Entrepreneurship ideas help governance: Gwen

By Mia A. Aznar

Thursday, August 9, 2012
FOR Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, entrepreneurship principles helped her achieve her goals in governance.
Speaking at the One Cebu Business and Sustainability Summit yesterday, Garcia said that when she first took the helm as governor of the province, she defined government as an enterprise, which demands efficiency, quality service and benefits the people.

Through the ethic of efficiency, Garcia said her government has achieved accomplishments in infrastructure, health and services, peace and order and tourism and allowed her administration to “triple” the Province’s assets to almost P30 billion and earning a seal of good housekeeping from the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Garcia said many of her programs are in partnership with the private sector, such as the Suroy-Suroy Sugbo with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the the Obra Negosyo Eskwela with the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).
She said that the success of many things Cebu has done has led other provinces to learn from it.
Asked what she plans to do when she wins as senator, she said she will have to get elected first. However, she believes she can bring to the national stage the lessons she learned from local governance.
She said having a “grassroots understanding” of problems facing the local front can be used to become an effective leader in the country.
The One Cebu Business and Sustainability Summit is one of the activities of Mandaue Business Month, in partnership with the Cebu Provincial Government.
MCCI president Philip Tan events such as the summit are in line with the group’s goal to make Mandaue City an attractive destination for business and investment.
With the theme, “Staying Ahead of the Game,” Tan likened business to the Olympic Games, saying getting to the finish line is not the only goal but that winning also means doing what is right for the community and the planet.
Six other speakers followed Garcia at the summit, including ABS-CBN chairman and chief executive officer Eugenio Lopez III, Ateneo de Manila University Graduate School of Business professors Enrique Soriano and Daniel Barrenechea, Cebu Business Club president Gordon Alan Joseph, Interbrand executive director Jonathan Bernstein and Lexis Branding chief executive officer Jacqueline Alexis Thng.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 10, 2012.