Lemuel G. Ortonio, Officer-in-Charge of Davao City Investment and Promotion Center (City Information Office)
DAVAO CITY—After the week-long celebration of the 31st Kadayawan festival, the city investment office reported that new investors in the city have been expressing their interest.
Lemual G. Ortonio,officer in charge of Davao City Investment Promotion Center (DCIPC) said that after witnessing the Kadayawan celebrations, investors are now presenting their plans to the city government.
“Davao City is the highlight right now, and here in DCIPC, we want to take advantage of that also,” he said.
Ortonio said that as of Thursday, August 25 there is an ongoing presentation from a manufacturing plant investor in their office.
Aside from a manufacturing plant, Ortonio said that there are investors in the areas of agribusiness, tourism, recreational facilities, real estate, energy, business process outsourcing (BPO), environmental protection developments, health and wellness, and transportation.
Ortonio said that among the areas of investment, agribusiness is the number one priority of the city.
He said that in agribusiness, one of the growth areas that they are eyeing here in the city is located at Marilog district and Calinan District.
“It is for the agro-forestry development, the agribusiness investments are part of our priorities in the city government because Davao City is a largely agriculture city, so we want to tap this potential,” he said.
He said that as part of maximizing the success in Kadayawan, DCIPC conducted “CEO visits” to the offices of the chief executive officers of the companies here in the country to give them an idea why it is good to invest in Davao City.”
Ortonio also said that they are looking for international investors to invest in the city. He said as of now, they are prioritizing neighboring cities and provinces.
“It is already part of our plan to be active, not only on local investors, but also to look for possible international investors. But as of now, we will still focus on those who are near the city. Then, eventually we will see if we can revisit international cities that have sisterhood agreement (with Davao),” he said. Davao City had previous sisterhood agreement with Manado and Bitong cities in Indonesia.
Ortonio said that he already reviewed the cities that has sisterhood agreement with Davao City.
“We will see if we can reconnect with them again and invite them to have their investment here in the city.”
Ortonio said that he also plans to tap national government agencies for assistance.
