Palayan opens P1.5-B gov’t center, business hub

This gleaming new building inside the Palayan City Business Hub was inaugurated on Thursday by city officials, led by Mayor Rianne Cuevas, and officials of investor MTD Alloy. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

PALAYAN CITY—Offices handling passport renewals, National Bureau of Investigation clearances, social security loan applications and business licenses are now only a few steps away from one another in the new P1.5-billion Palayan City Business Hub (PCBH).

Officials of this Nueva Ecija capital city inaugurated the hub’s business process outsourcing (BPO) building on Wednesday, the first of four buildings that would form part of PCBH.

Financed by the Malaysian firm, Alloy MTD, in a partnership with the city and the province, PCBH serves both as Nueva Ecija’s concentration of businesses and as the city’s government center.

According to Mayor Rianne Cuevas, PCBH is not only the face of progress in the city and Nueva Ecija but is also “the best example of how development can transform communities into modern cities.”

The BPO building is Philippine Economic Zone Authority-certified. Its first BPO operation, with 230 seats, will start on March 15.

Tansri Azmil, chair of Alloy MTD, attended the opening ceremony along with Malaysian Trade Minister Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysian Ambassador to the Philippines Dato Razlan Abdul Rashid and Bases Conversion and Development Authority president and chief executive officer Vivencio Dizon.

The four buildings in PCBH will include the People’s Center Building which houses the offices of the Department of Foreign Affairs, the NBI, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Information and Communication Technology, the Department of Education, the Commission on Elections, Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, Philippine Statistics Authority and PhilHealth.

A fourth building will be reserved for retail establishments while three floors will host a 75-room hotel.

In a statement, Mayor Cuevas invited Novo Ecijanos working in BPO offices in Metro Manila and other places to return to the province and work instead in PCBH. “There’s no place like home,” she said. —ARMAND GALANG