MCCI prexy outlines chamber’s plans

The new Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president will focus in strengthening linkages with government and fellow business stakeholders and in helping create a business-friendly environment to encourage more investors to the city.

These are the areas that the chamber should push forward with to ensure that positive developments in the host city, said Philip N. Tan, incoming MCCI president.

We would like to strengthen our bonds with the government and the different government agencies through developmental programs that will benefit the community. Agencies like DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment), DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), and DOST (Department of Science and Technology) are important to us and we can do partnerships with them,” said Tan, who is also the chairman and chief executive officer of Wellmade Motors and Development Corp.

The MCCI will align its activities and advocacies with the thrust of the Mandaue City government under Mayor Jonas Cortes’ leadership.

“The mayor’s priority is to improve infrastructure like the drainage system because the city is facing a problem in flooding. As an advocacy group, we can help in the aspect of preventing floods through education and ‘green’ initiatives,” Tan said.

Tan was a judge in a competition among barangays in Mandaue in implementing the best practices when it comes to Solid Waste Management.

He said he would want to see a lot of the best practices duplicated in other barangays in Mandaue.

“Canduman was given the award because the barangay has the best practices and facilities for their solid waste management. We want to help spread the word to other barangays like educating them about recycling at home and segregating their wastes,” said Tan.

Tan said that it would be very critical for Mandaue City to improve the infrastructure like roads because a lot of malls opened in the city in the last two years.

He said the malls would cause traffic in areas where they’re located if these wouldn’t be managed well.

Making Mandaue City more investment friendly is one of the goals of the chamber.

“We are very pleased that the Mandaue City government is going towards implementing Governance Score Cards. That way they can improve the processes and eliminate bureaucracies and encourage more investments that will help create more jobs,” said Tan.

Tan also mentioned a new Investment Code of Mandaue.

He said that past MCCI president Eric Ng Mendoza was working closely with the Mandaue City government to have a new Investment Code of Mandaue.
It’s set to be launched this August.

“They have been working on that and it is sure to draw and attract more investors as well as reinvestments because of the incentives that the city will provide to them through the Investment Code,” said Tan.

He also encouraged Mandaue City businessmen to invest in more technologies to improve efficiency and productivity in their businesses.

“Mandaue should now be going towards more technology-based high value manufacturing so that we can still compete globally especially that most are into exports. We need to redesign the manufacturing business in Mandaue City,” said Tan.

Tan also announced the MCCI’s launching of the Mandaue Business Month 2012 at the end of July.

He said the event would be headed by Girlie Garces of San Miguel Corp.