Go to press on with investment campaign

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December 22, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Finance Secretary Frederick Go said President Marcos has asked him to continue supporting efforts to attract domestic and foreign investments, even after the dissolution of his former office.

Following the disbandment of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, Go said that half of his former team would remain with the Office of the President (OP) to support the administration’s investment initiatives.

“Ten people from my former team, will continue to remain at the Office of the President, still helping out on all these investments. In my capacity as Department of Finance (DOF) secretary, I will continue to help coordinate and support the investment promotion activity of the government,” he said.

President Marcos recently appointed former deputy treasurer and World Bank executive director Erwin Sta. Ana as the undersecretary for economic affairs under the Office of the Executive Secretary.

Go said he would continue to help coordinate investment efforts across the government, underscoring that sustained investments are crucial to job creation and employment growth.

“I will continue to help support investments in our country. Our public stakeholders, particularly businesses, are closely watching this because they are concerned that the focus on investments might disappear,” the finance chief said.

Asked whether the DOF will lead trade negotiations with the US, Go said the talks would now be handled by the Department of Trade and Industry, noting that his earlier involvement was linked to his role under the OP.

“In almost all trade negotiations, there’s one topic that is 90 percent of the discussion, that is taxes. So again, in my role as secretary of finance, I’ll still be very much involved because in trade negotiations, the majority of the discussion is tariff considerations,” he said.

Last November, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order removing reciprocal tariffs on major agricultural products, including coconuts, coffee, tea, tropical fruits and juices, cocoa, spices, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, beef and certain fertilizers. This exempts key Philippine exports from the 19 percent tariff previously applied to goods entering the US.