MINDANAWON business leaders seek economic inclusivity as the business sector continues to struggle to recover from the losses brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic and other external pressures, a business chamber official said.
John Vincent Pimentel, President of the Tandag Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., told SunStar Davao in an ambush interview on Wednesday, August 24, that the state of the business sector on the island is still in the recovery stage as the Covid-19 restrictions had slowly been relaxed to make way for the gradual improvement of sales and income.
However, he said this is being hampered by the recent inflation due to the series of oil price hikes triggered by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
"We really come to a regional or platform of discussion na tanan sector sa Mindanao maapil, para dili piecemeal and development, para dili tagpi-tagpi (that will include all sectors in Mindanao, so that there won’t be a piecemeal development, and the achieved progress won’t be bits of pieces)," Pimental said.
This is one of the highlight discussions in the upcoming 2022 Mindanao Business Conference (MinBizCon), happening at Tandag City in Surigao del Sur from August 31 to September 2, 2022. This year's event serves as a comeback of the face-to-face (F2F) conduct of the event.
The chamber president said some of the matters that would be raised at the input of production are affected by the continuing rise of fuel.
In addition, the Local Investment Code should be competitive through the changes over time.
"Ang uban, naa konting concern such as nadakuan sila sa (Others are concerned with the high-cost) taxes, but I believe, if you come to table, within your respective LGUs, we would come to a middle point of compromise," he said.
Another salient matter to be discussed during the forum is business management amid an ongoing health crisis, adaptation to digitalization, and climate resilience.
"We need to keep abreast, kay if old school ang imong business model, mabiyaan gyud ka (because if your business is still under the old school model, then it will be left behind)," he said.
Pimentel said President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., and Vice President Sara Duterte are invited to the event but have not signified their attendance.
Approximately 600 to 1,000 individuals from 32 different local government units in Mindanao and other guests are expected to participate in the conference.
The previous MinBizCon in 2020 and 2021 was held virtually since the strict Covid-19 restrictions at the time prevented traveling and F2F gatherings. RGL