The Mactan Newtown poised to be Cebu’s next BPO hub

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Category: Properties

Published on Tuesday, 27 August 2013 18:31

MEGAWORLD, the country’s leading real-estate developer and biggest business-process outsourcing (BPO) landlord in the Philippines, announced that it is increasing its leasable office spaces for BPO companies within the Mactan Newtown on account of the favorable economic climate that the country’s BPO industry is experiencing, especially in Cebu. 

“Megaworld is keen on expanding its office spaces for BPO companies inside the Mactan Newtown mainly because we see the significant growth of the BPO industry in Cebu. This we have observed in recent years,” said Jericho Go, first vice president of Megaworld.

Megaworld is expected to offer around 150,000 square meters of office spaces in the more than 20-hectare Mactan Newtown within the next three to five years. “We can actually add up more leasable office spaces if the demand is really high,” said Go.

He added that these recent developments are just part of the plan to turn Mactan Island into Cebu’s primary BPO hub. The Mactan Newtown is expected to generate around 40,000 full-time BPO employees by 2018.

“Cheaper labor, abundant manpower, affordable location and right assistance from the local government make Cebu ripe for BPO businesses,” enthused Go.

Megaworld is bringing top international BPO companies to the township. One of the first businesses to set up office there is the Results Companies (Results Manila), the leading global provider of customer management and business-process outsourcing solutions for over 20 years.

Results Manila is set to open its fifth call center in the Philippines. It is also its first office outside of Metro Manila at the modern five-level One World Center. The company is expected to employ around 1,500 BPO workers.

“Cebu is home to a great pool of talented, educated people with exceptional drive for exceeding customer expectations. We expanded our office in Cebu to allow us to diversify our locations for our clients and internal business continuity planning,” said Kevin Betts, vice president for facilities development and administration, Results Manila.

The Mactan Newtown is Megaworld’s biggest township project so far in Metro Cebu. It promises to provide premier residential communities with the finest amenities, upscale hotels, premium commercial establishments and BPO office towers, to name a few.

“The urban landscape of the Mactan Newtown provides great opportunity for BPO companies to invest here in Cebu,” added Go.  

The Mactan Newtown has been declared a special economic zone by Aquino under Presidential Proclamation 407. This places the township development under the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, which allows businesses inside to enjoy various privileges such as tax incentives and holidays.

Megaworld has earmarked P20 billion for the development of the Mactan Newtown in the next five to seven years. For Project Inquiry, contact 0917.3236123.

Develop waterfront, Cebu

By Mia A. Aznar

Friday, September 6, 2013

WITH the Philippines having the third largest coastline in the world, urban planner and architect Felino “Jun” Palafox Jr. said he wonders why the country’s cities are not using them more.

Palafox, who gave a lecture in the harmonization workshop of the Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board at the University of San Carlos in Talamban yesterday, said big cities like Dubai spent millions to build their own waterfronts, dredging their creeks to make them navigable and adding bodies of water to their reclaimed areas.

In the Philippines, however, he lamented that rivers and creeks are being turned into dumpsites while the coastlines are underutilized.

He showed photos of cities like Amsterdam, London, Paris and Singapore that have turned their waterways into beautiful areas surrounded by residences and commercial establishments.

“These are examples of how waterfronts can be amenities,” he said.

As the MCDCB creates a masterplan for Cebu, he said it should learn from the mistakes Manila made.

Originally designed by Daniel Burnham, who is also responsible for Baguio City and Chicago, Palafox said Manila’s original urban plan was inspired by Paris and Venice, its original plans incorporating green spaces and its rivers, especially the Pasig, used to connect communities.

While the older parts of Manila evoke a European quality, many things changed when the Philippines became a republic.

Instead of the carefully planned communities, Palafox said, the country’s leaders emulated Los Angeles, which developed into “urban sprawl”. Its own officials have admitted that Los Angeles is “a 60-year-old mistake in urban planning.” Sadly, he said, the Philippines copied it.

Spread evenly

Palafox said urban centers ought to be planned for everyone by making things easy for those who don’t have vehicles to get to their destinations by walking or riding a bicycle.

“Development is not worthy of the name unless it is spread evenly, like butter on a piece of bread,” Palafox said.

He explained that in developing roadways, there is a formula that should always be met: a third of the area for green spaces, a third for bikes and pedestrians and the remaining third for vehicles.

He said that in Manila, the work areas surrounding the main MRT line are surrounded by gated communities with huge mansions and military and police camps that employees who commute still have to ride other modes of transportation to get to the MRT stations.

“Those who do use the stations live far from the stations,” he said.

Palafox also lamented the lack of sidewalks. He said that aside from the older sections of the cities, government road projects almost always do not incorporate sidewalks for pedestrians and bicycles, saying only the private developments only take this into consideration. He added that transportation planners fail to include pedestrians and bicycle riders in their assessments.

Anticipate, don’t just react

The country’s leaders, he said, suffer from reactive policies. He said Metro Cebu should learn to be proactive by anticipating problems and learning from other cities.

He also said strong leaders who have the support of line agencies are required to pull off measures a city needs and have the will to institute policies that will improve the city. Aside from just zoning, cities should have hazard maps and have different building codes for areas considered risk-prone.

While the MCDCB consists of 13 local government units, Palafox suggested including the municipalities beyond these localities to include them in plans.

He also asked that opinions of urban planners, architects and engineers not be ignored or scorned, citing infrastructure projects in Singapore are always reviewed by their institutes of urban planners, architects and engineers.

Unemployment drops in CV

By Mia A. Aznar

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

WHILE unemployment in the Philippines rose to 7.3 percent in July, this was not the case for Central Visayas.

Preliminary results from the July round of the Labor Force Survey showed Central Visayas’ unemployment rate dropping from 7.1 percent in July 2012 to 6.5 percent in July this year.

The actual unemployment numbers this year were at 209,000, down 5.85 percent from the 222,000 in 2012.

The last survey done in April showed an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent while in January, it was at 7.4 percent.

The region’s employment rate also rose from 93.9 percent in July 2012 to 93.5 for the same period this year. The employed in Central Visayas number 2.993 million, up 3.5 percent from the previous year’s 2.8 million. In April, Central Visayas had an employment rate of 93.6 percent while in January, it was at 92.6 percent.

While employment and unemployment rates had slight changes, underemployment in the region posted high changes. Underemployment dropped 40.9 percent from 618,000 to 365,000, placing the region’s underemployment rate for July, 12.2 percent. In April, it was at 15.5 percent while in January, it was at 19.4 percent.

In 2012, the average underemployment rate was at a higher 20.7 percent.

Central Visayas consists of the provinces of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and Siquijor. As of July, the four provinces had 4.9 million people aged 15 years old and over, rising 2.1 percent from the 4.79 million the year before.

The region’s labor force, or the actual number of people available for work, is at 3.2 million, up 2.8 percent from 3.1 million previously.

For the rest of the country, unemployment rose 7.3 percent, although Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that while the increase is contrary to expectations, it is not so unusual for an emerging economy’s employment to experience volatility. He said the workers shift from one job to another while others wait for better opportunities.

The Philippines’ employment rate was at 92.7 percent while its underemployment rate was at 19.2 percent.

Cebu developer breaks ground on new project in Brgy. Lahug

By Jeandie O. Galolo

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

A LOCAL developer broke ground yesterday on a “community-type” project in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City that is expected to rise in 18 months.

Mivesa Garden Residences, a 1.8-hectare property of Cebu Landmasters Inc., is a mid-cost condominium project in the middle of Veterans and Salinas Drives in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.

It is a three-phase project with seven mid-rise buildings of six to ten floors.

Cebu Landmasters Inc. president and chief executive offer Joe Soberano III said Mivesa Garden Residences is one of their fastest selling projects, with 95 percent of the units in the first phase sold out in just two months.

Soberano said most of their buyers are overseas Filipino workers. Others are young professionals and expatriates.

The first phase of the residential condominium has three buildings with 479 units, of which 455 are already sold. The second phase has two buildings with 459 units while the third will have two buildings of 500 units.

Soberano said the last two buildings are expected to finish in the next three to four years.

Each unit has a floor area ranging from 20 square meters to 60 square meters, sold at P68,500 to P70,000 per square meter.

Soberano said that unlike other condominium projects, Mivesa Garden Residences offers an atmosphere ideal for neighborhood building where residents are provided the space and amenities fit for a “community lifestyle.”

To make the area less dense, Soberano said Mivesa is setting aside 60 percent of its total land area for open spaces. It also has a meditation garden, pocket parks and five retail shops. He said the retail shop units are still available.

Mivesa is the 12th project of Cebu Landmasters Inc.

In the past two years, Soberano said Cebu Landmasters Inc launched five projects across the province.

He attributed the speedy developments to the high demand of residential areas in the Cebu market, saying the company is there to “fill that demand.” For Project Inquiry, contact (032) 3181589 | 09173236123.

CV tourist arrivals go up 14.78%; Koreans still top

By Katlene O. Cacho

Monday, September 16, 2013

CENTRAL Visayas logged 1.7 million tourist arrivals in the first semester this year, reports from Department of Tourism (DOT) 7 showed. The number is up 14.78 percent from the 1.5 million recorded the previous year.

Of the number, Cebu accounted for 1.2 million.

Majority of the foreign arrivals are Koreans. Korean arrivals in Central Visayas grew by 27.80 percent or 257,998 from 201,877 in the same period last year. Japan came second with 98,851 or a growth of 9.07 percent.

There was also an increase of 2.49 percent in the arrivals from the US market, which hit 58,507.

Visitors from China, meanwhile, dropped by 24.58 percent. Only 29,187 Chinese visited Central Visayas from January to June this year compared to 38,692 the previous year.

Taiwan posted the strongest growth at 82.49 percent from 13,995 in arrivals last year to 25,539 this year. Completing the top 10 visitor markets are Australia with 20,967, Canada with 14,941 arrivals, Germany with 14,185 arrivals, United Kingdom with 12,756 arrivals and France with 11,694.

The Philippines generated 2.38 million visitors in the first half this year, up by 11.06 percent from 2.1 million arrivals last year. The growth is 43 percent of the target arrivals for the year.

The DOT said the tourism industry started the year with high hopes and expectations as arrivals for the months of January to March produced more than 400,000 visitors.

Months of February and June yielded increases of 15.52 percent and 14.01 percent respectively.