ECOP hopes for better new year after a ‘disappointing’ 2025

The head of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) is hoping the Philippine economy will perform better next year following a disappointing 2025 that saw investors shy away from the country because of massive corruption and flood control scandals.

In his economic outlook, ECOP president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis said the business sector expects the Philippines to post a growth rate of less than 5 percent this year.

He said 2025 is looking to be a relatively poor year for the Philippines as government data recorded a growth of 4.0 percent in the third quarter of 2025, lower than the 5.5 percent recorded in the second quarter and below the 5.2 percent growth posted in the third quarter of last year.

Lowest quarterly growth since 2023

This falls below the government’s revised 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent full-year growth target and below the median forecast of economists at 5.3 percent. Moreover, this marks the slowest quarterly growth of the Philippine economy since 2023.

The ECOP executive said a major indicator of the lack of investor confidence in the Philippines is the marked drop in investor visits to the Philippines.

Where once two to three investors would visit the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry every week for discussions, now there are hardly any. “This will further leave the Philippines trailing behind its neighbors in the ASEAN,” said Ortiz-Luis, who is also the president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc.

Work harder to regain investor confidence

Asked for the outlook for next year, he expressed hope that the Marcos administration will work harder to regain investor confidence in the country so job creation can resume.

Ortiz-Luis pointed out that from 800,000 to one million new graduates enter the workforce next year, and fresh investments are vital to provide more jobs for them.

Winning back capitalists can be done mainly by focusing on important matters, such as the national budget, and refusing to get sidetracked by or to react to irrelevant issues that detract from the main challenges that need swift resolution in order to stabilize the economy in 2026, he added.

Ortiz-Luis also called for imbuing more power to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to enable it to fully carry out its task to investigate corruption, irregularities, and misuse of funds in flood control and other major government infrastructure projects.

Still waiting for identity and arrest of mastermind

He said the business sector is still waiting for the identity and arrest of the mastermind behind these irregularities to assure investors that the government is serious about addressing corruption and plunder allegations in the country.

Still, the ECOP head said he acknowledges policy changes being implemented by the administration, saying these can help with transparency initiatives and the reduction of anomalies such as those in budget crafting.