DOHA, Qatar – President Rodrigo Duterte’s 3-country trip to the Middle East will create around 62,000 jobs from $925 million in investment deals, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said Sunday, April 16.

“During the President’s weeklong country visit, he witnessed the signing of over $925 million worth of investment deals among Saudi, Bahraini, and Qatari businessmen, which are expected to create approximately 62,000 jobs,” Abella said in a press conference in Doha.

Duterte traveled to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar from April 10 to 16 to boost the Philippines’ ties with these 3 countries and to protect the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there. (READ: Duterte invites Bahraini businessmen to explore PH)

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the Middle East trip is part of “Dutertenomics,” a term they coined for the President’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda. 

He added that Duterte’s previous trips to member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also form part of “Dutertenomics.”

The previous administration called its own socioeconomic agenda “Aquinomics.”

Lopez said: “Gusto lang nating i-emphasize na lahat ng itong ginagawa natin – ang pagbisita ng ating Pangulo kasama ng kanyang team dito sa Middle East, pati na rin ‘yung mga ginawa natin sa ASEAN – is really part of ‘Dutertenomics’ na gusto namin talagang itulak. At kasama na diyan ‘yung pagkakaroon ng mas maraming trabaho, mas maraming negosyo, maraming oportunidad para sa mga Pilipino.”

(We just want to emphasize that what we’re doing – the visit of the President and his team to the Middle East, as well as what we did in ASEAN – is really part of ‘Dutertenomics’ that we want to push. And included in that is giving more jobs, more businesses, more opportunities for Filipinos.)

Lopez said Duterte, after all, is the “champion of the ordinary Filipino.”

“Siya ‘yung defender ng ordinary Filipino. Ayaw niya ‘yung naaapi, gusto niya inaangat ‘yung buhay nila,” the trade secretary said.

(He is the defender of the ordinary Filipino. He does not want them marginalized. He wants to uplift their lives.) – Rappler.com