Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — For decades, many Ilonggos in Mandurriao — a district in Iloilo City — left in search of better job opportunities in other cities or provinces.
But now, Ilonggos are coming back to Mandurriao — lured by new prospects for employment. A brand new business park stands on the site of the old provincial airport and it promises to generate thousands of jobs. Mandurriao is part of what’s called the “next wave cities” — places in the provinces where businesses are expanding as Metro Manila becomes more congested and expensive.
At the new Iloilo Business Park, property developer Megaworld Corp. is investing P35 billion in the next 10 years. It’s expected to create about 30,000 jobs from now till 2021.
Next wave
Jennifer Palmares-Fong, Iloilo Business Park Vice-President, said the old Mandurriao airport was memorable for her. At 17, she left her hometown, like many Ilonggos do, to study in Manila.
“There weren’t many opportunities back then for Ilonggos. Parents always worried that if their children didn’t go to college in Manila, they wouldn’t be able to get work there after,” she said in an interview.
Fong ended up staying in the country’s capital for nearly two decades, graduating and finding work in the property industry. But when she was offered a job in the business park last year, she didn’t have any second thoughts.
“It’s different to be home, to stay here in the place where you grew up, to witness the progress of your city,” she said.
She admitted, “I always knew I was going to go back to Iloilo. I just didn’t think it would be this soon. I thought I would only return to retire.”
Other Ilonggos are starting to do the same, Fong said, as this once-sleepy town wakes up to an economic resurgence.
Iloilo province is part of Western Visayas, which is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country. The region’s economy grew by 7.9% in 2015, far outpacing the 5.8% growth rate of the Philippines.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, in particular, have been the first movers. The industry regularly identifies “next wave cities” that can offer the same technology and workforce of the capital – minus the costs.
Iloilo was tagged as one of the hot spots, and BPOs quickly set up shop there, according to Unionbank Executive Vice-President Genaro Lapez. And where BPOs go, others soon follow.
“We wanted to serve the needs of our clients, and what we found out was that we needed to upgrade our presence there. That is why we decided to open our first ever Western Visayas regional hub in Iloilo,” Lapez said in an interview.
The Unionbank regional hub even offers services far more sophisticated than what branches in Manila have, he pointed out. Most of the companies in the Iloilo business park are either international businesses or locals targeting export markets, so the bank needed to offer multi-currency and cross-border transactions.
Other than banks, malls, condominiums, hotels and a convention center also expanded to the business park, to serve the needs not just of the companies, but of the growing communities there.
According to Jette Gamboa, Metrobank head of strategic planning: “If you believe in the growth story of the Philippines, and that growth story spans outside of the National Capital Region, then you will see a lot of benefit by establishing yourself in these key areas or ‘growth areas’ as we call them.”
Infrastructure is key
Iloilo enjoyed several advantages in positioning itself as an economic centre.
First, the national and local governments invested heavily in infrastructure that made it easier for businesses to come into the province.
The Iloilo International Airport, completed in 2007, was key, Gamboa said.
“That paved the way for investors both within and outside the country. There are actually direct flights now to Hong Kong and Singapore because of that airport,” she pointed out.
Major highways also connected the airport to the districts. According to Iloilo City Administrator Hernando Galvez, this helped spread investments from downtown to previously undeveloped areas like Jaro and Mandurriao.
“Mandurriao is now a central business district with malls and call centers. But growing up, I still remember that those were just salt beds and grass fields,” he said in an interview.
As the new administration makes infrastructure the core of its agenda, Iloilo stands as an example of what exactly a construction boom could do to expand the capacity of an economy.
“If you take it all together, infrastructure really is repositioning Iloilo itself not just to be a domestic hub, but it could really be a regional as in intra-ASEAN hub,” Lapez said.
