More incentives for investors

President Aquino, assuring investors of competitive incentives, vowed on Wednesday to make it easier for them to put up new investments in the country.

Addressing investors at the grand launch of Mactan Newtown, Megaworld’s latest Eastwood City township-type project in Cebu’s Lapu-Lapu City, Mr. Aquino noted that since he assumed the presidency in 2010, he has made it a point to “make it easier for companies to set up shop here, or to expand, as you are doing today.”

“We are making sure that we provide competitive incentives to those investing in our priority sectors, and we are making sure that the keys to success in our country are hard work and innovation, not simply a willingness to connive with crooks,” Mr. Aquino said without elaborating.

But he acknowledged that projects, such as Megaworld’s Mactan Newton, are “valuable checkpoints for us, showing that, indeed, we have made progress.”

“We are extremely thankful to companies like Megaworld for nourishing the Philippines toward becoming the next Asian tiger, by actually opening their checkbooks to make serious bets on our country. Nothing says confidence like P10 billion in investments. Nothing says confidence like planning to complete up to 14 buildings in [a] span of less than three years,” the President said.

He added that he had been informed that the Mactan Newtown complex would not simply be a mall or a residential area. “The vision is to develop another Eastwood City, which was one of Megaworld’s early successes in township-type projects. This is your first such project outside Metro Manila, and the people from around here can assure you that you’ve made the right choice. If there is any place where you can replicate your success in such projects in Metro Manila, it’s here in Cebu. The workers you will find here are skillful, creative, light-hearted, while possessing an unshakeable pride in the quality of their work.”

Mr. Aquino recalled that just a little more than six months ago, he was in Binondo, Manila, for the inauguration of a top-class mall named Lucky Chinatown, another project of Megaworld Corp.

“Today, I have the pleasure yet again of being with Dr. Andrew Tan and the employees of Megaworld as they launch an even more ambitious project, in the form of the Mactan Newtown. I have noticed that Megaworld’s name is popping up quite often on the list of projects that I am inaugurating, but there is no problem with that. At the rate you are investing in the country, I will be more than happy to join you for more inaugurations like this one,” he said. –Butch Fernandez | Reporter, Businessmirror