DAVAO CITY—China’s dismay with the national government maze of policy requirements for foreign investment may open up wider avenues to local governments, said Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has pinned hope on Chinese investment to rev up the local economy.

“Our future lies with China,” Duterte said in his regular Sunday program, Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa, explaining his trips to China since last year.

In some of the episodes of the city government-funded television program, Duterte said he had brought along some businessmen from the city and representatives of national government agencies to explore business matches with Chinese businessmen.

“We would like to invite China to invest its money here and help develop Davao,” Duterte said.

He described China as a place “where almost every block has a factory, and thus provide lots of employment to its people.”

“We hope, with China’s investment, we could have some of those factories and hire our people,” he said.

Duterte said he had toured and spoken already with local government and business leaders in two Chinese cities.

The city has signed a sisterhood agreement with Nanning, China.

“For the many times that I talked with them, Chinese officials in Nanning and Hong Kong, one thing that they said is that the Philippines has no clear-cut policy in terms of investment. They are wary if everything is subjected to the rigmarole of the national government,” he said.

Whereas, he said, “everything can be decided in the city.”

Last year the Davao region received P9.18 billion in investments, many of them placed in Davao City, of which the Aboitiz-owned Hedcor in Davao City put up its biggest venture in generating hydroelectric power in the northern part of the city.

Hedcor spent P3.68 billion for the project.

As of November last year, at least 10 companies registered with the Board of Investments.

The investment figure is almost half, or 44 percent, higher compared with the 2006 figure of P6.36 billion.

FOREIGN businessmen in the country are dissatisfied with the 2008 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) that was approved by the Cabinet as they believe it was not target-oriented and specific enough to be really effective as an investment-promotions tool.

THERE are more women managers than male managers in the Philippines.

This was revealed by Carmelita Ericta, administrator of the National Statistics Office, when she spoke at the “Advocacy Forum on Gender Statistics” held Tuesday at the National Economic and Development Authority in Makati.

AMID brewing debate over high power rates, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) urged a government audit of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) aside from a recommendation of removing the value-added tax (VAT) on power rates and the scrapping of the system-loss charge of distribution utilities if the government really wants public consumers to be unburdened from high power rates.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will spend P90 million for a restocking program for backyard raisers and massive vaccination of sows in Luzon to prop up the supply of hogs in the region.

DAVAO CITY—China’s dismay with the national government maze of policy requirements for foreign investment may open up wider avenues to local governments, said Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has pinned hope on Chinese investment to rev up the local economy.

THE constitutional prohibition against foreigners owning properties and businesses in the Philippines are preventing more Koreans from investing in Cebu.

OFFICIALS of New Caledonia, a nickel-rich French territory, are in the country to seek economic cooperation with the Philippines to augment its needs for human resources for the establishment of another $4-billion nickel plant and other infrastructure requirements.