CLARK FREEPORT ZONE — “The investment climate in Clark Freeport Zone is robust.”
Thus, said Clark Development Corporation President and CEO Agnes VST Devanadera, who keynoted the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion project of Yokohama Tire Philippines Inc. (YTPI) in the Clark Freeport Zone on Monday morning.
“It’s a robust investment climate,” Devanadera reiterated.
“We have to keep you. We have to support you. And this is the reason why CDC is very aggressive in trying to see what and how we can help you,” Devanadera told officials of YTPI.
“What we have in mind is to target an increase of your revenues through sales. What we sell within the zone can still be considered an export,” said Devanadera. “We were caught flat-footed during the pandemic. We have a lot of inventory of so many things that could have been absorb by the market within the Philippines and within the Freeport zone.”
“But we would not want this program to be an excuse for smuggling…technical smuggling,” Devanadera said. “We want to impress upon our locators within that this is a privilege. A privilege that we can cut if they violate the laws, especially the customs laws.” This program will have to be coordinated with the Bureau of Custom, according to Devanadera.
“This is what we call business interdependence,” according to Devanadera. “I have been saying that we have 1,143 locators and 140,000 workers within the zone — this is your market. This is the unexplored market.
“Clark has come up with two faces – the industrial where we look at the foreign direct investments. Thank you very much Yokohama for coming up with an expansion and we have the number of workers for the employment index,” said Devanadera.
“The other face of Clark is the tourism, maybe because (of) the physical attriutes that we have here, the big open spaces, particularly the Parade Grounds,” said Devanadera. “Tourism has strived, we have the best hotels here, the five star hotels here, we have the business hotels and in fact I would say that the investment climate in Clark is robust.”
Supply Chain Ecosystem
Meanwhile, Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the DTI together with Board of Investments (BOI), has already formulated an incentive scheme for all generations
by companies in the Philippines who are putting up their own power supply system.
Pascual said the idea of having a “supply chain ecosystem within the zone has been encouraging, particularly the Japanese companies.”
“So, we invite the manufacturing companies here to come to the Philippines. With the new plant set to be operational by the second quarter of 2026, we are witnessing the tremendous progress YTPI has made since its operations in the country
in 1996,” Pascual said.
Over the years, YTPI has consistently supplied trusted brands of passenger car radial and recreational vehicle tires throughout the Asia Pacific region, including the
Philippines.
As the sole tire manufacturing company in the Philippines, Pascual said YTPI has consistently set the industry standard, establishing a strong global presence.
YTPI started producing one million tires per year when they started in 1996, and currently producing over 9 million tires. With the expansion, YTPI is expected to produce 10 million tires per year.
YTPI is also currently sourcing 50% of their requirement from local sources.
“Hopefully, they can further contribute to economic growth in the country by increasing the purchases of natural rubber from our producers, mostly in Mindanao,” Pascual said
Angeles City Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin Jr. said the expansion project of YTPI “is an evidence of Yokohama’s continuous growth and success in the industry, while bringing top of the line products for vehicles.”
The groundbreaking ceremony was also attended by Mayor Lazatin, Mabalacat City Mayor Cris Garbo, Atty Devanadera, DTI Secretary Pascual, Clark Development Corporation Chairman Edgardo Pamintuan, City College of Angeles President Frankie Villanueva, and YTPI President and CEO Atsushi Funayama.