INQUIRER FILES
TACLOBAN CITY — The provincial government of Northern Samar has invited a Manila-based conglomerate for them to invest in the province.
Gov. Edwin Ongchuan on July 5 met with the Robinsons and Gokongwei Group in Manila with a focus on exploring collaborative efforts to advance the industrial and agricultural sectors within the province.
During the meeting, Ongchuan, joined by his own economic team, invited the Robinson’s and Gokongwei Group to invest in the province, considered to be among the fastest-growing economies in Eastern Visayas though poverty remains to be a serious concern.
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Ongchuan said he wants the big economic player to invest in the province by putting its Robinsons Mall, a Go Hotel, and even return of Cebu Pacific flights to the province.
Cebu Pacific flights stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic and has yet to resume since then.
Its rival, Philippine Airlines, is the only air company that services the Manila and Catarman, the provincial capital, route five times a week.
Ongchuan emphasized the importance of forging strategic partnerships to unlock Northern Samar’s full economic potential.
“With the Robinson’s/Gokongwei Group poised as potential partners, the province looks forward to a future marked by innovation, job creation, and heightened prosperity for the Nortehanon people,” he said in a statement.
In his sales pitch to the Robinsons/Gokongwei Group, Ongchuan said investors need not worry about the process of preparing needed documents as they are implementing the “green lane policy” which aims to streamline the method of securing business permits and licenses.
“This initiative aims to remove bureaucratic hurdles for the Robinson’s/Gokongwei Group should they decide to invest in projects within the province,” the governor said.
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Supporting the governor in this investment pitch were key officials invested in the development of Northern Samar, including Director Ernesto Delos Reyes of the Board of Investments, Jhon Allen Berbon from the Provincial Economic Development and Investment Promotions Office, and Jay Keenson Acebuche from the Provincial Planning and Development Office.
Representing the Robinsons/Gokongwei Group were lawyers Jose Luis Aliling, external affairs director of Robinsons Land Corporation; Jose Angelo Cunanan, government relations corporate affairs, and sustainability at JG Summit Holdings, Inc.; and Domingo Hamilton Tutaan III, government relations manager at Universal Robina Corporation.