Japanese firms set to expand in Phl

TOKYO – Japanese firms expressed commitment to expand or put up new businesses in the Philippines during President Aquino’s meetings with business groups yesterday, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said.

Coloma, however, said the actual investments could not be determined yet because the President and the members of the Cabinet had met with only four companies at press time – Terumo Corp., Marubeni Corp., Toyota Motor Corp. and Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.

Terumo manufactures and sells hospital equipment and disposable syringes. Coloma said Terumo presented a letter of commitment to the President to expand their current space in Biñan, Laguna for factories.  

“They want to double or triple their workforce as soon as the new land or new space would have been acquired. And one of their important products is syringes and President Aquino noted this significant development because there is a PPP (Public Private Partnership) project among the first four which is the establishment of a vaccination plant and this will compliment the project on a establishment of vaccination plant,” Coloma said.

Coloma said according to the Terumo delegation, “they are very upbeat about investing in the Philippines because they like the work ethic of the Filipino workers that are also highly skilled.”

Marubeni is in partnership with the Aboitiz Group in the development of power projects.

“There are several projects in the pipeline that they are undertaking in tandem with Aboitiz. One is the expansion of the Pagbilao coal power plant. The feasibility study including the environmental study has already been completed. They are now in the process of working out and finalizing the financial package as well as the EPC or Engineering Procurement and Construction contract and the target for completing this expansion program is by 2015,” he said. 

Marubeni also has another project to expand on the existing facilities in Sual, Pangasinan and this time, the partner of Marubeni is San Miguel Corp.

 “They also have another project for a 600-megawatt coal-powered plant in Subic Bay, estimated at a value of one billion dollars and the DOE (Department of Energy) is working with Marubeni to ensure that this project will be environment friendly. What has been finalized in terms of the study is the first 300-megawatt component with Aboitiz as the EPC contractor,” he said.

“There’s another project, the Leyte-Mindanao interconnection project. As you know, the cost of power in the country is quite high and this is because our Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids are not interconnected with each other. So this project addresses the interconnection between Visayas which is Leyte and also Mindanao,” Coloma said.

In terms of Mindanao, the President noted with the Marubeni group that there would be significant dividends from the peace process. “If the peace process is completed—meaning, the negotiations with the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) — then there could be more projects for development in Mindanao,” he said.

In the context of the discussions, Coloma said the President also mentioned that the government was working on amendments to the Local Government Code so that companies that had invested in projects imbued with national interest could continue to enjoy a favorable tax and incentive environment while working out a win-win arrangement with the local host communities.

“Marubeni also announced that they are involved in other development projects. One is in the area of water which they said is strategic for the Japanese. They have several projects in Central and South America. What they are working on for the Philippines is a waste water treatment project for Metro Manila,” Coloma said.

And in this connection, Coloma said the President mentioned that Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson was now heading a body that is looking into the feasibility of organizing or forming a National Water Management Coordinating Council. 

The President noted that responsibility for water is currently divided among several government agencies and he wanted tighter coordination so  the government could manage this very important area of the country’s natural resources.

“Marubeni offered assistance in terms of finance also leading edge technology in the area of water which, as I pointed out earlier, they consider to be a strategic area in their portfolio,” he said.

The second development project of Marubeni is the Light Rail Transit Line 1 south extension. Coloma said they mentioned that they were looking at a possible turnkey project similar to their Australian experience and they were also involved in the Metro Rail Transit-7 in partnership with San Miguel Corp.

 “So it’s quite a significant portfolio projects that Marubeni is involved and this was by way of an update on their letter of intent given to the President, I believe, last year during the sidelines of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Yokohama summit. They are reporting that significant progress has been made in all of these fronts,” Coloma said.

The other concern that was presented by Marubeni and other Japanese businessmen was regarding digital television using Japanese technology which was still being studied by the National Telecommunications Commission.

Toyota, for its part, reported that their total investments in the Philippines had now reached P20 billion with 35,000 employees. They also mentioned their corporate social responsibility project which is a reforestation project in Peñablanca, Cagayan, Coloma said.

“Now, on their development and expansion plans, Toyota plans to produce 100,000 cars by 2013 which is their, I believe, 25th anniversary in the Philippine after the new management took over. They will be expanding the Toyota dealership network from 29 dealers to 65 by 2016. This involves a total new investments of P3.6 billion and an estimated 5,000 jobs,” Coloma said.

For manufacturing facilities, Toyota is now looking at the feasibility of establishing next generation components manufacturing plant.

 “They are now using this term ‘next generation’—probably referring to hybrid or electric cars—so there will be a higher degree of digitization in the components of the next generation cars,” he said. 

The fourth company was Murata that would be establishing a power chip capacitor plant in the first Philippine Industrial Park in Laguna with about 2,400 employees.

 “This is the new generation of technology in chips manufacturing and Murata is establishing the plant in the Philippines. Target completion is October 2012—23-hectare property in first Philippine Industrial Park. This is a Lopez group. They did not quote any figure but they said the employment possibilities will be expanded especially if this becomes a major manufacturing facility for this new technology,” Coloma said.

Murata is one of the world’s largest makers of electronic components used in many devices such as computers, mobile phones, automotive navigation, airbag systems and medical equipment.

Also yesterday, the President witnessed the signing of business agreements between Federal Land and Orix Corp. on the their Grand Hyatt Hotel project in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City; First Metro Investment Corp. and Mitsui and Co. Ltd.; reservation agreement and term sheet of INGASCO Inc. and Clark Development Corp.; and memorandum of understanding between Transnational Diversified Group and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha.

The President was also set to meet with Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd., Ichijo Co. Ltd., Mitsui and Co. Ltd. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., Yakazi Corp.