A KEY leader of the House of Representatives on Sunday commended the Board of Investments (BOI) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for giving the green light to 41 foreign-funded projects under the Marcos administration that will further boost the country’s recovering economy.
“This will spur growth in our domestic market which really needs a boost at this point, where we are faced with recurring inflation not just locally but also globally as a result of Ukraine war and the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas,” Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said.
“This is a welcome development for all of us. And this is what we all need. We thank President Marcos Jr. for doing all he can in enticing foreign direct investments to come. We also commend Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez for the support in helping make this happen,” he said.
Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, was elated at DTI’s report that BOI has granted “green lane certification to 41 projects” as of Feb. 8 this year, which is a very clear sign of things to come under this administration.
There is a total of 148 projects, with 46 of them are already ongoing, leaving about 102 pending.
“We have started the ball rolling so to speak. And all we need is just to take a pro-active stance by consistent follow ups so that these will all come into fruition. By then, we will be creating more jobs and generate more activities for the economy to boom even more,” he said.
The senior administration lawmaker from Mindanao said the implementation of green lanes by the BOI has sparked significant interest among foreign investors who are very eager for streamlined approval processes.
Out of the 41 projects granted “green lane certification,” Barbers – who represents the second district of Surigao del Norte – said 20 of these have either “submitted commitments during the presidential visits (of President Marcos) or directly resulting from follow-through activities.”
“And what is most very welcome here is that the most significant countries as investment sources are Japan with 21 projects, and the US with 13 projects. They have produced the most number of projects that have already been actualized,” the son of the late senator Bobby Barbers said.
As it is now, he said foreign investors are still conducting pre-implementation and planning activities in their respective countries for the remaining 102 projects involving USD58 billion in investment pledges to the Marcos administration.
