15 reasons why we need to invest in Mindanao now

It is not false bravado or foolhardy for me to assert this: let us businesspeople from SMEs and big companies plan now and invest in Mindanao.

Yes, there is a real crisis in one area of that vast island, near Marawi City, but let us recall what John F. Kennedy once said: “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters: one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” 

Let us be pioneering risk-takers like the Ilocanos and Chinese immigrants of the past and go down south to tap the vast opportunities there!

Let us be inspired by the many success stories in Philippine big business whose beginnings or ventures were in Mindanao, like billionaire Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez, who owns Davao City’s popular Marco Polo Hotel; the billionaire Floirendo and Lorenzo families of banana exports; the youngest billionaire Dennis Uy of Phoenix Petroleum; the Wee family with their many W buildings all over BGC in Taguig City; Zamboanga-born paint manufacturer and realty tycoon Domingo Yap, who is the first Mindanao guy to win as president of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (FFCCCII); shopping mall taipans James Gaisano of Davao City and Cotabato-born Enrique Cheng of Landmark Dept. Stores; billionaire Palawan Governor Jose “Pepito” Ch. Alvarez, who started out in Cagayan de Oro City, etc.

Why invest in Mindanao now? Here are 15 of the numerous reasons:

1. It’s the Philippines’ second biggest region. Next to already-overpopulated Luzon, Mindanao is the country’s second largest land-locked area that accounts for 34 percent of the Philippines’ total land area.

2. Duterte and Davao. Of course, it’s no secret that the meteoric rise of Rody “Digong” Duterte to power has attracted global attention to once-neglected Mindanao and to his progressive hometown of Davao City, the new unofficial capital of our republic nowadays. Look at the huge business delegation of China’s Vice Premier Wang Yang that went to Davao this year.

Here are just a few of the tycoons investing in Davao City:

Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp. is putting up an integrated packaging plant in Davao with an initial investment of $700 million or P34.89 billion in a 2,000-hectare industrial estate. Wow!

The first time I heard the name Rody Duterte was over a decade ago during a conversation with JG Summit Holdings, Inc. founder John Gokongwei Jr., when he mentioned to me that he had personally met a very unique, no-nonsense and outstanding local politician who was then mayor of Davao City. Gokongwei’s Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) plans to develop a new cyber park, the 1.2-hectare Robinsons Cyberpark Davao for business process outsourcing (BPO) in a prime location in Davao City.

Aviana Development Corp., a 60-40 joint venture of Ayala Land and the Alcantara Group, is developing “Azuela Cove,” a new 25-hectare mixed-use waterside lifestyle, business and residential district in Davao City.

Led by matriarch Mercedes Tan-Gotianun and her daughter, CEO Josephine Gotianun-Yap, developer Filinvest Group plans to invest an additional P5 billion in Mindanao over the next three years, mainly in Davao and South Cotabato.

Andrew Tan’s Megaworld is behind the development of the Davao Park District.

Ports and education tycoon Eusebio “Yosi” Tanco of STI Education Systems Holdings, Inc. (STI) will break ground for a campus in Davao, located in a four-hectare property that used to house the Philippine Women’s College of Davao.

3. Transport accessibility. Traders, investors and tourists from all over the world don’t need to pass by Manila or Cebu nowadays to access Mindanao; we can all just fly to or sail to their booming cities like Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, General Santos, Iligan, Surigao, Butuan and others.

4. Rich natural resources. Mindanao is truly the “land of promise” due to its huge and still largely untapped natural resources.

5. No typhoons. Unlike much of Luzon and Visayas, and despite some recent monsoons perhaps due to climate change, Mindanao has a reputation as a typhoon-free region and is less prone to such natural disasters.

6. Bananas. I believe the world’s most delicious source of bananas for exports is still Mindanao, especially near Davao. The huge consumer markets of China, Russia, and the Middle East are just now opening up further, and I heard that China’s increasingly affluent, 1.3-billion consumers want to buy more of our bananas and tropical fruits.

7. Coconuts. Eight of the top 10 provinces producing coconuts are in Mindanao and the Philippines is No. 1 in copra production.

8. Seaweed. Seaweed or carageenan from Mindanao, which is needed for processed food, dairy products, condiments, personal-care products and pet food has for years made the Philippines the No. 1 exporter of this important product, but we face tough competition from rising seaweed-export rival Vietnam.  Among those who excel in this export business is former teacher and Sulu-born entrepreneur Rosalind Wee and husband Lee Hiong Wee of the W Group, who also own the many W buildings all over Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

9. Palm oil. Anvil Business Club’s newly elected president Reynold Siy and his father, the late philanthropist Robert Siy Chin, was a pioneer in the palm oil business in Mindanao. He says that the Mindanao region has the potential to be like our ASEAN neighbors Malaysia and Indonesia in becoming one of the world’s top palm oil planation, processing and export leaders.

10. Access to the ASEAN market. Entrepreneurs can do business in Mindanao as a staging point and processing place for trade and tapping the huge, fast-growing ASEAN markets of nearby Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Thailand. The future of world economic progress lies in Asia, most especially in booming ASEAN.

11. The Muslim minority and access to the global halal market. Due to the thriving and diverse Muslim minority communities in parts of Mindanao, Philippine and foreign entrepreneurs can base businesses in this region to develop, produce and export halal food products targeting the world’s over one billion Muslims in ASEAN, Central Asia, and oil-rich Middle East and Africa.

12. Agriculture. The vast, arable lands of Mindanao are ideal for large-scale modern farming, which can make the Philippines a food granary for industrialized societies like China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and Eurasia, thus enriching our farmers.

13. Fisheries and aquatic resources.  Rodrigo Rivera Sr. of RD Fishing in tuna and RD Pawnshops, as well as William Tiu Lim of Mega Sardines and Lin’s Kitchen Restaurant, built their fortunes on Mindanao’s flourishing fishing industry.

14. Mining. I am in favor of environmentally responsible and progressive mining for Mindanao, similar to that which has enriched Australia and Canada, not the irresponsible mining enterprises of our many political oligarchs of the past.

15. Tourism. I urge national and local governments to support not only the big guys, but also local SMEs and foreign entrepreneurs to help develop Mindanao tourism, from the volcanic Mt. Apo to islands like Samal or Camiguin, Mindanao can be ASEAN’s next tourism mecca.

Let us think out of the box. Mindanao is much larger and more beautiful in its totality than pockets of rebellions in certain areas.

Remember, in areas of crisis — where there are often many unimaginable bargains — are where true, rugged and visionary entrepreneurs can find vast and unrivaled opportunities.

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