THE head of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) is urging the Marcos government not to reduce public spending in the wake of the corruption issues around flood control projects, but to allocate more funds where they are badly needed, like export promotion and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) development — two key sectors that can help revive the country’s slowing economy.
In a live studio interview with Bilyonaryo News Channels on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, Philexport president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said cutting down on government spending will not be wise since the money spent on flood control projects didn’t even go where they were intended for in the first place.
“…the government spending that was cut was probably the ones that were lost to floods anyway, so they don’t really go to the economy,” Ortiz-Luis said in an interview.
He continued that the business community is “shocked at the gravity of this corruption” but glad that the alleged misuse of flood control funds is now being investigated.
“We are hoping that (much) of this budget that was lost may go to… export as an investment — because we have not been investing in export — and to the SMEs,” said the executive.
He decried that “to both sectors the government has been playing ‘lip service’ for the last several years, and that is why it’s understandable that we are being left behind by our neighbors.”
“Our budget for export is practically nothing,” he said as he compared the plight of Filipino exporters with their fully supported counterparts in other Asean member-states.
Ortiz-Luis has been equally vocal in past interviews about how “pathetic” Filipino exporters’ situation is, with the Philippines only able to send about a handful of companies to big fairs abroad compared to more than 200 that are normally sent by the likes of Malaysia and Thailand.
“We’re sort of plodding along and we’re still growing a little. Unfortunately growing a little means we’re being left behind by our competitors in Asean,” he said.
The business leader also sounded the alarm that MSMEs in the Philippines are similarly not doing too well.
“Just to illustrate, before, our membership in Philexport was usually growing…. For the first time we are receiving resignations for the reason that they are closing shop, and many of these are the small ones that are affected by all these headwinds that we’re all facing now,” said Ortiz-Luis.
“We would like to really find new markets for them and we need assistance really from the government and we have not seen it yet,” he said.
Unfortunately, while the Department of Trade and Industry has been doing commendable work, it is operating on a very limited budget to carry out the heavy task of export and MSME development, he continued.
Asked how the government can help exporters and MSMEs alike, he said: “We would like continuous opening of negotiations on free trade agreements with the EU (European Union) and some other countries.”
Gaining access to new destinations is even more crucial considering the negative impact of the higher US tariffs on Philippine exports, he pointed out.
“I don’t expect anything to come out with the US at this point in time…. So we would like the government to spend budget on the [overseas postings of trade officials] to help exporters develop these markets.” / PHILEXPORT NEWS AND FEATURES