Real Estate

Ayala chair questions PH investment pull as FDI falls 23.9%

Ayala chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala told the Makati Business Club the Philippines must prove it can attract long-term investment, as central bank data showed net foreign direct investment inflows down 23.9% in the first seven months of 2026. Pag-IBIG Fund signed developer partnerships with Rockwell, SMDC and DMCI Homes ahead of a national housing expo.

By the MMI Real Estate Desk

Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman of the Ayala group, told the Makati Business Club's 45th anniversary gathering on October 15 that the Philippines needs an honest conversation about whether it can attract long-term investment at all, listing talent, infrastructure, energy, the regulatory environment and institutional stability as the open questions. The remarks were reported by Rappler on October 16 and arrived alongside a figure that gives them weight: net foreign direct investment inflows fell 23.9 percent to $4.071 billion in the first seven months of 2026, according to central bank data cited in the same report. Foreign direct investment is money that overseas companies or funds put into productive assets here — factories, offices, power plants — rather than into shares they can sell the next day, so a decline in the inflow measures how much new long-term capital the country drew in that period compared with the same seven months a year earlier.

The room Zobel addressed was not a general audience. It included Makati Business Club chair and former Shell Philippines chief Edgar Chua, Aboitiz InfraCapital's Cosette Canilao, PHINMA's Ramon del Rosario Jr., shipping magnate Doris Magsaysay Ho and former Microsoft Philippines chief executive Peter Maquera. On the sidelines, one club member said turnout at the Jefferies-Regis Partners Philippines Conference, which brings blue-chip companies together with institutional investors, was thinner than expected, with fewer foreign investors travelling to Manila. A club member also described disagreement inside the group over artificial intelligence and hyperscale data centers — the very large computing facilities that train and run AI systems — with some members citing their large water and electricity needs and questioning how many jobs they create.

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