Mandaue reports increase in number of new businesses

THE Mandaue City Treasurers Office reported an increase in new businesses in 2012, an indication of a thriving local economy, an official said.

Mandaue City Treasurer Regal Oliva said 1,827 new businesses were registered as of December, higher than the 958 new businesses recorded in 2011.

Oliva said the increase shows Mandaue is now becoming a preferred business destination in the province.

Oliva said these new businesses are mostly small scale industries with a capitalization of not more than P3 million.

Oliva said Mandaue’s tax rate, which is 25 to 50 percent lower than Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City, could be one of the factors that prompted these firms to choose Mandaue as business location. He said there is also overall business confidence due to the thriving economy.

Employment rate has also gone up 38 percent, an increase that’s higher than the previous year as reported during the meeting with the department heads, Oliva said.

Oliva said the increase in new businesses in Mandaue will bring in more revenues to the city’s coffers.

The Mandaue City Treasurers’ Office is targeting P1.6 billion in tax collections this year. Oliva also emphasized that Mandaue is liquid, with P1.4 billion of cash on hand.

He said the active participation of the private sector helped increase business activities in Mandaue.

Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Philip Tan said in a separate interview that Mandaue City has professionalized its bureaucracy through the Performance Government System, which is expected to lessen corruption and increase investments.

“We can live with temporary inconvenience in infrastructure but not the incompetence of the government,” Tan said.

He said the increased business activity in Mandaue can be attributed to the collective effort of the public and private sectors in making the city friendly to investors.

“Mandaue should not compete with the other cities because it has a distinct industry of its own as a manufacturing hub,” Tan said.

He is confident that with the upcoming release of the Investment Code, more investments will come in and more businesses will relocate to Mandaue. The code is still being finalized.

While the Investment Code is seen to boost investments, Oliva said this would hurt the tax collection vis-a-vis the first few years of business operation.

But he is optimistic that these investments in Mandaue would increase consumer spending and would encourage new businesses to open. He said tax collections would be coming from individuals who’d put up small-scale grocery stores or general merchandise as a result of the robust business activity.