Thursday, March 06, 2008 New chamber president to push for creation of business council
Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) newly elected president Dr. Edward Gaisano vowed his first year in office will focus on the creation of a Cebu Business Council (CBC) and the CCCI-initiated proposal, the Cebu Economic Development Zone (CEDZ).
“These will be the specific issues we will initially address,” Gaisano said in an interview with reporters last Tuesday.
The CBC, which will be headed by CCCI past president Hernan Streegan, is an initiative of the chamber in partnership with the Cebu Provincial Government.
The CBC will organize businessmen in different towns in Cebu so they can address business issues in their respective communities, Gaisano said. Once organized, business leaders in different towns may form their own chamber, he added.
“We want to duplicate the success of CCCI by sharing our best practices,” he said, adding that the chamber is still studying how to pilot the first project of the CBC.
Governor’s call
Gaisano said the CBC is an offshoot of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia’s call for the CCCI to reach out to business communities outside Metro Cebu.
The Provincial Government extended a P1-million assistance, which will be used to develop entrepreneurial skills of town residents and to assist promising businesses in the countryside.
“Teach them your secrets. Tell the cities and towns what CCCI has achieved. Let them follow your directions,” Garcia earlier said. She credited the members of CCCI in conceiving the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo, which encourages tours to the countryside.
Gaisano said his presidency will continue to push for the approval of the CEDZ, proposed under House Bill 1319, which seeks to declare the entire Cebu Province as an economic zone (ecozone).
Consultation
“We understand that it may take some time for others to go on board,” he said, citing opposition by some local officials who believe the proposal will diminish their towns’ tax revenues.
CCCI, together with Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City south district), will convene all mayors in the province to seek their approval of the proposed Cebu ecozone.
Del Mar earlier said that he and the CCCI will consult all city mayors before meeting the governor and the president of the League of Mayors in Cebu to “re-visit” the CEDZ project.
Considered as the flagship project of CCCI in the last two years under the leadership of then chamber president Francis Monera, the CEDZ aims to make Cebu a “self-sustaining, industrial, commercial and investment center that will put in place a wide-reaching employment and investment generation mechanism.”
The CEDZ study group is targeted to finish its second study of the ecozone project within the first quarter of this year, which will focus on integrated land use and zoning strategies to back up the feasibility of the proposal. (MMM)
