FACT CHECK: Marcos’ claim on investments is MISLEADING

In a speech on Labor Day at the Malacañan Palace, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the country’s investment promotion agencies have approved almost P1.7 trillion investments across various sectors, which were expected to create 108,000 jobs in 2023. This is misleading.

STATEMENT

Marcos, expressing his administration’s commitment to provide Filipinos with more technical and digital job opportunities, said:

“In 2023 alone, our Investment Promotion Agencies approved almost 1.7 trillion pesos in investments in various sectors. These investments are expected to create almost 108,000 jobs for our people in that year alone.”

Source: RTVMalacañang, Labor Day with the President (Speech) 5/1/2024, May 1, 2024, watch from 5:13 to 5:30

FACT

Approved investments are pledges or commitments by local or foreign investors. Not all approved investments materialize. These go through a gestation period or the time it takes from approval to when the proposed investment is actually established and made operational, according to documents produced by the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department of the House of Representatives and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

As of writing, available government data is unclear on how much of these projections on employment from approved investments came into fruition in 2023.

Several investment promotion agencies approve these investment commitments or pledges. These include the Board of Investments, Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority.

In 2023, most investment commitments were approved for the country’s energy industry, amounting to P992.9 billion.

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(Guided by the code of principles of the International Fact-Checking Network at Poynter, VERA Files tracks the false claims, flip-flops, misleading statements of public officials and figures, and debunks them with factual evidence. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.)