MALACANANG has likely become more driven to move the Philippines forward as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. scored high in his trust and performance ratings.

The ratings were based on the results of the latest survey made by OCTA Research.

Conducted in December last year, the Tugon ng Masa (TNM) survey showed Marcos’ trust and performance ratings improving to 76% and 71 percent respectively from their levels in October 2023.

Prior to the last survey, the Marcos administration – committed to provide better life to Filipinos — triumphed over challenges posed by inflation and other economic issues.

With Filipino workers on top of its mind, the government also steered the labor front towards more jobs and lower unemployment.

But pleasing the public most could be the foreign trips made by the President last year to attract investments needed to propel faster economic recovery.

While foreign investments were already starting to flow into the Philippines a few months after the journeys, most of the pledges are now on hand.

Around $14.2 billion worth of foreign investments have begun turning up as of December 2023, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said recently.

The investments came from 46 projects that are already operating or have registered with investment promotion agencies.

Sixteen of the projects are in the manufacturing sector, 10 are information technology and business process management (ITBPM) projects, and nine are renewable energy.

Japan and the United States are the largest sources of the investments, with 21 and 13 projects, respectively.

Foreign investors are still conducting pre-implementation and planning activities in their respective countries for the remaining 102 projects involving $58 billion investment pledges.

The establishment of the One-Stop Action Center for Strategic Investments (OSAC-SI) helped accelerate the investments of foreign pledges.

OSAC-SI issues endorsement for green lane treatment to investments with a big impact on the economy, domestic industries and employment.

With the endorsement, all national government agencies and local government units have to facilitate and fast-track the processes of business permitting, licensing, and other documents related to their investments in the country.

The OSAC-SI has granted green lane certification to 41 projects, 20 of which submitted their investment commitments during the foreign trips of Marcos.

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