$82.9M in business deals signed during Duterte's Israel trip

JERUSALEM (Corrected 1:09 p.m.) — More than 20 private agreements and letters of intent worth $82.9 million were signed during President Rodrigo Duterte's four-day visit here, an official said. 

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the deals and intent letters are expected to generate 790 jobs and are a reflection of investors' optimism on the Philippines. 

"(The outlook is) very good. They are bullish. They know we're growing fast, according to some investors we talked to. Some are actually in the Philippines," Lopez told The STAR in a text message on Tuesday. 

The agreements cover investments in agriculture, military hardware, information technology, infrastructure, software systems, tourism and health as well as cooperation in trade, science, shipping, and marketing.

The memoranda of agreement were signed by Century Properties Inc. and Globe Invest Ltd, which seek to enter into a joint venture on energy optimization, advanced agriculture and urban farming, prefabricated housing, water desalination and other real estate projects; Stone of David Corp. and Gaia Automotive Industries Ltd., which aim to cooperate on the marketing and promotion of tactical vehicles; and Stone of David Corp. and MCTECH RF Technologies Ltd., which intend to collaborate on military and intelligence products and hardware. 

The memoranda of understanding were signed by the following companies:

• Century Pacific Food, Inc. and Kvuzat Yavne on the distribution of canned tuna products for the Century brands within Israel and the Palestinian territories;
• Integrated Computer Systems, Inc. and Verint Systems Ltd. on exploring opportunities for collaboration on security, intelligence data mining and information technology;
• Philippine Center for Entrepreneurship Foundation - Go Negosyo, Israel-Philippines Chamber of Commerce  and Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines on joint programs related to the mentoring of entrepreneurs;
• Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Federation of Israeli Chambers of Commerce on the exchange of information on the market and trade opportunities;
• Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry- National Capital Region and Jerusalem Chamber of Commerce on the promotion and strengthening of trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation;
• Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Eilat Port Company Ltd. on the promotion of an all-water route between Subic port and the Eilat port;
• AMA Education System and HackerU on cooperation to develop cybersecurity-related certification courses in the Philippines;
• Le Soleil Shipping Agencies, Inc. and ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. on providing additional ships to meet the Philippines' local and international shipping requirements;
• Armscor Global Defense, Inc. and EMTAN Karmiel Ltd. on technology transfer that will enable Armscor to create a facility for the manufacturing of weapons;
• KEREM IT Solutions and Carbyne Ltd. on promoting and selling their products; and
• KEREM IT Solutions and SuperCom on promoting and selling their products.

The letters of intent were submitted by the following: 

• Amdocs Philippines Ltd., which aims to expand operation in software development and support services; 
• TrueLogic Online Solutions, Inc., which is planning to expand operation in software systems development and support services; 
• Silver Shadow Advanced Security Systems and Rayo Illuminar Corp., which seek to explore opportunities in manufacturing and refurbishment of small arms and ammunition; 
• MIMA TECH, which aims to expand operations in agriculture and waste water and sewerage treatment projects;
• FlyEast Philippines, which is planning to expand operations in tourism development;
• FoodLab Capital, which is eyeing expansion of operations by building the FoodTech Acceleration Center within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport 
• Assuta Medical Center and I-DEA Ventures Group, Inc. which is planning to expand operations in the Philippines by building a medical center within the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport. 

The Philippine Red Cross and its Israeli counterpart Magen David Adom also signed a cooperation agreement on emergency medical services.

The agreement is expected to improve PRC's capacity to respond to emergency situations.

(Editor's note: An earlier version of this article reported the agreements signed were worth $85 million, the Presidential Communications Operations Office has since updated its list to indicate a value of $82.9 million.

An earlier version also listed "Raphael-Ben Hur Consulting and Management Ltd. and ABS Gen Herbs International Corp., which is eyeing to become the exclusive distributor of ABS herbal food supplements in Israel" as among the letters of intent signed. The Department of Trade and Industry has since clarified that the signing did not push through.)