Biz sector moves to sustain Iloilo's good image

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1011390
• Monday, October 2, 2017 9:05 am

(PNA)

ILOILO CITY -- The business sector here is taking their actions to sustain the good image of the city and province of Iloilo and bring more developments here after it was earlier tagged as "most shabulized" and "bedrock of illegal drugs".

The Iloilo Economic and Development Foundation Inc. (ILED), a non-profit, private sector-led organization on Saturday afternoon launched its campaign dubbed "Proud to be Ilonggo", which gathered people here from various sectors particularly business, professional, civil society, youth, academe, women, religious groups and the media.

ILED president Jocelyn Perez stressed that the group has been tireless in its advocacy to promote Iloilo as an ideal investment hub.

“And why not? When there is really so much going for it,” she said.

"Beautiful airport to arrive into, wide concrete highway to move around in, gleaming new business districts, a beautiful Convention Center, open spaces that can transfrom into industrial and economic facilities, very livable cities, abundant talents, peaceful towns offering countless business opportunities, dedicated and honest public servants who are eager to service investor requirements efficiently, the list is long," she added.

But with disturbing events, which attempted to tarnish the good image of Iloilo and threatened to derail the progress made in Iloilo, he said there is a need to for the Ilonggos to reaffirm their pride and declare that Iloilo is as ready as ever to take its place among the most liveable and business- friendly locations in the world.

“As peace-loving as we, Ilonggos, we must ensure that we do what we can to stay on track,” she said. Perez, who considered herself as among the recent participant in the economic boom town of Iloilo after retiring from over 30 years of employment in a multi-national firm in Manila, chose to make Iloilo has her next habitat.

She started up a business based in Concepcion, Iloilo in partnership with her non-Ilonggo business colleagues and its commercial operations already began last week.

“My non-ilonggo partners are simply delighted to have chosen to invest in Iloilo.I myself am very impressed,” she added.

After the campaign launching meanwhile, ILED chairperson Narzalina Lim, in a media interview, said that they are going to creat a “Proud to be Ilonggo” Facebook Page where statistics of the peace and order status of Western Visayas, particularly Iloilo, will be uploaded.

According to Police Chief Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, regional director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6, who highlighted the launching of the campaign yesterday by presenting the peace and order situation of the region, stressed that “the region remain peaceful and sustainable" despite the recent happenings like the raid of the Maasin town police station by the members of the New Peoples Army (NPA).

Lim said that through the social media page, they will be able to reach out to Ilonggos working or living abroad. “There are many overseas Filipino workers from this region and maybe they were already believing about what were said about Iloilo so, we want ot reach them also because they are an influential sector also,” she said.

Aside from the the promotion of the page, Lim said that they will also give press releases to the national media so they could report things that are happening in Iloilo.

Further, Lim said that they also wanted to let go of disturbing events, which attempted to tarnish the good image of Iloilo.

“Let’s just go ahead and show the world that it’s business as usual in Iloilo,” she said.

“We are so busy with so many events and we still have to continue bringing the investments in,” she added.