MANILA, Philippines -- American investors are unlikely to pull out from the Philippines despite a slowdown in the world?s big economies, an official of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) said.

"No, absolutely not," AmCham legislative committee chairman John Forbes said, when asked if the looming recession in the United States would result in a pullout of American investments in the Philippines.

"FDI [foreign direct investments] is machines, buildings. You don't pick these up and move them," he said.

Forbes was among foreign businessmen who witnessed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sign an executive order that would allow foreign investors to stay in the country indefinitely, as long as they would permanently employ at least 10 Filipinos.

"If you're in a recession, you may slow down expansion. But you don't pull out usually. That's quite rare," he said.

Executive Order 758, which provides mechanism for the issuance of Special Employment Generation Visa (SVEG), is forecast to generate 100,000 new jobs in its first year of implementation, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.