5,000 new jobs await Pinoys at future Batangas plant

The EMS Group of Companies is partnering with a European firm to set up a Batangas production plant for goods targeting female consumers, a venture expected to create up to 5,000 new jobs.

EMS Group of Companies president and chief executive Ferdinand Ferrer told reporters last week they were in the process of finalizing the entry of the European firm.

He said they hoped to start facilitating documentary requirements for the partnership in June.

“The facility is there. But now we have to re-facilitate it to suit these new products,” Ferrer said on the sidelines of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s general membership meeting at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati. He declined to specify the amount of potential investment.

The EMS Group of Companies has been in operation in the Philippines for over 15 years and currently has around 18,000 employees. Founded by Ferrer, it has four local subsidiaries engaged in electronics manufacturing, training equipment and learning solutions, and recruitment.

He said they were also wooing other foreign firms, one American and one Japanese, planning to move their assembly operations out of China.

Ferrer noted a rising trend in the international business community called “ABC,” which stands for “Anything but China,” which is characterized by the flight of companies from the East Asian country. INQ