BPO center, lifestyle park and more for Biñan

BIÑAN CITY—This city recently welcomed one of the biggest private sector investments.

Developer Southwoods Ecocentrum laid down plans for what it said would be the next major development in Laguna province.

Southwoods Center is envisioned to be a premiere business, shopping and entertainment hub that will also house the P2.5-billion facility for business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, according to Robert John Sobrepeña, company chairman of the board and chief executive officer and former head of Fil-Estate Corp., which fell into heavy debts a few years ago.

The launch kicked off recently with the opening of the 180-meter tunnel on Southwoods Avenue that provides a direct link from the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) to the Southwoods Center.

By August, Sobrepeña says they would begin with the first phase of construction that includes a shopping strip and an activity center that is expected to be operational next year.

The rest of the project that includes a transport terminal, a school, medium-rise condominium buildings, and a lifestyle park complete with a man-made lagoon would be completed over four to five years.

The entire Southwoods Center covers 35 hectares.

It will be a simultaneous development, says Andrew Gene Lamb Jr., Southwoods chief operating officer.

New jobs

Another major component of the Southwoods Center is the construction of the Information Technology (IT) or BPO park.

“The IT park will have a total of 25 buildings that, when completed, can (each house) 2,500 to 3,000 employees. That’s a total of 60,000 to 70,000 new jobs created right here,” Sobrepeña says.

The BPO park would have its groundbreaking in 90 days and would be operational in 10 months.

Raymond Lacdao, executive director of the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP), says that since 2006 it has been a trend in the BPO industry to open its facilities in nearby provinces.

“We have decongested Metro Manila from 83 percent down to 75 percent and we want that to get lower. Not only in contact centers, but we are also looking for people to fill in non-voice (facilities, such as in the fields of) financial accounting, engineering, medical services, analytics and research,” Lacdao says.

Jojo Uligan, executive director of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines, says another factor considered was the security provided in this city since most of the BPO employees work at night.

Both say they see no competition arising between this city and neighboring Sta. Rosa City, which at present houses a number of contact centers.

Biñan City Mayor Marlyn Alonte-Naguiat welcomes the venture and the jobs it could generate for the city’s residents.

“I remember decades ago when my father (a former mayor here) was telling me about these (developments). We want Biñan to be back to its old glory, when Biñan was first in Laguna. We are the (province’s) gateway by the way,” she says.

Biñan became a city in 2009 with an annual income of P1.2 billion.