A day before the Luzon Economic Corridor Investment Forum, we were told to pick up our media/press badges at the Grand Hyatt Manila in Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig City.
The next day, just before 8 a.m., I was already inside the venue and seated at Table No. 27. I met a young Indonesian business executive, Willy Halim, co-founder and chief technology officer of BANIQL, a sustainable nickel extraction technology company. Later, I met three Filipinos: Engr. Panfilo S. Jurilla of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Mary Lou Cunanan of The Manila Times, and Ma. Consolacion C. Mercado of Energy Secure Philippines.
The guests were waiting for the arrival of Philippine President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and there was a delay in the schedule. U.S. Ambassador Lee Lipton was already at the venue. I also saw Thomas R. Hardy, deputy director and chief operating officer of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.
Also present were Department of Finance Secretary Frederick Go, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, and Ono Sho, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of Japan to the Republic of the Philippines.
Later, I joined my boss, Asian Journal Publications Publisher and CEO Roger Oriel, a Filipino American, at a table where many media representatives were seated. There, I met Taisuke Kikuchi, Manila bureau chief of Kyodo News. I remembered that years ago, I had worked as a correspondent for Asahi Shimbun and The Japan Times.
The LEC Investment Forum was hosted by the governments of the United States, the Philippines and Japan. It brought together more than 600 investors, industry leaders and government officials.
The forum served as a platform to foster commercial partnerships and mobilize private-sector investment across the Luzon Economic Corridor.
During lunchtime at the Grand Hyatt Manila’s garden pavilion, I joined a press conference held in connection with the LEC Investment Forum. Later in the afternoon, I participated in a virtual press briefing on the forum’s outcomes with Ambassador Heather Variava, senior adviser in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs; Thomas R. Hardy; and Dan Petrie, acting chief of staff of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
During a break, I met Jean Jacquelyn Nathania A. De Castro, CEO of ESCA Engineering. We had a lengthy and pleasant conversation.
Later, together with other media representatives, I briefly interviewed Agnes Devanadera, president and CEO of Clark Development Corporation.
The forum highlighted efforts by the United States, the Philippines, Japan and other partner governments to advance infrastructure projects intended to strengthen supply chains, improve connectivity and support long-term economic growth in the Philippines.
Email: rogelio.medina@
