Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2663 actions· ✨ 89 recent

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order No. 113 on April 13, 2026, promulgating the 13th Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL) — the first FINL update in four years, superseding the 12th FINL under EO 175 (2022). The order retains the constitutionally mandated 40% foreign equity ceiling on exploration, development, and utilisation of natural resources (including large-scale mining), and reserves small-scale mining 100% for Filipino nationals. It codifies liberalisations from RA 11659 (Public Service Act), RA 11595 (Retail Trade Liberalisation Act), and RA 11647 (Foreign Investments Act amendments), formally reclassifying telecommunications, airlines, domestic shipping, and railways as sectors open to up to 100% foreign ownership.

The Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Industry (PSEI) Roadmap 2026–2030 was presented at the 4th SEIAC meeting at Malacañang on 23 March 2026 by BOI Executive Director Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa and formally rolled out by DTI in April 2026. The Roadmap targets $110 billion in annual exports by 2030 ($70B semiconductors + $40B electronics, approximately doubling the current ~$50B baseline) via value-chain ascent from assembly-test-packaging through IC design toward front-end wafer fabrication, supported by 128,000-worker upskilling over five years and up to three national laboratories in fabrication, R&D, and talent development.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Administrative Order No. 31 s. 2025 on 28 March 2025, establishing the Semiconductor and Electronics Industry Advisory Council (SEIAC) as the President's primary advisory body on semiconductor and electronics industry development, promotion, and competitiveness. The SEIAC is chaired by the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs, with the DTI Secretary as Vice-Chair, and mandates the Council to provide strategic guidance for implementing the Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Industry (PSEI) Roadmap, coordinate inter-agency interventions across the value chain, and recommend legislative measures for sectoral competitiveness.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 12066 — the CREATE MORE Act ("Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy") — on 11 November 2024, with the law taking effect on 28 November 2024. RA 12066 amends the 2021 CREATE Act (RA 11534) to extend the maximum tax-incentive availment for Registered Business Enterprises from 17 to 27 years, cuts the corporate income tax to 20% for RBEs under the Enhanced Deductions Regime (vs the standard 25% / SCIT 5%), grants a 100% additional power-expense deduction (raised from 50%) for manufacturers, expands VAT zero-rating and import VAT-exemption for export-oriented enterprises, raises the IPA approval threshold from PHP 1bn to PHP 15bn, and institutionalises work-from-home for ecozone/freeport RBEs.

On 4 June 2024 the Philippine Department of Energy issued Department Circular DC2024-06-0018, the Revised Omnibus Guidelines Governing the Award and Administration of Renewable Energy Contracts and the Registration of Renewable Energy Developers. The circular operationalises the November 2022 reinterpretation (DC2022-11-0034) under which solar, wind, biomass and ocean/tidal RE resources are excluded from the constitutional 60-40 nationality cap on natural-resource exploitation, allowing 100% foreign-owned applicants to take RE Service Contracts in those four resource classes. Geothermal RE contracts remain subject to the 60-40 Filipino-ownership requirement. The Guidelines also restructure pre-award, award and post-award procedures across the ~1,400 RE service contracts (≈154 GW) in the DOE pipeline and allow developers to begin permitting and feasibility work before the 25-year contract term formally begins.

On 21 March 2024 the PPP Governing Board, acting as the PPP Code IRR Committee, signed the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11966 — the Public-Private Partnership Code of the Philippines. The IRR was published in a newspaper of general circulation on 22 March 2024 and took effect on 6 April 2024, operationalising the parent law signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on 5 December 2023. The Code replaces the 1990 Build-Operate-Transfer Law (RA 6957, as amended by RA 7718) and the patchwork of agency-by-agency Joint Venture Guidelines as the single unified national framework governing all PPPs across the national government, GOCCs, state universities, and local government units — covering economic, social, and information-technology infrastructure. Key reforms include removing the prior cap on reasonable rate of return for unsolicited proposals, formalising joint-venture as a PPP modality for GOCCs, centralising contract awards under the PPP Center, and materially shortening approval timelines.

On 26 February 2024, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 11981 ("Tatak Pinoy Act"), the first standalone national industrial policy law in Philippine history. It mandates the formulation, funding, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of a multi-year Tatak Pinoy Strategy organised around five pillars (human resources, infrastructure, technology and innovation, investments, sound financial management) and establishes the Tatak Pinoy Council, chaired by the DTI Secretary with NEDA and Finance secretaries as vice-chairs. On 24 October 2025, Marcos issued Memorandum Circular No. 104 approving the implementing Tatak Pinoy Strategy and directing all national agencies, GOCCs, and LGUs to prioritise local products in procurement, with local suppliers eligible for award if their bids are within 25% of the lowest foreign offer.