CREATE Act To Encourage JP Investments in the Philippines

DTI Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo (left) briefed Japanese investors on the CREATE Act. Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines H.E. Koshikawa Kazuhiko (right) also remarked on investment opportunities in the Philippines.
31 March 2021 – The Philippine Embassy in Tokyo, through the Department of Trade and Industry- Board of Investments (DTI-BOI), the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), held a Webinar on the “Philippine Online Business: Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Bill and Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP)” on 25 March 2021. More than 400 participants from the Japanese community attended the said webinar.
AJC Secretary-General Masataka Fujita mentioned that the CREATE bill is expected to improve the market and investors’ trust in rationalizing incentives that are addressing changes in what a business need.
DTI Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo remarked that the Philippines has a large and fast-growing domestic market and enjoys preferential access to all major global markets. “With the CREATE bill, the Philippines is in a position to offer highly competitive incentives that will help maximize financial returns from developing a local supply chain network” Undersecretary Rodolfo conveyed.
Aside from providing a comprehensive discussion on the CREATE Act and its advantages, officials from JETRO and DTI-BOI also briefed on the current Philippine business climate and expounded the Philippine Government’s Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP).
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte recently signed CREATE Act or Republic Act No. 11534 to further promote investments in the country on 26 March, a day after the webinar.
SIGNATURE FILIPINO DISHES AVAILABLE IN APRIL AT TOKYO BRANCH OF HARD ROCK CAFÉ AND TONY ROMAS
(Top, with invited celebrity guests) From left: Ms. Yuki Sonoda (Miss Universe-Japan 2020 second runner up), Ms. Natsuki Tsutsui (Ms. International-Japan 2017), Mr. Fumiya Sankai (PBB Alumni), Ms. Maria Theresa Gow (singer/DJ), Ambassador Jose C. Laurel V, Ms. Hiro Nishiuchi (Miss Universe-Japan 2014 first runner-up), Shogen (actor/model), Ms. Mai Murakami (Ms. International-Japan 2017 first runner-up), Mr. Kohei Sato (Mr. World-Japan 2015 first runner-up), and Tourism Attaché Mr. Niel Ballesteros (back, 2nd from right) and officials from the Tourism Section of the Philippine Embassy.
(Bottom, with corporate sponsors) (L-R) Tourism Attache Neil Ballesteros; Mr. Norio Fukuda (COO of WDI); Philippine Ambassador to Japan Jose C Laurel V; Mr. Tomohiko Matsumoto (Japan Country Manager of Cebu Pacific Air); Philippine Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robespierre Bolivar
30 March 2021 – For the whole month of April, Hard Rock Café and Tony Romas, both located at Roppongi, Tokyo, will celebrate “Eats More Fun in the Philippines” by offering popular Philippine dishes such as chicken inasal burger, pancit bihon and sisig. Turon served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and mango sauce will also be served as dessert at both restaurants.
The campaign includes a chance to win a round-trip Cebu Pacific ticket to the Philippines by following the DOT Japan official Instagram and twitter accounts and reposting the campaign image or retweeting the campaign post with hashtags #もっと楽しいフィリピン (#morefunph) and #もっと楽しい笑顔 (#smilewithmorefun). Customers who also order the special collaboration menu items and post via Instagram and twitter the hashtags hashtags #もっと楽しいフィリピン (#morefunph), along with the restaurant hashtag #hardrockcafe or #tonyromas will receive a special pass case made from T’nalak, a traditional cloth made by the Tboli.
“Food and travel are inevitably linked and intertwined. Simply stated, when we think of travel, we think of food!,” remarked Ambassador Jose C. Laurel V at the dinner launch of the project at Hard Rock Café on March 26, 2021. “It is my hope that the inspiration and excitement we offer through food will result in welcoming Japanese friends and tourists in the Philippines this year and the years to come,” the Ambassador added.
At the dinner launch, popular Japanese personalities also attended such as Pinoy Big Brother alumnus Fumiya Sankai, singer and DJ Maria Theresa Gow, chef Marie Inomata, and beauty titlists Hiro Nishiuchi, Natsuki Tsutsui, Mai Murakami, Yuki Sonoda and Kohei Sato. A media launch was also held earlier in the day. At both events, San Miguel beer and Philippine-inspired drinks mango mojito and calamansi fizz were also served.
ENJOYING FILIPINO SWEET TREATS IN JAPAN
Online cooking class through Instagram live by Tatsuya and Shino of Gucci Fuufu held on 06 March 2021.
As part of the Embassy’s promotion of Filipino products to Japanese audiences, Tatsuya and Shino of the popular Gucci Fuufu channel featured turon and cream cheese during the online Filipino Food Cooking Demo/Seminar held on 06 March 2021 at Gucci Fuufu Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/gucci_fuufu/).
The cooking demo has now garnered 100,300 views, with over 1,000 entries joining the raffle which ran from 16 – 22 February 2021. 25 people won Auro chocolate and dried mangoes by draw.
The Instagram Live may still be accessed through: https://www.instagram.com/tv/
CME6wLTnXCk/?igshid=1r7lstjvbjv88.
Guchi Fufu is an influencer couple with over 700,00 followers in Instagram and has worked on easy-to-make authentic recipes that are attracting attention of people in and outside of Japan
PH continues push for digital agriculture
6 March 2021- At a recently held science and technology conference in Haneda Innovation City, Tokyo, the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo presented Agriculture 4.0: Digital Agriculture, a roadmap to elevate Philippine agriculture using digital technology to provide farmers and fishers with high yield and increased income. The roadmap includes building agri-industrial corridors across the country which would provide a technology eco-system promoting incubators, developing the rural community and meeting global demand.
“We are continuing the push for digital agriculture to achieve food security and sustainable growth in agriculture,” remarked Agricultural Attaché Jose I.C. Liquian at a session focused on the Philippines with the theme “Harnessing the power of Japanese deep tech start-ups for Philippine issues.”
At the Philippine Session, Mr. Laquian exchanged views with Japanese start-up ventures on protecting the health and safety of miners and increasing the productivity of farmers.
Mr. Tadashi Tanimoto, CEO of Galdieria, Co., Ltd, shared information on algae technology to extract heavy metals, and presented the technology as a safe and environmentally-friendly alternative to the use of mercury in the extraction of gold. According to Mr. Tanimoto, there are currently 700 artisinal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in the Philippines which can benefit from the technology.
Mr. Masa Kawaguchi, Executive Manager of Polar Star Space Co., Ltd., promoted the integrated use of satellite (Philippine Diwata-2 microsatellite), drone and electromagnetic wave technology for large-scale disease detection in banana plantations in the Philippines.
The Philippine Embassy supports efforts to promote technological development and cooperation to implement the updated Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022. The updated PDP contains five major programs designed to build the resiliency of the Filipinos under the new normal, namely: (1) health system improvement; (2) food security and resiliency; (3) learning continuity; (4) digital transformation; and (5) regional development through the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa Program.
The Philippine Embassy thanks the Leave a Nest Co, Ltd. Japan for organizing the 10th Hyperinterdisciplinary Conference on 5-6 March 2021 which attracted 1,500 participants. Founded in 2001, the organization describes itself as the world’s first start-up company to offer “Knowledge Manufacturing Processing Technology” as a service. Aside from Osaka and Tokyo, it has offices in Singapore, Malaysia, US and the UK and is currently setting up a subsidiary in the Philippines to promote start-up partnerships between the Philippines and Japan.