Will Marcos’ shipbuilding push deliver lasting capacity for Philippines?

The Philippines has a rare opening to turn its geography, skilled workers and deepening ties with Japan into a stronger maritime industrial base, but analysts say Manila’s push to make shipbuilding a strategic industry will be judged by whether fresh investment can produce lasting capacity.President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr gave that drive a concrete boost on June 3 when he ordered the addition of 64 hectares (158 acres) to the Cebu-industrial-park" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="144865" data-entity-type="location">West Cebu Industrial Park (WCIP), one of the country’s key shipbuilding and heavy-industry hubs.The proclamation brought the special economic zone in Balamban, on Cebu’s western coast, to more than 600 hectares. This was Marcos’ third expansion of the industrial estate; a separate order last year covered seven parcels of land in the same municipality.