THE Philippine delegation staggers with a bagful of investments and trade deals worth P288.804 billion in President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Japan Wednesday, May 29, 2019.

Reports said these include a memorandum of cooperation, a joint venture agreement, a master franchise agreement, a franchise agreement, three memoranda of understanding, and 19 letters of intent.

The Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry and Japan’s External Trade Organization signed a bilateral cooperation agreement on investment promotion activities.

In the loot bag of investments is also a joint venture between the Bases Conversion and Development Authority and Meralco Marubeni Consortium to finance, build, develop and maintain the electric power distribution system in New Clark City.

Agreements were also reached for expansive franchise of two food chains, Japan’s Dohtonbori Okonomiyaki and Karayama.

Another memorandum of agreement was also inked among Advanced World Systems Inc., Alsons/AWS Information Systems Inc., and Ubicom Holdings Inc. for the outsourcing of projects related to software development, testing and maintenance.

These are just some of the major deals in the pipeline. The other major agreements include investments on indoor theme parks, amusement facilities, bakery companies, flour milling, credit and finance, military technologies, ship building and liquefied natural gas, among others.

The 26 projects are seen to generate 82,737 jobs in the Philippines.

The deals augur well for the Philippine economy while the country braces for its “Build, build, build” programs.

The next step would be perhaps for government to create more mechanisms for inclusive growth. Not only in matters of providing jobs, but also in enhancing the purchasing power of its citizens.