July 31, 2011, 5:21pm
ILOILO CITY, Iloilo — “Invest your P50 billion savings right where it counts (and) where it is needed,” top-notch business executive Manuel V. Pangilinan challenged Ilonggos during Iloilo City’s 1st Business Summit Friday last week.
Pangilinan, who is chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co, (PLDT), Smart Communications Inc., and other major Manila-based corporations, was invited as keynote speaker in said Summit organized by Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog and the Iloilo City Trade and Investment Promotions Board.
“You’re owners of Iloilo’s destiny and not mere citizens,” stressed Pangilinan before Iloilo’s business community.
The P50-billion savings of Ilonggos, which, according to the Iloilo City Trade and Investment Promotions Board revealed, lie idly in commercial banks, can be used to fund public-private partnerships for a self-sustainable Iloilo economy that does not rely on govern-ment alone, Pangilinan said.
He cited the success of Ilonggos who built financial empires including Mang Inasal founder Edgar Sia II and Oscar Lopez of the Lopez Holdings Corp.
However, Pangilinan stressed that several areas of concern must be addressed to spur the local economy further.
He cited the need for a stable power and water supply, development of road networks, an efficient transport system, producing competent graduates, and a local government that must be business-friendly to be able to sustain investors’ interest in putting their money on the city.
“You have basic ingredients for revitalizing Iloilo, that is, the support of local government, an educational system that can develop and nourish competent managers and entrepreneurs, and the wealth of your history,” he underlined.
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