EXISTING foreign investors appealed to the Philippine Government to also focus on upholding the welfare and rights of existing businesses in Davao Region amid President Rodrigo Duterte's invitation to other foreign investors to venture in the country to boost the economy.
"We ask the help of the government to protect the investors because they are the ones giving us employment," Angel Febre, President of Shinsun Tropical Fruit Corporation, a Korean banana plantation in Compostela Valley, said during Tuesday's press conference at Probinsiya Restaurant.
Febre said while there are incentives and assurance of protection for their investments, the government should take extra measure to ensure that these promises made to investors can be seen or felt.
"It's a challenge for us Filipinos to protect the investors. Our President is asking for the investors to come here in the Philippines yet we have the investors here existing (who are facing challenges)," Febre added.
Foreign investment played an important role in the surge of the country's economy through the taxes they contribute and the employment they generated for Filipino workers.
Korean investor M.K. Kwon also asked the government to give them protection in operating their business against militants who barricaded the entrance of the Shinsun Company that led them to stop their operation and may cause them to go bankrupt.
Kwon also said, "We would like to be protected by the Philippine Law, otherwise, we have no choice we have to leave here. If there is no justice and if there is no law here how can we live here in the Philippines?" she said.