Generally 2012, the Year of the Water Dragon, is a good year for all industries.
Feng shui expert Marities Allen gave this forecast during yesterday’s forum Views and Prospects at the Casino Español attended mostly by businessmen in Cebu City.
“The elements of the dragon can bring improvements,”said Allen, president of World of Feng Shui (WOFS) Philippines.
Fernando Fajardo, economics professor of the University of San Carlos another forum speaker, also gave an upbeat assessment of this year’s economy.
Fajardo said the growth of GDP (gross domestic product) would be pegged at 4.4 per cent which is a notch higher than than 2011’s expected 4.3 percent GDP.
“Cebu did well last year and can continue to grow the local economy by banking on some of the areas where it excels,” said Fajardo.
Allen, for her part, said that industries related to to wood, water, earth and fire have bright prospects this year.
“Wood industries such as agriculture, printing, publishing and fashion will have a good performance this year,” said Allen
Earth-related industries such as real estate, property and mining will also do well this year.
“Fire-related industries such as the services sector, restaurants, electricity and the like will have a competitive year while water- related industries like shipping, banking and insurance will have moderate luck this year,” said Allen.
The feng shui expert said the country would likely suffer this year as she saw a bad luck star positioned in the southeast region, which would include countries in the Southeast Asian region.
On the positive side, she was expecting an economic turnaround this year.
“We are also seeing an economic turnaround this year. Hopefully that will be for the better,” she said.
Catastrophies and conflicts are also likely to happen, according to Allen.
She said that based on the Paht Chee Chart, the Chinese art of destiny reading for survival, manifestation and great achievement in life, 2012 would both be a destructive and a productive year.
She said this is because three of the four pillars of the chart are clashing and the other one is productive.
Allen also presented prospects for each of the 12 animal signs in the Chinese Zodiac, including cures for bad luck and enhancers of fortune.
She emphasized that no matter how knowledgeable a person is of his animal sign, if he fails to look after his home and office, things could still go wrong.
“When bad luck hits you, it hits bad,” she warned.
Fajardo, for his part, said that Cebu should continue to bank on its strengths such as its strategic location, strong outward orientation like the large export manufacturing base that can tap the domestic and new foreign markets.
“Tourism is still key to growth as well as the higher end outsourcing sector not just the plain customer service,” said Fajardo.
Fajardo added that tourism can slowly be shifted to the countryside with lower accomodation rates to entice more domestic and foreign tourists to come.
Consumer demand continues to grow in Cebu because of continued population growth.
Cebu can also bank on large government spending expected to start by the first half of this year.
He suggested that Cebu solve infrastructure, power and water issues to encourage more investments.
Meanwhile, Eric Ng Mendoza, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president, said that despite the upbeat forecasts of the year, it would still be up to businessmen to work hard and use their intuition to achieve their goals and make their businesses grow this year.
The forum was organized by MCCI and the Cebu Business Club. /with Editorial Assistant Hannah Marie Aranas