MCCI to help push Mandaue as the "Gateway to the North"

By Ehda M. Dagooc (The Freeman) Updated January 01, 2010 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - Starting 2010, the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) will help position the City as the “Gateway to the North” by pushing robust development of commercialization to provide more employment.

MCCI president Eric Ng Mendoza said the chamber is anticipating a very good 2010.

While Mandaue already enjoyed growth in the midst of economic chaos in 2009, the expected recovery in 2010 will give Mandaue City an opportunity to spur economic growth and invite more investors.

If the past Mandaue was known as an industrialized urban center, MCCI will now package Mandaue as a preferred commercial destination, inviting diverse lines of businesses to invest in the City.

MCCI expects influx of more services and food distribution companies to locate in the City starting 2010, including growing investments of shopping malls, and even hotels.

“We are much prepared to welcome 2010. They say it’s the start of recovery year—hopefully so. But, recovery or not, businesses have already done their home work. The crisis taught us to see the golden opportunity during adverse times,” Mendoza said.

MCCI is an organization that has steadily evolved in recent years to be at the forefront of business innovation and development in Cebu and in Southern Philippines in general, Mendoza said.

“For the past four years, the Chamber has grown as a renaissance organization—revitalized, reorganized, and re-energized,” he said.

At present, the organization has shifted from purely business support and facilitation to that of strategic planning positioning and innovation, promotion of entrepreneurship, creation of a strong business network and building a globally identifiable brand that will make Mandaue City “an attractive international destination for business and investment.”

Since the last quarter of 2008 up to present, Mendoza said the Chamber’s strategy has been focused on addressing several key issues that affect business primarily—the present global economic crisis and its repercussion on local businesses.

According to Mendoza, the chamber has been able to undertake advocacies addressing the problem of unemployment, lack of infrastructure, lack of access to capital or credit availability for businesses, dwindling growth and revenue, and obsolescence of local industries, technologies and techniques that result in an inability to thrive in the seemingly hostile climate of the current crisis.

He said the strong partnership with the Provincial government of Cebu and the local government unit of Mandaue City has further boosted the profile of the Chamber by increasing its capability for project utilization and facilitating its access to resources.

Although the Chamber maintains its claim to be apolitical, it recently announced its support for the candidacy of former MCCI vice president Glenn Soco for Cebu Province Vice-Gubernatorial race.

In a board resolution number 004, series of 2009, MCCI formally declared its support for Soco.