• YASMIN PASCUAL-DORMIDO
Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado underscored the importance of local governments and local business chambers to work together in order to create a business enabling environment when he spoke before entrepreneurs and members of local chambers in the Visayas during the opening of the expo in The Bellevue Pavilion in Doljo, Panglao Island, Bohol province yesterday.
He also shared initiatives of the provincial government towards digitalization.
“In the province of Bohol, we have recognized the significance of digitalization in shaping our future as we strive to become a smart and resilient province under our strategic change agenda embracing information and communication technology (ICT). We aim to create a business enabling environment that encourages investors to set up shops in our 47 municipalities and one city,” said Aumentado.
The province is also pursuing climate smart agriculture and tourism.
“We value our partnership with the business sector to ensure that the government’s efforts will result in a resilient and competitive province, making Bohol a significant player on the national stage. Our province is an emerging hub for investment and business opportunities aside from being the first UNESCO Global Geopark in the Philippines,” added the governor.
Frank Carbon, chairperson of the 32nd Visayas Area Business Conference (VABC) said the expo serves as a venue for local governments, national government agencies and entrepreneurs to meet and discuss ways on how they can effectively work together.
“The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) is breaking our four walls. We are building bridges towards the community. I’m referring to the community where we operate, the LGUs who manage the communities and the national government agencies. They are our partners now. We’re trying to link up and build partnerships with them. And this exhibit is focused on what are the various projects of our national government agencies that will benefit the communities and LGUs,” explained Carbon.
He further said that the initiatives of the PCCI aim to bring together these players so that they can connect and talk, because what used to happen was the NGAs just read about projects in communities in the papers.
Meanwhile, Vierna Teresa Ligan, officer-in-charge of the Department of Trade and Industry, congratulated the local chambers’ strong commitment towards developing innovative business models as they explore new borders where technology and innovation are the driving forces in improving business operation.
“Digital technologies drive inclusive and sustainable growth and generate operational efficiency in business. Today, there is a strong push to advance the use and applications of technology and innovation in the country across all processes both in government and private business operations,” she said as she emphasized how technology allows people, communities and governments to benefit from innovations and how it allows a country to leap frog and bypass obsolete technologies and systems.
The DTI pointed out that these technologies will further fuel improvements in productivity in sectors such as agriculture, industry, tourism, and services.
Furthermore, the conference theme, “Exploring New Economic Frontiers in Technology, Governance and Innovation” according to her, manifests that the Visayas Region is now ready to embrace current trends in business as technology and innovation contribute largely to the overall goal of the Philippine Development Plan that of establishing the foundation for inclusive growth, a high trust and resilient society and a globally competitive knowledge economy.
The DTI believes that through the promotion and adoption of technologies that incorporates innovation, the agency would like to see investments on technology-based startups and enterprises across all sectors where the creative capacity of entrepreneurs and businesses will be strengthened and further developed.*
