Three officials of the Australian Embassy visited Catanduanes last week to consider possible investment opportunities and grasp its prevailing economic and political situation.
The economic team composed of Counsellor Luke Villiers (Economic and Public Diplomacy), Second Secretary Lachlan Parsons and Senior Program Officer Mabellene Reynaldo flew in from Manila on March 25, 2026 for a two-visit and had a frank chat over lunch with a member of the local media to gain insights on the business environment especially on opportunities and risks for foreign investors.
It said that they seek to develop their understanding of the economic developments in the province and to promote stronger bilateral ties between Australia and the Philippines.
In a separate meeting with several members of the island’s media, Villiers said one of their responsibilities involve getting out of Manila and understanding the economic conditions on the ground across the Philippines – where the opportunities may be, what are the challenges, what is available in the Philippines and how do to promote the Philippines to Australian business and investment.
He disclosed that under the INVESTIT program or the Australia Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, the core idea is to set out a practical roadmap for facilitating and encouraging Australian investment in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
“We recognize that we were underinvested in Southeast Asia and that Southeast Asia’s prosperity is critical to Australia’s prosperity as well. That’s what we’re doing down here,” the counsellor stated.
Asked about the frequent typhoons and high cost of electricity in Catanduanes deterring new investors, Villiers admitted that electricity costs are a huge part of any investment decision in the Philippines or Australia or anywhere else in the world but he said it gives them an opportunity to explore alternative energy sources.
“One of the things we’ve been looking at under our strategy is the potential for investment in the energy transition of renewable energy in the Philippines,” he bared, adding that they can look at exploring different ways in which different energy sources can be injected to the energy mix and potentially bring down the investment cost as well.
The embassy official said that under the INVESTIT strategy, six sectors have been identified for the Philippines as priorities: agriculture, energy transition, resources, digital economy, infrastructure, and education.
“(B)ut we’re also seeing really exciting opportunities in retail as well. So we have a company that’s come in, an Australian company called Anco, that’s had a really expansive and explosive growth here, growing from one store up to about five in the course of 18 months or so,” Villiers shared.
He cited renewable energy in Catanduanes as one area where there are a lot of benefits along with tourism, noting that Australian carrier Qantas has a subsidiary, Jetstar, that has launched a series of new direct flights to the Philippines.
The direct flight from Perth to Manila and from Brisbane to Cebu adds an extra 100,000 seats over the next 12 months or per year, which should really ramp up tourism, he added.
“If you’ve got surf, you’ll find Australians. And so certainly the fact that there’s such promising opportunities for surfing here in Catanduanes, I see that tourism is a really good sector and another possible opportunity here,” Villiers stressed.
On possible cooperation in terms of disaster resilience, he said that over the past 12 to 24 months, Australia has supporting different programs to support Catanduanes and the Philippines in disaster resilience and response.
The REACH program has been working on emergency communications with the provision of equipment and training to help to address potential typhoons coming in, he stated.
“We’ve been working on programs with UNFPA to address gender-based violence and sexual discrimination and those sorts of issues that emerge in the context of disaster resilience. And we’ve also been providing direct humanitarian assistance. In Typhoon Tino last year, Australia was one of many humanitarian and government partners that provided direct support to facilitate in-cash payments and other necessary provisions on ground as well,” Counsellor Villiers told local media.
On how local governments can make the province more attractive to foreign investors, he pointed out that investors really want three or four things.
“I think first and foremost, they want stability and predictability. They want to understand the regulatory environment. They want to know how their investment will be treated and how it will progress through. So I think that’s absolutely core. Ease of doing business is really important. So reducing red tape, minimizing bureaucracy, ensuring that people can invest quickly and easily is critical as well. I think access to people with skills, skills-based capacity building, having access to workforce. And the Philippines has a huge advantage there, right? A young, vibrant population that is really ready to skill up and address the challenges of the future as well. And then I think otherwise, those three I would certainly say are kind of some of the key factors that investors are looking for,” he said.
At least one Australian company is looking at Bicol but the embassy official refused to share details.
However, he said that investors are seeing opportunities in the region particularly in digital economy space and in education as well as mineral resources.
Australia has interest in the Makilala mining project in Kalinga Apayao, another company was recently awarded service contracts to explore for oil and gas in the Sulu Basin and in North Luzon, and in renewable energy, a huge investment bank – Macquarie is – has been investing really successfully here for over 20 years now, he added.
The Macquarie Investment Bank has been approved for a 1.3-gigawatt floating solar power project in Laguna Lake in Luzon, with launching set in 2026 or 2027, Villiers disclosed.
While they have heard of abaca as the primary product of Catanduanes, manufacturing is not an immediate priority sector although they see a lot of value in the sector as an opportunity for the Philippines to diversify its economy and move up the value chain as well.
“Our economic section has a number of development programs that we are bringing online. In fact, one, the subsidiary arrangement for one of our new programs was signed today between our ambassador and the Secretary of Finance, Secretary Goh. And one of the things that program will look to do is to improve business and support MSME development in the Philippines, improving access to value chain and exportability..,” the counsellor stated.
Villiers averred that Australian investment in the country’s infrastructure has been largely in the services, with some major operators working closely with big Filipino companies in big projects like the Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and a data centre in Quezon City.
In November last year, the Australian prime minister announced a number of new funds under the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy, one of which is for a company called Plenary that specializes in public-private partnership development and potential opportunities in the Philippines and Indonesia, he stressed.
Sharing advice for local entrepreneurs and businesses in Catanduanes who want to partner with international investors, he recommended that they should first and foremost understand what investors want their own market, their own economy, where that need might be and how to then market that to investors, along with critical capacity and skills development.
“When you invest, you want to know you have access to good people and good resources. The Philippines has great people and great resources. And we’re hoping to do more in that space with that education capacity, trying to use Australian education, but delivered here in the Philippines, to help upskill the people as well. I think probably thirdly and mostly, understand your value offering and target it for investors. You have a great opportunity here, some incredible products, and (you need) to strengthen that domestic offering while also making it accessible to an international market,” Villiers remarked.
“We also have a program called Partnerships for Infrastructure, the second phase of which will be launching the second half of this year. And that works in that infrastructure space to assist with things like visibility, produce identification, project design. We’ve been working heavily in the digital connectivity space in terms of the fibre backbone for the National Broadband Network as well. And so that will help with that connectivity piece. Obviously, the other thing investors will need will be that access to the internet and to digital connectivity as a way to take business forward,” he added.
The three visitors also met with Governor Patrick Alain T. Azanza at the provincial capitol, Baras Mayor Jose Paolo Teves III and Virac municipal administrator John Socito.