Promote CDO exec bullish on city’s economic recovery
Monday, 30 January 2012 00:00
THE president of Promote CDO Foundation is bullish on a speedy full economic recovery of Cagayan de Oro following the devastation of tropical storm Sendong. In an interview, Ruben Vegafria said that Sendong did not really destroy infrastructure in the city and only a few businesses were wiped out as compared to the floods which hit Borneo and ThaiLand late last year. "We must go on helping in the restoration of CDO's image as a strong economy and an emerging tourism adventure capital of the Philippines," Vegafria earlier said in a separate phone text message prior to the interview.
And true to its mandate, Promote CDO Foundation erected billboards all over the city, the It's A Go for CDO slogan, which imbibes positivity. "From the ruins of Sendong, we call on the indomitable spirit of the Cagayanon to rise and to move on and prevail," Vegafria said. Vegafria's bullish stance was echoed by Oro Chamber president Ma. Teresa Alegrio. But beyond the call for resilience and positivity, Alegrio called on the national government to start institutionalizing what she calls as an interconnected trading hub in Cagayan de Oro City.
By interconnected, Alegrio said, she meant that the logistics and transportation systems in Northern Mindanao from production to distribution should be harmonized. Alegrio said she was impressed from a recent South Korean trip that the cities there have a well-coordinated trading hub unlike here. For instance, Alegrio cited the lone road network going to the soon to- open Laguindingan international airport as a potential stumbling block in the region's economy. "In the event that there is, God forbid, another flooding again at Opol highway, for example, there will be a standstill in the transport of goods and logistics going to Laguindingan airpor t and vice-versa," she said. Alegrio said factors such as these could increase the costs of transporting goods and other produce.
This, as Oro Chamber and nine other private business related groups submitted a position paper before President Aquino last Wednesday during his visit here certain recommendations for a speedy economic recovery. Among others, the proposals were for Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to declare a moratorium on amortizations, for the Department of Trade and Industry to establish a rehabilitation fund for small and medium scale businesses, for the Department of Energy to impose a price freeze on all fuel products to December 16, 2011 levels, 50 percent discount of retail electricity rates and for the Local Water Utilities Administration to cover the December 2011 unpaid water bills amounting to P25-million.
The manifesto was signed by Misamis Oriental Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Roberto Ching, CDO Chamber of Industries president Leoncio Ang, PIEMO Industries Association president Augustus Aids, CDO Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry president Quinciano Lui, Konsumanteng Kagay-anon president Rene Michael Baños, Phil Export 10A president Lolita Cabanlet, Orobankers Club president Shirley Mae Serate, Cagayan de Oro Hotel and Restaurant Association president Joanna Yu, Alegrio (Oro Chamber) and Vegafria.
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