Duterte OKs Palayan City Hub as IT park

PROGRESS The Palayan City Government Center and Business Hub viewed from the air. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTOs

PALAYAN CITY — The business hub here, designed to house a government center and call centers for 12,000 agents, is now officially an information technology park (ITP).

President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 526 on June 25 designating the 3-ha complex as an ITP to be known as the Palayan City Government Center and Business Hub (PCBH) as endorsed by the board of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).

Peza Director General Charito Plaza and Alloy MTD Philippines President Nicholas David signed the documents that formally recognized PCBH as a special economic zone during rites held at the Peza office in Taguig City on Friday

Successful PPP

Alloy MTD, a Malaysian conglomerate, developed and built the PCBH, including two buildings reserved for business process outsourcing firms, under a public-private partnership (PPP) deal.

Alloy MTD will operate the Palayan hub for 30 years.

“This IT park will serve as the catalyst for the much-awaited employment generation and economic progress of Nueva Ecija province and Palayan City,” said Mayor Rhianne Cuevas in her speech during the signing ceremonies.

She announced the entry of BPO Sutherland Global Services which will start operations in September with 700 seats to be ramped up to 1,750 seats by June 2019.

Gov’t center

An outbound call center is also currently operating at PCBH.

The park is a four-building complex. Two buildings were especially built for BPO operations. Another building is the government center which houses the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration’s One-Stop-Shop.

The government center will soon house provincial offices of the Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Department of Information and Communications and Bureau of Immigration.

Cuevas said the PCBH is also a hub for schools that offer information technology, computer proficiency, BPO management courses and short courses for overseas workers.

The Capital Hotel at the hub, with 75 fully furnished rooms, will be fully operational in September to serve expatriates with transactions at the PCBH.

BRIGHT FUTURE Officials led by (from left) Palayan City Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas, Alloy MTD Palayan president Nicholas David, Philippine Export Zone Authority head Charito Plaza, Sen. Richard Gordon and MTD Group Malaysia director Isaac David formalize the recognition of the Palayan Business Hub as an economic zone.

Thanking Digong

Mayor Cuevas, in a statement, said she was grateful to the President “who saw the urgent need for the development of rural areas.”

She also credited Sen. Richard Gordon, brains behind the conversion of former US bases into commercial areas, with inspiring the pursuit of development projects for her city and Nueva Ecija province.

She also thanked MTD Alloy which “had taken the first step to invest in our city and put trust in our people.” —Armand Galang