The head of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) is hoping the Philippine economy will perform better next year following what he said is shaping up to be a disappointing 2025 that has seen investors shy away from the country because of massive corruption and flood control scandals.
In his economic outlook, ECOP president Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. in a live phone interview this morning (December 19) with DWAN 1206 AM said the business sector expects the Philippines to post a growth rate of less than 5% this year.
He said 2025 is looking to be a relatively poor year for the Philippines as government data recorded a growth of 4.0% in the third quarter of 2025, lower than the 5.5% recorded in the second quarter and below the 5.2% growth posted in the third quarter of last year. This falls below the government’s revised 5.5% to 6.5% full-year growth target and below the median forecast of economists at 5.3%. Moreover, this marks the slowest quarterly growth of the Philippine economy since 2023.
The executive said a major indicator of the lack of investor confidence in the Philippines is the drop in investor visits to the Philippines. Where once two to three investors would visit the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry every week for discussions, now there are hardly any, which will further leave the Philippines trailing behind its neighbors in the ASEAN, said Ortiz-Luis, who is also the president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc.
Asked for the outlook for next year, he expressed hope that the Marcos administration will work harder to regain investor confidence in the country so job creation can resume. Ortiz-Luis pointed out that from 800,000 to one million new graduates enter the workforce next year, and fresh investments are vital to provide more jobs for them.
Winning back capitalists can be done mainly by focusing on important matters, such as the national budget, and refusing to get sidetracked by or to react to irrelevant issues that detract from the main challenges that need swift resolution in order to stabilize the economy in 2026, he added.
Ortiz-Luis also called for imbuing more power to the Independent Commission for Infrastructure to enable it to fully carry out its task to investigate corruption, irregularities, and misuse of funds in flood control and other major government infrastructure projects. Ortiz-Luis said the business sector is still waiting for the identity and arrest of the mastermind behind these irregularities to assure investors that the government is serious about addressing corruption and plunder allegations in the country.
At the same time he acknowledged the policy changes being implemented by the administration, saying these can help with transparency initiatives and the reduction of anomalies such as those in budget crafting.
