Cebu investment center to halt operations

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Investment and Promotions Center (CIPC) is permanently ceasing its services by the end of this year, according to its managing director Joel Mari S. Yu.

"CIPC would have been 20 years in May of next year (2014) but unfortunately, our major benefactor, the city government of Cebu, has terminated its funding support," said Yu.

With this development, economist and business leader Efren Valiente said that there should be a collaborative effort between the city and provincial governments to make a joint investment promotions arm.

Valiente, one of the original board members of the CIPC after it was created years ago, said that Cebu needs to sustain its international investment promotion effort, while there are still a lot of industrial economic zones that need to filled, and the province needs more employment generation.

Cebu, as a province, he said has a lot of offer. An establishment of a province-wide promotion bureau is crucial, added Valiente who was also the former Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president.

"Let us say that the Mactan Economic Zone 1 and 2 are already full. But other economic and industrial zones, like in Balamban and Naga, are still unoccupied," he stressed.

Over the years, CIPC has been instrument in bringing investors to Cebu, not only those that locate within the Cebu City, but the entire province.

It was only recently that the center has focused its promotional efforts to sell the Cebu City-developed South Road Properties, along with facilitating investors' inquiries like those outsourcing and tourism related investments. —(FREEMAN)