full-time Filipinos, producing goods or delivering services; and some are already setting up or expanding their facilities – but are nevertheless already employing Filipinos as they already have set-up or expanded their offices and physical presence in the Philippines," Rodolfo said.

Rodolfo emphasized that the investment commitments made to Marcos during his international trips, which were turned into projects, had already been registered to BOI and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).

The DTI announced on Tuesday that P4.019 trillion, or $72.178 billion, had been collected and processed out of Marcos' overseas travels.

Higher employment due to Marcos' travels

In a separate statement, the government said Marcos' foreign trips from the fourth quarter of 2022 to 2023 yielded more than 200,000 employment opportunities for Filipinos.

Malacañang, citing a separate DTI data, said that Marcos' trips in 2022 created 7,100 job chances from Indonesia (4 to 6 September 2022), at least 14,932 job opportunities from Singapore (6 to 7 September 2022), and 98,000 job opportunities from New York (18 to 24 September 2022).

Marcos brought in 5,500 work opportunities during his visit to Thailand from 16 to 19 November 2022; at least 6,480 job opportunities from Marcos' trip to Belgium from 11 to 14 December 2022; and 730 job opportunities during the Chief Executive's trip to the Netherlands from 15 to 17 December 2022.

According to the DTI, Marcos' travel to China from 3 to 5 January 2023 created 32,722 job opportunities; 24,000 job opportunities during his trip to Japan from 8 to 12 February 2023; 6,386 job opportunities during his travel to Washington, DC from 30 April to 4 May 2023; and 8,365 job opportunities during his trip to Malaysia from 25 to 27 July 2023.