Filinvest joint venture earns CREATE MORE incentives

Filinvest-led joint venture Philippine DCS Development Corporation (PDDC) was recently granted a Certificate of Registration by the Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments, officially recognizing it as the country’s first Third-Party Project Developer (TPPD) for a P400-million complex energy efficiency project in Filinvest City, Alabang, Muntinlupa, eligible for fiscal incentives under the CREATE MORE Act.

In a recent advisory, Filinvest said the registered project entails a comprehensive energy-efficiency upgrade of Festival Mall’s cooling systems in Filinvest City, backed by an investment of more than P400 million. The initiative is projected to deliver approximately 36 percent in annual energy savings, equivalent to 5,691 MWh, significantly reducing the mall’s overall energy consumption.

In environmental terms, the company said the project is expected to avoid around 3,983 tons of carbon emissions each year—comparable to powering roughly 1,581 households or removing an estimated 866 cars from the road.

“Being named the first Third-Party Project Developer registered for a Complex Energy Efficiency Project is a milestone. But more importantly, it is a strong signal that the country is serious about scaling energy efficiency—fast, credibly, and with measurable outcomes. And make no mistake: we are here to deliver exactly that,” said Rhoda A. Huang, Filinvest Development Corp. president and CEO.

CREATE MORE—short for the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises enhancement framework—builds on the government’s broader investment reform agenda. The policy aims to attract capital by granting performance-based incentives such as income tax holidays, reduced corporate income tax rates, duty exemptions on imported equipment, and enhanced deductions for operational expenses tied to strategic industries.

To qualify for CREATE MORE incentives, firms must be a Registered Business Enterprise (RBE) and register a qualified project or expansion with an investment promotion agency (such as BOI or PEZA), while aligning with the government’s Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP).

For companies, these incentives help shorten the payback period of large infrastructure upgrades such as energy-efficiency systems. Projects that might otherwise take a decade to recover costs can become financially viable much earlier, encouraging firms to pursue modernization initiatives. CREATE MORE incentives are also intended to encourage foreign investments, which PDDC—a Filinvest joint venture with French company Engie—falls under.

Last November, the President announced that Samsung Electro-Mechanics Philippines Corporation secured incentives for a ₱50.7-billion expansion of its semiconductor components facility in Calamba, Laguna. The South Korea-backed investment is expected to generate more than 3,500 jobs and support the production of multilayer ceramic capacitors used in electric vehicles and smart devices.

Government officials described the Samsung project as a milestone under CREATE MORE, noting that it strengthens the Philippines’ role in the global semiconductor value chain while bringing technology transfer and workforce development partnerships with local universities.

Beyond the technology, the project’s registration under the CREATE MORE Act carries broader economic implications.

For the energy and sustainability sector, the policy helps unlock private financing for projects that directly lower power demand. Reduced electricity consumption eases pressure on the national grid, lowers operating costs for businesses, and contributes to the country’s climate commitments. The government’s SIPP emphasizes the renewable-energy value chain as a priority investment area in the updated framework being developed for the mid-2020s.

“Together with Engie, we knew that if we could transform the way we design, execute, and operate cooling systems—targeting 30 to 50 percent savings in electricity consumption—we would not only reduce costs but also make a meaningful contribution to a more sustainable future. This was our opportunity to truly move the needle, delivering real, measurable impact and setting a new benchmark for many more to follow,” said PDDC General Manager Jonathan Urbano.

PDDC is a joint venture formed in 2015 between Filinvest Land, Inc. and Engie, a multinational energy-efficiency company based in France. The company owns and operates the largest district cooling system in the Philippines, located in Northgate Cyberzone, Alabang.