From: news@netnews.upenn.edu (USENET News System)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.filipino
Subject: US Investors to Visit Phil
Date: 5 Oct 92 15:50:14 GMT
Followup-To: soc.culture.filipino
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


	MANILA, Philippines (UPI) -- Senior executives of 27 U.S. companies
are set to arrive Tuesday to look at investing in the Philippines
spurred by increased stability and economic reform under the government
of President Fidel Ramos.
	Special U.S. envoy Eliot Richardson, coordinator of an international
aid program for the Philippines, will lead the delegation that includes
aerospace, telecommunications, energy,electronics and financial services
companies.
	Registered foreign investment in the Philippines jumped 33 percent
for the first eight months of 1992 to $693 million from $520 million in
the same period last year.
	Analysts forecast a continued climb in investments during the fourth
quarter.
	``Things are coming together and by next year we should be on the
runway for an economic takeoff,'' Conrad Andres, a senior analyst at
Asia Equity, said. ``Now is the best time to come in because it will
take six months to a year to get set up.''
	Investors have looked favorably on Ramos's efforts to increase
stability through an offer of peace talks to the country's three
insurgencies and an anti-crime drive.
	Instability was a key factor in keeping investors in the spectators'
box during former president Corazon Aquino's term, which was rocked by
seven coup attempts in six years.
	Ramos, Aquino's former defense chief who took office June 30 after
winning election in May, has also won support by liberalizing foreign
exchange regulations months earlier than had been expected. He has also
promised to further ease restrictions on foreign investment.
	U.S. firms led the climb in foreign investments during the first
eight months of this year with $152 million of the total.
	Analysts said investors from both the United States and Canada were
taking a closer look at the Philippines, and said power,
telecommunications and mining were among top areas being investigated by
North American companies.
	The Canadian Embassy said two Canadian trade and investment missions
have visited Manila recently and at least one more was planned by
yearend.
	``There was a lull in Canadian investment missions during the
election period,'' a spokeswoman at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
said. ``They are coming back but it is too early to tell if there is
more interest now than under the old government.''
	The 40 visiting U.S. executives will meet with Ramos and other senior
Philippine officials and tour several potential investment sites,
including the former U.S. naval base at Subic Bay, about 50 miles (80
km) west of the capital.
	Manila hopes to make a commercial port out of Subic, which boasts a
well-protected deep harbor and billions of dollars in infrastructure,
including a ship repair facility and airport.
	U.S. forces relinquished most of the base Sept. 30 and will
completely withdraw Nov. 28. The Philippine Senate refused last year to
renew Washington's lease on the facility.
	Officials at the American Chamber of Commerce, which is helping to
coordinate the visit, were unavailable for comment on specific projects
in which delegation members were interested.
	Among major companies represented are: Bell Helicopter Asia Pte. Ltd,
McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co., Caltex Petroleum Corp., Texaco
Cogeneration and Power Co., Amco Chemicals Far East Ltd., U.S. West
International, Motorola Communications and Coca Cola Far East Ltd.