TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- The new administration of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) sees the town of Santa Ana as future host for big investments.
In a press conference, lawyer Raul Lambino said his experiences both in public and private sectors will do him favor as he performs a “challenging” job as the newly-appointed chief executive officer (CEO) of CEZA.
With his plan to terminate all licenses of gaming operators and licensees operating outside the jurisdictions of CEZA, Lambino said his team will implement strategies to get money flowing in.
He said these “illegal” gaming operations represented the 80% of the company’s income in the recent years. With the move to terminate these operations, CEZA will lose hundreds of millions and will not earn any penny for 2017 up to 2020.
“Unless, we can come up with some innovative ideas for our short term and medium term operations in CEZA. We have to live by that situation. We will try our best to crawl to the wall of that pit that we are now in. So that we can at least reach the ground level. And from there, it can be easier for us to jump ourselves upward,” Lambino said.
Big investors
Although admitting that Port Irene is a “small-time” in terms of its capacity to host big shipments, Lambino said his administration will still work on how to maximize its operations.
He said that several big-time businessmen have shown interest into venturing investments in Cagayan.
“There are so many inquiries already. They thought in a while that my being appointed, that they can have a much easier way of putting investments for heavy industries like petro-chemical, like steel industries, like assembly plant, etc.,” Lambino said.
He added: “They are here to see the basic infrastructure CEZA. We expect that there will be more visitors coming from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hongkong and China to consider CEZA.”
He said businessman Dennis Uy, the reported biggest campaign donor of President Rodrigo Duterte, had talked during Duterte’s State of the Nation Address in Congress.
Uy reportedly showed interest in putting up his own oil depot in the province.
“I have received an assurance from Mr. Dennis Uy of Phoenix [Petroleum Corporation]. He told… that he is interested to put up his own oil depot in Cagayan. Phoenix is such a huge corporation now. He is venturing in activities like logistics company. I think Dennis Uy has already acquired 2Go company, he’s into Phoenix; he’s into hotel, gaming, so many,” Lambino said.
He said businessman Ramon Ang, the largest shareholder of San Miguel Corporation, had already inquired about the operations of the Port Irene.
Lambino said he is confident that local businessmen will invest in CEZA after he ordered the locators in charge of the interest services in the area to “improve” the internet connection.
He said that with his vision, Cagayanos can expect property developers like SM, Ayala, Villar Group, DMCI, PhilInvest and other big companies to start making speculations about putting up businesses in Santa Ana and in Cagayan. Northernforum.net
