ILOILO CITY— Business organization Iloilo Economic Development Foundation Inc. (ILEDF) remains optimistic that the city and province of Iloilo can economically recover from the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
“Our local economy may have suffered with the rest of the world these past months but we are using this time to evaluate our assets, identify opportunities, and prepare for future threats,” said ILED Chairman Terence Uygongco.
Under Executive Director Francis Gentoral, ILED led the recent Iloilo Investment Forum: Reimagining Iloilo’s Next Economy as a step towards bouncing back from the impact of COVID-19.
Over the past decade, the city and province of Iloilo have seen growth and development as they became an investment destination outside of Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.
ILED aims to cushion the pandemic’s impact on Iloilo City as well as the 42 towns and component city of Passi in Iloilo province.
Iloilo’s priority sectors that need to be revamped include agriculture-fishery, tourism, manufacturing, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), business process outsourcing (BPO), and education.
“But we are also open for investments in the areas of pharmaceutical, medical services, research, and digital technologies,” said Uygongco.
“We, in Iloilo, are not only more than ready to accommodate investments, but we also have the commitment and trust. We have the infrastructure, the road networks, and the markets. More importantly, we have the people,” added Dr. Louie Tirador, vice chairman of the Iloilo Provincial Investment Promotions Board.
The investment forum was organized by ILED with the Iloilo Provincial Government, the Iloilo City Government, as well as the Western Visayas regional offices of the Department of Agriculture (DA-6), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-6), and Department of Tourism (DOT-6).