Manila, March 24 -- The Philippines is becoming the new preferred destination in Southeast Asia for expansion of companies with presence in China, Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Tereso Panga said.

Panga said in a social media post Monday that the appetite of Chinese and multinational companies eyeing to invest in the Philippines is increasing amid the current United States government's tariff policy to impose 20 percent tariff on all imports from China.

"Under the current Trump 2.0 trade regime, the C+1 strategy seemingly has evolved into C+1+1 (or C + 2) with the Philippines now being considered as the new 'plus one' preferred destination in ASEAN by relocating companies from China," Panga said.

He said Vie...