THE Creative District, which is eyed to rise soon in Cebu City, is patterned after the IT Park, which generates livelihood.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia stated in his State of the City Address last Wednesday, July 03, 2024, that the City government will strengthen its continuous efforts to establish a Creative District.
"The Creative District shall be a major economic driver for Cebu City, in the same way the IT park was," said Garcia.
Garcia believes that the district will provide opportunities to Cebuanos who are looking for jobs in the creative sector, such as filmmaking, animation, digital arts, and the like.
Garcia said in a press conference on Monday, July 08, in City Hall that there is already an area in Cebu City allocated for the Creative District.
They identified the area as lock 27, just around Robinson's Galleria and SM City Cebu.
"What is important is we identified the district so that we know how to plan it out and how to give incentives to would-be locators," said Garcia.
Although no budget has been allocated yet, Garcia said he invited Private Proponents for Public-Private Partnership.
"So, if we can invite all of these locators to come here and actually invest and locate here, then, can you imagine the jobs that it might provide for our Cebuanos?" said Garcia.
Garcia added that the IT Park has business processing management and employs 150 to 200 thousand call center agents.
"You've seen it how it has grown entirely over the years and, in fact, daghan kaayo tag naay mga kaila nga mga call center agents (we know a lot of people who work as call center agents) working there and how much employment it has generated for the City of Cebu," he said.
Garcia emphasized that the Creative District will be very similar to the IT Park; however, the businesses will be related to creativity, and it will cater to Filipinos with promising talents.
"There are a lot of Filipinos who have very creative minds who are even working in these creative companies," he said.
He also stated an example of a Hollywood film titled Almost Paradise, which produced two seasons filmed in Cebu.
"You will see everything. You will see Shangri-La, you will see waterfalls, and you will see Magellan's Cross, and it's a Hollywood production," expressed Garcia.
Along with the invited film production, there is also game development.
“Diba hilig man kaayo atong mga anak ana? Atong mga apo, atong mga igsuong manghod,” he said.
Garcia believes that creative minds make games, and he wants all the gaming brands to come to the island of Cebu's creative district.
Moreover, while looking forward to establishing a Creative District, Garcia maintains his disposition to preserve history.
"But we shall do this while continuing to preserve our history, heritage, identity, and culture by also operationalizing what we have so far established with the passage of our ordinance establishing Cebu City's heritage district and heritage district council," he said. (JPS)