OFFICIALS of Negros Occidental are optimistic that the opening of the Japanese retirement home at the Capitol-run Mambukal Resort in Murcia town would bring more investments to the province.
Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, along with Sanko Group of Companies chairman Kaicho Hatsue Kato and country manager Hideaki Tanahashi, led the inauguration and blessing of Sanko Mambukal Life Care Home Inc. Friday morning, May 12.
Pangasinan Second District Representative Leopoldo Bataoil and former governor Rafael Coscolluela also attended the event.
While the facility is exclusively for the Japanese elderly, the care will come from the Filipinos, Lacson said, adding that it will also create employment among the Negrenses.
It can also foster ties stronger between the Sanko Group and the Provincial Government, he added.
Lacson was optimistic that it could lead to other endeavors with other Japanese companies.
Moreover, Lacson said the Negrenses can learn from the establishment of the retirement home.
“In the culture of Filipinos, we take care of our elders, (but) maybe someday there will be a need for home care for our Negrense elders,” he added.
For his part, Coscolluela, a Capitol consultant on investments, said the Provincial Government is targeting medical tourism.
“When this (Japanese retirement home) comes out, it’s going to give the right signal especially in Japan and Southeast Asia. This will put us on the map,” he said.
With this, Coscolluela said is hoping that there will be more opportunities that will open in the province.
“I am hoping other retirement care homes will also be set up (in other localities in the province). I think the market is almost unlimited. I think we will become a preferred site for retirees, and knowing we have this place, it would encourage them to come and build more facilities like this,” he added.
‘Very nice’
Tanahashi said Sanko chose Negros Occidental as the site for its first retirement home project in the country because the Negrenses are “very nice.”
He recalled the time they came to the Philippines in 2013 to carry out a relief program for the victims of super typhoon Yolanda. He said they stayed in Mambukal and met locals who were helpful.
“That’s why we decided to open in Negros,” he said.
Tanahashi said the first batch of Japanese elderly are expected to arrive in the country on August or September, and many more will be coming by the end of the year.
He said they are exploring other sites in the country where they can build more retirement homes by 2019 or 2020.
Tanahashi also said they are looking for other investment opportunities like schools and training homes in Negros Occidental.
“If we have enough people from Japan, we’re going to expand, depending on how this place will run,” he added.
He said they are open for applicants for the Basic Japanese Care Giving, which also includes learning of Japanese language and culture.
The training costs P25,000 per semester, with three semesters needed to complete the program, offered on a “study now, pay later” scheme.
The Sanko Group of Companies is paying a yearly lease of P1.2 million to the Provincial Government.
On March 17, 2015, the Provincial Government and the Japanese firm signed the 25-year-contract for the establishment of the retirement home which covers 986 square meters.
The construction of the two-storey facility, which used to be the Governor's Lodge in Mambukal, costs P40 million. It can accommodate 10 Japanese elderly and 120 caregiver trainees.