President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced on Monday that various investment commitments secured by his administration are now in progress, with expectations to create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“A substantial number of investment pledges have already commenced operations, with many more at various stages of development,” Marcos stated during his third State of the Nation Address (SONA).
“According to our estimates, apart from generating significant revenue for the country, these investments could create over 200,000 jobs for our countrymen,” the President said.
As of the first half of 2024, the Board of Investments (BOI) reported a total of P950 billion in approved investment commitments, a 36% increase from P698 billion in the first semester of 2023.
However, foreign direct investments (FDI) saw a 36.9% decline in April to $556 million from $881 million year-on-year. Despite this decline, the Trade Department remains optimistic, noting that FDI in the first four months of the year reached $3.5 billion, up from $3 billion in the same period in 2023.
President Marcos also highlighted the impact of the rationalized incentives scheme under the CREATE Act, which has facilitated investments amounting to over one trillion pesos and generated more than 100,000 new jobs.
In 2023, the BOI reported approving P1.16 trillion worth of investment pledges, marking the highest in the agency’s history.
“This promising state of affairs is now beckoning us to create more — through the passage of the CREATE MORE Act,” Marcos said.
The CREATE MORE Act is a priority measure listed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) last month. It aims to clarify the transitory provision in the CREATE law by exempting transitory registered business enterprises (RBEs) under the 5% gross income earned (GIE) regime from all national and local taxes, including value-added tax (VAT) and duty incentives.
The bill also seeks to establish a streamlined tax refund system for RBEs and institutionalize a risk-based classification of claims and audit framework to improve the timeliness, efficiency, and predictability of the VAT refund process.