Cabinet men explain separation

From the Philippine News Agency (Oct 23): Cabinet men explain separation

Cabinet officials of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte explained to reporters his ‘separation with the U.S. remarks’ a day after he had delivered his keynote speech at the Philippines-China Trade and Investment Forum.

Talking to reporters in Beijing, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Ernesto Pernia said the Philippines is broadening its investment and trade base with greater attention given to the Asian region.

“The way to understand that (separation) is what we are really going to do is re-balance our economic relations from too much dependence to the West to the Asian region. Because the Asian region is the growth area of this century and China is a major player in this growth area,” Pernia pointed out.

The country’s chief economist expects faster growth in the share of the Philippines’ economic relations in Asia as a result of the ASEAN integration, which includes China, than its share of economic relations with the Western countries.

This will be beneficial for the economy in the long-run according to the Economic Planning Secretary, as global gross domestic product (GDP) grows higher with open international trade.
Related to this, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said it is about time the Philippines opens its doors to other countries for business.

“Our country is now open to other countries like China and we’ve missed so many opportunities from China for the last six years,” Secretary Andanar said.

The Philippines is indeed catching up with the state visit of President Duterte to China generating USD 24 billion worth of investments and credit facilities.

These investments and credit facilities touch across different industries, such as agriculture, renewable energy, tourism, food, manufacturing, telecommunications, infrastructure among others.

It is estimated that more than two million jobs over a period of five years are expected to be generated with these investments and credit facilities by China.

Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez is optimistic of this balancing of relations with China.

“Pagka kasi kaibigan na, marami pwede pag-usapan, ‘yun lang nabanggit nating mga lifting of suspension, opening up the trade, ili-lift din ‘yung advisory sa mga tourists, so definitely mas dadami na ‘yung pupunta dito. And hundred million tourists going out so parang ang daming opportunity, ilang percent lang ‘non mapunta sa atin eh, milyon milyon na na tourists. Eh ngayon 500,000 lang. So ang laki ng difference,” Secretary Lopez underscored.

This rebalancing, Secretary Pernia assured, does not mean cutting ties with the West. American investments, such as business process outsourcing (BPOs), which contributed heavily to our economic growth, will continue.

“The relationship is there. It’s like having a co-equal relationship with everyone. No one is above anyone. We have good relations with China. Soon, we’re gonna have good relations with Russia. And we have good relations with Japan. We’ve had good relations with the United States, with UK, and other countries,” Secretary Andanar concluded.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=933652