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The operator of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) began charging higher terminal fees on Sunday, a year after it took over the country’s main gateway.

In a statement, the New NAIA Infrastructure Corp. (NNIC) said the terminal fees were adjusted for the first time in 20 years to sustain the airport’s operations and upgrades.

“Even with the adjustment — set by government with the Asian Development Bank as adviser — NAIA’s rates will only match other local airports and remain among the lowest in Asia,” the company said.

The passenger service charge (PSC), also known as terminal fee, nearly doubled to PHP 950 from PHP 550 for international departures. The terminal fee for domestic departures was raised to PHP 390 from P200.

Since NNIC took over the operations last year, the company said it has already remitted PHP 48.3 billion to the government, including a PHP 30-billion upfront payment, with 82% of revenues going directly to the state.

NAIA received 51.7 million passengers since Sept. 13, 2024, a 6% increase year on year, and handled 283,771 flights.

“Operational changes such as reconfiguring aircraft parking stands, expanding taxiway movements, and removing abandoned aircraft freed up valuable space for smoother airside operations,” the company said.

NNIC also said it is preparing to introduce a facial recognition system that will allow travelers to “check in, drop bags, clear security and board flights using just their face.”

“Operating an airport the size and scale of NAIA will always be demanding. But what this first year has shown is that with teamwork, discipline, and the dedication of our people, real change is possible… Together with government and our partners, we will sustain these gains and finally deliver a truly world-class NAIA,” NNIC President Ramon S. Ang said.

Last year, the NNIC, formerly the SMC SAP & Co. Consortium, inked a PHP 170.6-billion contract to operate, maintain, and upgrade the country’s primary gateway for 25 years. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera

The Philippine government’s response to corruption allegations involving flood control projects could have far-reaching implications for its official development assistance (ODA) portfolio, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said.

DEPDev Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon said on Thursday that the country’s ODA partners will be looking at how the government will address the issues of corruption in flood control and other infrastructure projects.

“(ODA partners) will take note of the fact that (this) issue being discussed out in the open. They’ll be looking for details on how exactly we address it,” Ms. Edillon told reporters on the sidelines of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry event on Thursday.

Infrastructure projects are now facing more scrutiny after allegations of corruption in flood control projects involving lawmakers and contractors.

Ms. Edillon said that ODA-funded projects undergo strict appraisal and monitoring, and that additional safeguards are being considered.

“If it’s ODA, then it goes through us for appraisal, etcetera… We could assure them of other measures that we will be putting in place,” she said.

The country’s ODA portfolio rose by 6% to $39.6 billion in 2024. ODA is a form of aid, typically loans and grants with concessional terms, provided by governments or international organizations to developing countries.

The country’s top sources of ODA include Japan, the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, the United States and South Korea.

Ms. Edillon also addressed concerns over job losses in the construction sector due to the ongoing investigations, describing them as temporary.

She stressed the need for the government to address the corruption in public works projects, so that there will be no impact on jobs in the construction industry.

Ms. Edillon called for stronger transparency mechanisms and encouraged private sector participation in monitoring infrastructure projects.

She cited the Department of Budget and Management’s Digital Information for Monitoring and Evaluation (DIME) initiative, which uses satellite imagery, drones, and geotagging to track government projects and prevent so-called “ghost” infrastructure.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto earlier said corruption related to flood control projects may have cost the Philippines between PHP 42.3 billion and PHP 118.5 billion in average economic losses since 2023.

Meetings in Japan

Meawhile, Mr. Recto and DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan have held high-level meetings with Japanese officials, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Japan remains the Philippines’ largest development partner, with USD 13.23 billion in active commitments across 82 projects.

The officials discussed the progress of major infrastructure projects, including the Metro Manila Subway Project, the North-South Commuter Railway Project, and the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 Rehabilitation Project.

The meeting followed an Aug. 27 dialogue between JICA’s Parliamentary League and Philippine officials in Pasay City, which tackled implementation delays due to right-of-way and counterpart funding issues.

Mr. Recto also met with the Kankeiren Executive Committee, representing over 1,300 Japanese firms, to promote the Philippines as a strategic investment destination.

“In the Philippines, you are in the right place, at the right time, with the right partners, and the right opportunities to win big,” he was quoted as saying in a Department of Finance statement.

He cited the country’s two “A-” investment-grade ratings from Japanese credit agencies as a vote of confidence in the Philippines’ fiscal management and growth trajectory.

Last month, Japanese credit watchdog Rating and Investment Information, Inc. affirmed the Philippines’ investment-grade “A-” rating with a “stable” outlook, citing its steady economic growth. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante

The Philippines is doubling its efforts to find the operator for the North-South Commuter Railway (NSCR), the Department of Transportation (DoTr) said, as it hopes to issue bidding documents later this month or early October.

This came after the DoTr concluded the final leg of its roadshow for the NSCR project which gained the interest of foreign companies, mainly from Japan.

“We’re very happy to see the attendance in this fourth leg for our O&M (operations and maintenance) roadshow. It only goes to show that we are in the right direction in terms of structuring and developing this O&M concession,” Transportation Undersecretary Timothy John R. Batan said in a statement on Thursday.

He said there was a high turnout of participants during the final leg of the NSCR market sounding event in Japan.

Mr. Batan said around 28 Japanese companies including Mitsubishi Corp., Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo Metro, Sumitomo Corp.; and Alstom Japan have signified their interest in the O&M for NSCR.

The DoTr has been ramping up its roadshows to promote the PHP 229.32-billion O&M contract for the NSCR project. It had conducted similar events in Singapore and Paris, France.

The agency will now consolidate comments from roadshow participants which will be included in the bidding document and concession agreement to be issued within this month or next month, Mr. Batan said.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) Director for Office of Markets Development and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Siddhartha Bhaskar Shah said the ADB and the DoTr expect to award the concession by March or April 2026.

“The immediate next step to look forward to is the launching of the bid documents which we intend to do by the end of this month and will kick off the formal bidding process which will continue over the next six months with the idea that the bid will be awarded sometime in the March-April time frame,” he said.

The ADB is the technical advisory services provider of the DoTr for the NSCR project.

“We will reflect those in our bidding documents, our concession agreement, so by the end of September of the first week of October we will be able to officially launch and publish the tender for this O&M concession,” Mr. Batan said.

Nigel Paul C. Villarete, a senior adviser on public-private partnerships at the technical advisory group Libra Konsult, Inc., said public-private partnerships for O&M projects are more attractive compared to build-operate-transfer (BOT) types of projects.

“I am not particularly sure if roadshows can help a lot, but these are more advertising efforts. Even without those (roadshows), we’ll get the full array of prospective PPP operators from all over,” Mr. Villarete said in a Viber message.

“The more important thing is that the agency properly drafts the proposed PPP contracts that strikes a balance between sufficient protection for the country’s economic interests and high expected returns to draw the interests of private sector capital,” he added.

The 147-kilometer NSCR will connect Malolos, Bulacan with Clark International Airport, and Tutuban, Manila with Calamba, Laguna. The PHP 873-billion project is co-financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Asian Development Bank. It will have 35 stations and three depots.

According to the DoTr, the NSCR can partially operate its Valenzuela to Malolos line by 2027; while the Malolos to Clark segment can start operations by 2028. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

The Philippines’ unemployment rate rose to a three-year high of 5.3% in July as a series of typhoons and monsoon rains dented hiring activity, the statistics agency said on Wednesday.

The number of jobless Filipinos increased to 2.59 million in July from 2.38 million a year prior and 1.95 million in June, preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) labor force survey showed.

The 5.3% unemployment rate was the highest in three years or since the 6% in June 2022, which had reflected the impact of the pandemic lockdowns. It also matched the jobless rate seen in August 2022.

The July rate was also higher than the 4.7% recorded in the same month in 2024 and the 3.7% in June 2025.

On average, the jobless rate for 2025 thus far is at 4.1%, a tad higher compared to the 4% in the comparable year-ago period.

National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said the jobless rate went up in July due to the impact of four typhoons and the southwest monsoon on the agricultural sector.

The Philippines experiences more tropical cyclones than any other region in the world, averaging about 20 each year. Typhoon activity is most intense from July to October, when nearly 70% of all cyclones develop, according to the country’s official weather bureau.

The agricultural sector (skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers) lost 974,000 jobs year on year. In terms of major industries, the agriculture and forestry sectors lost 1.38 million.

“The agriculture sector is the contributor to the spike in unemployment due to the adverse weather conditions and multiple tropical depressions last July. I cannot predict if this is just a one-time occurrence as there are still projections of weather disturbances this year,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma told BusinessWorld via Viber.

The agriculture subsectors that mainly contributed to the year-on-year decline in jobs were the cultivation of paddy rice (-750,000) and corn (-456,000), Mr. Mapa said.

“We’ve already seen this since January — that there has really been a decline in employment in rice. So, maybe there are several factors affecting this [like] the weather, and some are saying it’s also because of the low farmgate price of palay,” he said in Filipino during a press briefing. “For corn growing, there was also a decrease of 456,000. In hog farming, there was a decrease of 133,000, again because some provinces were affected by the ASF (African Swine Fever).”

“We are seeing that there are subsectors that are significantly affected by the weather. In the month of July, we were hit by four typhoons, which affected a substantial number of provinces and had an impact on our labor market,” Mr. Mapa added.

In a separate statement, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) urged stronger efforts to boost climate resilience and workforce agility.

DEPDev Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan called for modernized agricultural practices, climate-smart strategies, rural infrastructure, and digital connectivity to help cushion the impact of extreme weather events on jobs.

“The latest employment figures underscore the urgency of modernizing our economic sectors to withstand disruptions, whether from climate change or technological shifts. We are also fully committed to enhancing employability, expanding labor market programs, and collaborating with key stakeholders to future-proof the Filipino workforce,” Mr. Balisacan said.

University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations Assistant Professor Benjamin B. Velasco said job losses in the agriculture sector due to climate hazards could continue in the coming months.

“Definitely, the job hemorrhage in agriculture was a climate change effect, which unfortunately will not be a one-off phenomenon, but [will] even worsen until the end of [the] rainy season, which now extends to November,” he said via Facebook Messenger.

“The long-run trend is for agriculture employment to decrease and waged jobs in rural areas to increase due to [the] impact of trade liberalization as well as commercialization and industrialization, though limited and erratic,” he added.

Meanwhile, the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector shed 897,000 workers in July from the same month last year, while fishing and aquaculture lost 173,000.

Mr. Mapa said agricultural workers who lost jobs due to bad weather transferred to the construction industry.

Despite the increase in the jobless rate in July, he expressed optimism that employment will increase as the holiday season approaches, as seen in historical trends.

Mr. Laguesma likewise said, “the coming holiday season will result in [a] higher employment rate.”

Underemployment rate up

Meanwhile, PSA data also showed that the underemployment rate rose to 14.8% in July from 12.1% in the same month a year ago and 11.4% in June.

The ranks of underemployed Filipinos — those who want longer work hours or an additional job — reached 6.8 million in July, higher than the 5.77 million a year ago.

For the first seven months, the average underemployment rate stood at 12.9%, higher than 12.2% in the same period last year.

The labor force participation rate also fell to 60.7% in July from 63.5% a year prior. Mr. Mapa likewise attributed this to the bad weather during the month, identifying the agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors as the areas with the largest drops.

Some 94.7% or 46.05 million Filipinos had jobs in July, lower than the 95.3% or 47.68 million recorded a year prior.

For the seven months ended July, the employment rate stood averaged 95.9%, lower than 96% last year.

Meanwhile, by worker classification, wage and salary earners made up the majority of employed persons at 68.7% in July. They were followed by the self-employed without paid employees at 24.7%, unpaid family workers at 3.9%, and employers in their own family-run farms or businesses at 2.6%.

Within the group of wage and salary workers, those in private establishments continued to represent the largest share at 78.5%, equivalent to 53.9% of the total employed population. Those working in government or government-controlled corporations accounted for 14.4% of wage and salary workers, or 9.9% of the overall employed persons.

By region, the Cordillera Administrative Region posted the highest employment rate in July at 96.6%, while the Bicol Region (Region V) recorded the lowest at 92.3%.

Eight regions registered unemployment rates above the national average of 5.3%, led by the Bicol Region at 7.7%, followed by Region IV-A (Calabarzon) with 6.6% and Region VII (Central Visayas) with 6.1%.

Labor groups said the rise in unemployment highlights the need for a legislated wage hike to strengthen the purchasing power of workers.

“The spike in unemployment is alarming, and the rise in underemployment tells us that even those who have jobs are not earning enough to live decently,” Federation of Free Workers President Jose Sonny G. Matula told BusinessWorld via Viber.

He said the latest figures mirror the worsening jobs and wages crisis in the country, aggravated by inflation, the persistence of precarious work, and the lack of sustainable and quality employment opportunities.

The Sentro ng Mga Nagkakaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa said in a separate statement that the data show that the government’s job creation efforts are lacking.

“The truth is out: millions of Filipinos remain stuck in insecure, low-quality, and low-paying work,” it said.

“While other countries are advancing in manufacturing, industry, and innovation, the Philippines is trapped in informality and precarity — a failure in part of our administration… Every month these employment figures stay the same means another month when millions of Filipinos are condemned to poverty and indignity.” — Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter

Net inflows of foreign direct investments (FDI) sank to a six-month low in June, with the first-half tally also posting a double-digit drop, as global trade risks continued to weigh on market sentiment, resulting in a net outflow of equity capital.

FDI net inflows decreased by 17.8% to USD 376 million in June from USD 457 million in the same month last year, preliminary data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) released on Wednesday showed.

This was the lowest net inflow in six months or since the USD 356 million recorded in December.

Month on month, FDIs plunged by 37.1% from the USD 598-million inflow in May.

“Net foreign direct investments into the Philippines remained positive in June, with inflows from Japan and into manufacturing taking the lead,” the BSP said.

“The slowdown in FDI net inflows during the month reflected the shift in nonresidents’ net investments in equity capital (other than reinvestment of earnings), from USD 85 million inflows to USD 57-million outflows,” it said.

June marked the first time that the country saw a net outflow in equity capital excluding reinvestments in one-and-a-half years or since the USD 11-million outflow in January 2024.

This came as equity placements rose by 31.3% year on year to USD 130 million in the month from USD 99 million, while withdrawals ballooned to USD 187 million from USD 15 million.

Equity capital placements in June mostly came from Japan (62%), the United States (16%), and South Korea (9%). Most of these flowed into the manufacturing sector (64%), followed by real estate activities (14%), and wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (10%).

Meanwhile, reinvestment of earnings jumped by 36.7% to USD 128 million from USD 94 million.

Nonresidents’ net investments in debt instruments also went up by 9.3% to USD 305 million in June from USD 279 million in the same month a year ago.

“June’s FDI slowdown reflects a mix of global and domestic headwinds,” Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. Chief Economist Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion said in a Viber message. “Heightened global uncertainty, trade tensions, and cautious investor sentiment weighed on cross-border investments, while structural challenges at home — such as infrastructure gaps and policy unpredictability — added to the drag.”

“The US tariffs hurt — especially our manufacturing sector — but it’s also about weak global trade and our own policy gaps,” Jonathan L. Ravelas, senior adviser at Reyes Tacandong & Co., said in a Viber message.

In June, global markets were hit by volatility as the sudden escalation of the conflict between Iran and Israel due to an exchange of attacks drove up oil prices. The two countries eventually reached a ceasefire.

Investors were also awaiting the finalization of trade deals between the United States and its trading partners ahead of an initial July deadline, which was eventually extended.

The US is now imposing a 19% import tariff on Philippine goods under the deal secured by the government.

However, US President Donald J. Trump has also threatened to impose additional duties on semiconductors as well as countries with digital taxes, which could affect the country.

First six months

For the first half of the year, net FDI inflows into the Philippines dropped by 23.8% to USD 3.418 billion from USD 4.486 billion.

Investments in equity capital, other than the reinvestment of earnings, plummeted by 74.6% to USD 307 million in the period from USD 1.207 billion a year ago.

Broken down, gross equity placements plunged by 49.3% year on year to USD 746 million, while withdrawals jumped 67.2% to USD 439 million.

Japan accounted for the bulk of the equity investments in the period at 43%, followed by the US (20%), Singapore (12%), and South Korea (8%). Half (50%) went to manufacturing, while 19% went to real estate activities and 10% went to financial and insurance activities.

Meanwhile, foreigners’ reinvestment of earnings climbed by 11.6% to USD 573 million from USD 514 million.

Net investment in debt instruments decreased by 8.2% to USD 2.538 billion in the six-month period from USD 2.765 billion a year ago.

The BSP expects net FDI inflows to reach USD 7.5 billion this year.

Mr. Asuncion said reaching this could be “challenging” as the six-month tally remains low.

“A significant rebound in the second half is needed, supported by stronger project implementation and improved investor confidence. Without these, inflows could fall short of the forecast,” he said.

“We expect FDI inflows to remain subdued in the near term as global risks persist and competition for capital intensifies across the region. Any upside will hinge on accelerated infrastructure rollout and policy clarity to boost investor confidence. While opportunities remain in manufacturing and real estate, downside risks dominate the outlook.”

Mr. Ravelas said the sharp drop in FDIs is a “wake-up call.”

“Investors are watching how we respond. If we don’t fix logistics, clarify rules, and build confidence, this could turn into a trend. But there’s still time to turn things around.” — Katherine K. Chan