PBBM to articulate PH strides, dev’t initiatives in WEF

FILE: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. delivers a speech at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. (PNA photo by Rey S. Baniquet)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Sunday said he is looking forward to “expanding and expounding” the significant strides achieved by his administration in the question-and-answer event at the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

“May format ngayon ‘yung World Economic Forum eh. Parang ginagawa nila pareho siguro nung ginawa sa (World Economic Forum has now a format. Perhaps it’s like what happened in) APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) where, together with Dr. Klaus Schwab… we made a short speech and then magtanong ang audience: ‘Ano ba ang sitwasyon doon sa inyo? Ano ba sa tingin mo? (The audience will ask. What is the situation in your country? What do you think). What’s happening? What’s going to happen next?’,” the President said in a media interview on board Flight PR 001.

“Kung titingnan mo ‘yung mga prepared speeches, maliliit lang, five minutes lang (If you’ll notice, prepared speeches were short, only five minutes). But I think that kind of forum, that kind of format… will give us a better opportunity to expand and expound on the things that we are doing in the Philippines,” Marcos said.

Aside from the question-and-answer with the audience, Marcos is also looking forward to the “pull-aside” or “pull-away” meetings on the sidelines of the WEF.

“Magkikita ‘yung dalawa, ‘mag-usap nga tayo dito.’ (The two will meet, let’s talk here) They go to the one side… In diplomatic phraseology, they call it pull-away. You know, they just pull somebody away, ‘usap tayo (let’s talk),’” the chief executive said, noting that sometimes the best deals are done outside the forum or that most of the best deals are done informally.

“So we will have a lot of those because there are certain businessmen who our own business group wants to engage,” he added.

At the Davos forum, Marcos hopes to bring up with world leaders the proposed sovereign wealth fund of the country.

“Simply because in general pare-pareho naman ‘yung ginagawa natin dito sa mga trips (what we do in our trips are almost the same): we talk about the Philippines, what is the situation as an investment destination,” Marcos told reporters.

“So sasabihin ko (I will tell) exactly… that we are forming a sovereign wealth fund… for big investments in the basic areas such as agri, energy, digitalization, climate change… But the point being is that now… there is a wealth fund,” Marcos said.

The House of Representatives on Dec. 15 approved on the third and final reading House Bill No. 6608 or the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) bill after being certified as urgent by the President.

Accompanied by his official delegation composed of government officials and business leaders, the President is in Switzerland for his inaugural participation in the WEF.