Japanese firm expands biz in RP

TRADE Secretary Jesli Lapus and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) Director General Lilia De Lima said a world-known Japanese electronics manufacturing company is investing an additional P13 billion in the country, which could create up to 10,000 more jobs.

Lapus and De Lima said this was the result of the meeting of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Nidec Corporation chairman of the board and President and Chief Executive Officer Shigenobu Nagamori in Malacanang late Tuesday.

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Lapus said Nidec would put up an additional investment of $300 million or P13 billion to expand the plants in Laguna and in Subic, which could employ up to 10,000 people.

“They are very happy with the labor standards of our workforce. They are willing to go as much as $1 billion if there's enough of engineers, supply of raw materials,” he added.

De Lima said the plant would include research and development facilities similar to what Nidec companies in China, Vietnam, and Thailand has.

At present, Nidec conducts the research and development of their electronic products abroad and only bring into the country the finish product for its assembly and distribution.

Nidec, which has started operations in the Philippines in 1997, has an existing P15 billion investment in the four plants that employs about 15,000 people or P12.026-billion investment and 11,545 employees in the three Laguna plants, and P2.873-billion investment and 3,019 employees in the Subic site.

De Lima said under the expansion plans, Nidec would expand its manufacturing operations in the Philippines to increase its production capacity for motors for Hard Disk Drives from 10 million units per month to 16 million units per month for their three companies in Peza in the Laguna site, and from 1 million to 4 million units per month in their Subic site.

She said once Nagamori returns to Japan they would start the process of the application for the expansion.

“So pagbalik nila, within the next couple of weeks, they will be submitting their application,” she said, adding that aside from the 10,000 jobs expected to be created, Nidec would also be bringing into the country “their own suppliers so they'll bring small and medium companies coming in from Japan, from other countries that supply them”.

Nagamori said he initially planned to place the expansion program in Vietnam but after his initial meeting with De Lima, who visited him in his office in Japan last year where she had informed and advised him about potential investments ventures in Philippines and promised him an audience with Arroyo, he agreed to reconsider.

He added that his meeting with President Arroyo and the "sales talk" of De Lima whom he described as “very enthusiastic” and “aggressive” further convinced him to expand business in the country.

He said he would have invested more in the Philippines as early as two years ago if his meeting with Arroyo had been arranged then.

Nagamori said he is willing to increase his investment up to $1billion following assurances from the President of a good working relations between Nidec and the government.

“She (Arroyo) mentioned that she would definitely give her full support although I'm aware that it would be a new president in a few months. So I mentioned that had we met two years ago, my investment would have already been $1 billion. So in that two years, I ended up investing in other countries.”

He added that investing about $1billion is very risky especially if without a good working relationship between the company and top leaders of a country.

“This investment I was planning to put it in Vietnam but it changed 180 degrees. So especially this time I was also able to meet your President. It's very risky as I explained to her as well to invest over $1 billion is a risky thing if I do not have a relationship with the top people of the country. And since now, I was able to establish that kind of relationship and so I decided to increase the investment.”

According to Nagamori, it is easy for him to invest in RP given that there are good Filipino engineers, they speak English, they do not immediately resign or stays with the company for a long time, and they could work anywhere in the company’s branches worldwide.

He added that he is not concerned about the change in administration after the May elections.

“It's simple. If the next President will support me, then I will increase my investments. If he or she will not, then I will not. In total, it will probably be $800 million, total so far the investments here. If it's going to be $1 billion, I really need the support of the government to do that. So I would say that if the next President will support me even further, then I would be willing to increase my investments. And I believe that the next President will definitely give support.”

Arroyo meanwhile was pleased with the results of her meeting, adding that it was a “buena mano” for Lapus since the decision was reached on his first day in office as trade secretary.

Lapus was transferred by Arroyo from the Department of Education to the Department of Trade and Industry vice Peter Favila whom she appointed to the Monetary Board.

“Thank you so much for your investment,” she told Nagamori before concluding the meeting. (JMR/Sunnex)