The success of a 50-room retirement facility for Japanese retirees to be constructed in Mactan Island within the year will be a step closer to make Cebu a retirement hub of the Philippines.
If the facility would be a success, the Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) would present Cebu as a retirement hub to other developed countries having problems with their aging population, said Joel Mari Yu, managing director of CIPC during the 1st Cebu-Japan Retirement Summit at the Marco Polo Plaza on Saturday.
The 50-room project is an undertaking of Japanese businessmen and the CIPC, for nearly six years now.
Yu said that this project would be a boost to the province’s economic growth because it wouldn’t provide employment opportunities to our local health-care workers and also increase spending in Cebu.
“The way to grow the economy is to increase people’s purchasing power. Just imagine these retirees spending their retirement benefits that would amount to about P100,000 in Cebu every month,” he said.
The Japanese businessmen are interested to build retirement facilities in Cebu because of the Philippines’ global reputation as a reliable source of caring and efficient nurses and nursing staff.
Yu said the Japanese businessmen sought the CIPC’s help to address the increasing need for care of the population of elderly people in Japan.
About 23 percent of Japan’s 127 million people are aged 65 or over, causing a cut in its productive population and a rise in number of its less active
citizens.
This has been a major hazard to Japan’s economy because they have already been spending more on retirement benefits than gaining from the productivity of their citizens. Their government provides $2,005 to each of their retirees monthly.
The CIPC saw Japan’s partnership invitation as a valuable opportunity for the growth of Cebu’s economy so they invited the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) to conduct a retirement industry technical study mission in Japan last month.
The research included the building requirements of the existing retirement industry in Japan which shall then be applied to the Japanese care facilities to be built in Cebu.
These facilities shall be managed by Japanese companies and operated based on Japanese standards.
Hirozaku Iwahashi, Director of Career Service Co. Ltd., cited the advantages for Japanese owners of retirement facilities present in yesterday’s summit in investing in Cebu.
The factors include an English-speaking population, low wage rates, large supply of health-care graduates produced by universities, and accessibility of Cebu to Japan.
It only takes a four hour direct flight from Japan to reach Cebu.
The only hindrance to the project would be the lack of portability of medical and long-term care insurance of the Japanese elderly to the Philippines, said Veredigno Atienza, PRA General Manager.
Atienza said the PRA had asked Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim and the Department of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with the Japanese government regarding the issue.