NEWSFLASH

---

RP TOP CHOICE FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENTS -- FVR

Limay, Bataan, May 16, 1998 - The Philippines is still the best place in East Asia for foreign investments, where profits can be realized even when there's a change of leadership, President Ramos declared yesterday.

Inaugurating the country's first petro-chemical plant, the chief executive admitted that the Philippines is affected by what he called "temporary jitters" among international investors due to the instability in India and Indonesia.

He acknowledged that portfolio investors come in and out, but in terms of direct investments, the president said the Philippines is getting "quite a bit of these in long-term investment projects."

Proof of such high investors' confidence in the Philippines, he said, is the inauguration of the first of the three-phase Petro-Chemical Industrial Estate in Limay, a joint undertaking of local and foreign investors belonging to the Philippine National Oil Corporation - Petro-Chemical Development Corporation partnership.

---