Japan yesterday said it is still necessary to be cautiously optimistic when doing business in the Philippines even as the security situation in the country has improved significantly in recent years,
Crediting the enforcement of illicit drug counter-measures by the Duterte administration to this improvement, Japanese ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhiko Koshikawa also noted the pronouncement of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that crime threats decreased by 64 percent in the last five years.
“It is highly anticipated that the changes brought by there measures will lead to more active investments from Japan in the future,” Koshikawa said at the Global Biz Forum yesterday.
In the same forum, Charito Plaza, PEZA director-general, of the 4,670 registered companies in the agency, 962 locator-companies are Japanese-owned.
These are companies engaged in warehousing and storage, fabricated metal products except machinery and equipment, rubber and plastic products, radio, television, and communication equipment and apparatus, as well as software development.
Plaza said the top 10 Japanese companies registered in PEZA cumulatively invested P727.68 billion investments, employ 353,763 and contribute $11.065 billion in exports annually.
These are Canon Business Machines Philippines Inc., Coral Bay Nickel Corp., . Canon Business Machines Philippines Inc., Epson Precision Philippines Inc, Ibiden Philippines Inc., Pilipinas Kao Inc., Rohm Electronics Philippines Inc., Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., Toshiba Information Equipment Philippines Inc., Toyota Asian Philippines Inc. and Tsuneishi Heavy Industries Cebu Inc.
