MANILA, Philippines – Philippine firms struck investment agreements worth $4.26 billion with Saudi Arabian companies, deals which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said will lead to thousands of new jobs for Filipinos.

The deals were signed on Thursday, October 19, at the tail end of a roundtable discussion for the Saudi Arabian business community attended by the President and his economic team, on the sidelines of the inaugural summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

These agreements are:

• $3.7-billion deal between Saudi’s Al-Jeer Human Resources Company-ARCO and the Association of Philippine Licensed Agencies for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for human resource services
• $191-million deal between Saudi’s Maharah Human Resources Company and the Philippines’ Staffhouse International Resources Corporation for human resource services
• $191-million deal between Saudi’s Maharah Human Resources Company and the Philippines’ E-GMP International Corporation for human resource services
• $120-million deal between Saudi’s Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company and Samsung Engineering NEC Corporation Limited, and the Philippines’ EEI Corporation for construction export services

“[The agreements are] set to benefit more than 15,000 Filipinos in training and employment opportunities across a wide range of professions in the construction industry,” Marcos said in his speech.

The $120-million investment agreement, in particular, is for the establishment of a 500-person training facility in Tanza, Cavite. 

“This will be the training facility to train the Filipino skilled workers that will be sent eventually here to Saudi to work on a lot of their projects, and we’re talking about multi-hundred-million dollar projects here in Saudi Arabia, so a great opportunity for our people,” said Frederick Go, Presidential Adviser on Investments and Economic Affairs. 

The facility aims to upgrade the skills of at least 2,000 Filipinos beginning 2024, in the areas of masonry, carpentry, electrical, welding, equipment management, warehousing, steel fabrication, and other construction-related crafts, according to a press release from House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Romualdez – a constant presence in the President’s foreign trips, including the ASEAN-GCC Summit – credited Marcos, his cousin, for sealing the deals, citing his “tireless efforts in fostering economic ties with our partners in the international community.”

“In a time when job creation and economic growth are paramount, this agreement will provide invaluable opportunities for our workforce,” he said.

Labor export has been deeply ingrained in the Philippines’ development policy after it was institutionalized by the administration of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in the 1970s.

It has also been a key pillar of the government’s economic growth – remittances from overseas Filipinos accounted for nearly a tenth of the Philippines’ gross domestic product in 2021, and even reached a record high of $36.14 billion last year.

According to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there were 1.83 million overseas Filipino workers in 2021.

A quarter of them are in Saudi Arabia, a country that is highly dependent on foreigners for its labor force. – Rappler.com