Tuesday, October 17, 2006 Cebu City vies for no. 1 in nat’l tilt
Cebu City is aasured of getting a special citation for investment promotion from the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) in Manila next week.
The City was one of the 33 local government units (LGUs) nominated for the Most Business-Friendly LGU Awards in the 32nd Philippine Business Conference (PBC), which will be held on Oct. 19 and 20.
Cebu City will be recognized for passing the competitiveness criterion by maintaining an investment plan and an investment promotion center, which is the Cebu Investments Promotion Center (CIPC).
Results
Miguel B. Varela, head of the 32nd PBC awards committee, in his Oct. 13 letter to Mayor Tomas Osmeña, said Cebu City will receive the citation at 7 p.m. on Oct. 19.
Osmeña confirmed that the City will get a citation, but he said he doesn’t know the results of the PCCI search.
Sun.Star Cebu yesterday asked PCCI as to which city won in the search, but PCCI’s Christopher Bugaoan said they cannot divulge the winners yet.
“Otherwise, we will be preempting the awards night,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview.
Mayor Osmeña admitted that Cebu City got a low point in the processing of business permits for all 30,000 businesses. horrendous
“It’s so horrendous that we cannot do it as fast as we would like to. That would greatly ruin our scores. The smaller cities are our strongest competitor because they have no businesses,” he told a news conference yesterday.
But the mayor quickly defended the City’s failure to make it to the top 10 business-friendly cities or in the search for livable cities, initiated by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), saying Cebu City is number one in terms of programs for women and children.
“I know I said we’ll make Cebu City number one again and I know my critics will say, ‘AIM says otherwise.’ But I would just like to remind you (that) when it comes to children we’re number one. When it comes to women we’re number one. And, we’re number one not only in the Philippines but in the Asia-Pacific region. And I think that’s good enough because when you talk about a city being livable, you consider the children and the women. The only area we’re not number one are the criminals because they’re being killed. Well, we can’t win them all,” he said.
Stature
Osmeña said CIPC has been doing an excellent job at investments promotion.
“It was the brainchild of Joel Mari Yu, but I started it because Joel did not have the personality or stature to do it. Before the start of my retirement in July 1994, we grouped together 30 private corporations and funded it for the first two to three years. The reason why I did that was based on the recommendation of the Minister of Commerce of Singapore.”
“He said investments promotion is better funded by private companies rather than being a government extension. We invited universities, hotels and malls and they gave P100 to P300,000 each. Now, the City Government funds CIPC, while the Province contributes. Aside from promoting and getting investments for Cebu City, one of its major accomplishments is the training of 50 other LGUs in the Vismin (Visayas and Mindanao) in investments promotion. And there’s nothing like this in Metro Manila,” he said.
The PCCI search is divided into three categories: most business-friendly municipality, city and province.
It will recognize the commendable efforts of each group using the following criterion: sound implementation of business-friendly procedures and processes; accountability, transparency and efficiency in administering daily business transactions and methods; and competitive entrepreneurship in their areas. (GAC)
