Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is capitalizing on the threatened 19 percent United States (US). tariff rate on Philippine goods, presenting it as a key incentive to draw in much-needed Japanese investments amid their recent decline.
The Philippines is set to face a 19 percent reciprocal tariff on its US-bound goods starting Aug. 7, six days after the initial deadline.
This is the second-lowest tariff rate in Southeast Asia, tied with Indonesia and only behind Singapore, which has a 10 percent rate.
PEZA Director General Tereso Panga said the relatively low tariffs make the country more favorable to investors, compared to other countries in the region with higher tariffs.
Panga said this will boost the competitiveness of the Philippines as a hub for foreign direct investments and exports.
“More so with its projected 5.5 percent GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate this year—that will sustain the country as consistently one of the best-performing economies in the region,” he added.
Panga said this was among his key talking points in attracting Japanese investors during PEZA’s recent investment mission to Japan.
PEZA, which promotes investments in the export-oriented manufacturing industry, has been focusing on Japan due to the “dismal performance” of its economic zone (ecozone) investments this year.
From January to July 2025, Japanese investments approved by PEZA were valued at ₱2.17 billion, a steep 73 percent drop from the same period last year.
Investments from Japan trail behind China with ₱2.62 billion, the US with ₱3.24 billion, and South Korea as the top ecozone investor this year with ₱10.77 billion.
PEZA said it has partnered with ecozone developer Science Industry Park of the Philippines Inc. (SPPI) and Japanese business chambers to hold investment seminars across the cities of Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo.
During these seminars, Panga outlined the benefits of investing in the Philippines, particularly the fiscal incentives available under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act.
PEZA said investment leads generated from the forums include decal manufacturer Tsuchiya Kogyo Phils. Inc., an existing locator at the Light Industry and Science Park III (LISP 3) in Batangas, which has expressed its intention to expand this year at LISP 4.
Another is from HRD Group, Japan’s biggest manufacturer-supplier of pre-fabricated greenhouses, which aims to apply for another big-ticket project with PEZA.
HRD Group, an ecozone locator at the Cavite Economic Zone, is planning to increase its annual output of wooden house units—100 percent of which are exported to Japan—from 20,000 to 25,000.
