Time to turn threats into opportunities

Jitters surfaced in the country’s business climate when the tough-talking President Rodrigo Duterte assumed captainship of the Philippine economy in 2016. Less than a year after, however, a local business leader believes opportunities, instead of threats, abound.

“When President Rodrigo ‘Digong’ Duterte won in 2016, it had somehow created a bit of anxiety in business by the platform he pronounced prior to and after he took his oath of office, that ‘change is coming’,” said Melanie Ng, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president, during the chamber’s general membership meeting at the Bayfront Hotel last Friday.

However, she said, the chamber saw the situation differently after it played a role in forming Duterte’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda in a consultation in Davao City last year. The goal of opening more trade ties within Asia, for one, came up.

“A few months later, the business landscape in our country had dramatically transformed into some inspiring possibilities,” Ng said.

Chamber’s response

She commended a report from Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III about efforts to secure P1 trillion in Official Development Assistance from Japan and China, as well as trade deals with other countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, and Russia.

“And what does all this mean for all of us? It is a call for the business community in Cebu, especially your chamber, that we should now recalibrate our efforts and revisit our sisterhood agreement on economic ties with some countries in the Asia-Pacific and Europe,” said Ng.

In December, a 10-member delegation of the CCCI held a trade mission in Hiroshima, Japan, which generated interest in potential agri-business ventures here. The Kapatid Me Mentor Program of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was also an opportunity for local business leaders to mentor micro enterprises so they can scale up their businesses. CCCI currently has 751 members and inducted 20 new members last Friday.

On March 2, CCCI together with other business groups in Cebu will hold a dialogue with President Duterte at the Waterfront Hotel in Mactan at 5 p.m. It will be the first formal meeting between President Duterte and Cebu’s business groups since he assumed office last June 30.