The General Santos City Chamber of Commerce
and Industry, Inc. (GSCCCII) under the present leadership strongly pushes its projects
and programs, all of which are strongly coordinated and collaborated with the local
government of General Santos, national government agencies, civil society, and
non-government organizations to achieve maximum positive impact for the city
and its constituents. The efforts of the organization are directed towards
creating opportunities for the City and its populace, and the business
community.
GSCCCII’s competitive edge are anchored in
the areas of Power Reliability and Sufficiency; ASEAN Connectivity; Solid Partnership
with the local government unit, government agencies, non-government organizations,
and civil society; Makar Port Development; Business Risk Assessment and the
Management of Climate Change Impacts; and Conduit of Framework Agreement on
Bangsamoro Peace Process.
POWER
RELIABILITY AND SUFFICIENCY
In 2013, GSCCCII devoted time, energy, and
resources to help South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative, Inc. look for sources
of power to help resolve the power crisis afflicting the city and its
neighboring areas. The efforts paid off when in April this year, SoEnergy
International Philippines, Inc. started operating its 15MW modular gensets
reducing the regular brownouts that plague the city. Moreover, in November, 2014,
Peakpower SOCCSARGEN, Inc., a power company investing in General Santos City,
will provide an additional 20MW power supply. GSCCCII supported Peakpower
SOCCSARGEN’s Power Purchase Agreement to ensure power availability. The
additional 35MW enables SOCOTECO II to meet its 120MW peak power requirement.
The high impact of this advocacy is the resolution of the power crisis
affecting the city and the proper forecast of the city’s power requirements for
the next five years.
ASEAN CONNECTIVITY IN
SUPPORT OF LOCAL BUSINESSMEN
Consistent
with our solid advocacy to create a healthy business environment with the
end-view of connecting local businessmen and entrepreneurs with their ASEAN
counterparts and helping them find markets, GSCCCII in strong partnership with
MinDA lobbied for the operationalization of the Davao-General Santos-Tahuna-Bitung
(DGTB) Shipping Service. Towards this end, IPP RK Salangsang and RG RL Billena
went on a mission twice to Jakarta, Indonesia on October 7, 2013 and August
19-20, 2014, respectively to finalize and harmonize all remaining works to
ensure the full operations of the DGTB Shipping Route of P.T. Kanaka Lines. Moreover,
President Daniel Pesik of North Minahasa Chamber of Commerce visited General
Santos City on May 24, 2014 and met with local businessmen and government leaders
of the city and Sarangani on the proposed shipping route and the goods that
will be traded. MinDA also facilitated the Stakeholders Meeting re the DGTB
Shipping Route of P.T. Kanaka on July 11, 2014 to further clarify issues,
concerns, and shipping policies.
SOLID PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL
GOVERNMENT OF GENERAL SANTOS
Committed to its Mission of
creating a livable, competitive, and socially-responsible General Santos City, GSCCCII
involves itself in proactive governance by involving itself vigorously on the
Proposed Revisions of Real Property Valuations and Assessment Fees. GSCCCII
actively participates in all Committee Hearings and even formed a TWG to review
the proposed increase in fair market value of real property. GSCCCII has
submitted a Stakeholders’ Position Paper to the local Sangguniang Panlungsod to
push for a reasonable adjustment. GSCCCII also strongly lobbied for the
approval of the Revised Local Investment Code. To help local businessmen,
GSCCCII convinced the local investment board to inform the Assessor’s Office
that machineries were intended to be exempt from realty taxes upon the grant of
incentives, and to include in the final draft of the new Local Investment Code
such exemption. This was made possible through its Chairmanship of the Competitiveness
Committee in the City Development Council of General Santos. GSCCCII sponsored the first-ever General
Santos City Economic Summit on October 3, 2013 that tackled major governance
issues like Inadequate Traffic Management System and Mass Transport System,
Shortage of Tourism, Entertainment, and Recreation Centers and other concerns.
In February this year, GSCCCII initiated a Breakfast Meeting with City Mayor
Ronnel C. Rivera together with all city department heads to follow through on
the agreements made during the 2013 Economic Summit. The Chief Executive
presented his Plans and Programs for the City and committed to set the 2nd
Economic Summit as a venue to check the progress of the Action Plan of the 2013
Economic Summit.
MAKAR PORT DEVELOPMENT
GSCCCII
co-managed and co-presented together with the Port Management Office and
SOCSKSARGEN Area Development Project Office the pre-Summit Focused Group
Discussions and the subsequent 1st Makar Port Development Summit on July 2,
2014 in the city. The Summit tackled the priority Port Development Projects,
Port Development, Port Labor Relations, and Port Operations and Tariff. The
Summit produced a Position Paper “Strongly Recommending the Improvement and
Modernization of the GSC Makar Port to Enhance Sea Connectivity and Strengthen
Trade for Greater Economic Opportunities.”
BUSINESS RISK ASSESSMENT AND
MANAGEMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS
To help prepare and equip
our businessmen on business risk assessment and the management of climate
change impacts, GSCCCII teamed up and co-organized with the local government of
General Santos, WWF-Philippines, and BPI Foundation, the General Santos City
Scenario-Building Exercise for Climate Change Adaptation on 12-13 August 2014.
The outputs of the exercises will be presented by WWF, BPI Foundation, and Brain
Trust to the city government, the local chamber, and the participants in
another forum in December 2014. The impact of this project is to generate
awareness and preparedness among the business community of the effects of
climate change and formulate measures to mitigate these effects.
As a spirited Green movement
advocate, GSCCCII actively engaged in the 1st Climate Change Summit
on July 31, 2014 at the KCC Convention, General Santos City with Executive
Director BS Canlas acting as Presentor. Moreover, ED BS Canlas joined the Climate
Change Forum and Focus Group Discussions on June 25-26, 2014 at the Tierra Montana
Hotel, General Santos City.
In the Green Business Forum
on July 18, 2014 at Phela Grande Hotel, this city, with Senator Franklin Drilon
as keynote speaker, GSCCCII with its Executive Director and some members
actively joined in the forum discussions as moderator and participants,
respectively.
CONDUIT OF FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT ON
BANGSAMORO PEACE PROCESS
GSCCCII in strong
collaboration with the Third Party Monitoring Team actively supported the
top-priority policy of the Aquino Administration by facilitating consultations
on the Bangsamoro Peace Process on June 6, 2014. This was done in order to
raise awareness among local business people on the advantages and disadvantages
of the proposed bill. By laying the ground work for peace and harmony, future
investors will not hesitate to take part in the growth of the city. More
importantly, public security will be upheld at all times.
In March this year, GSCCCII
joined, supported, and manifested its position at the KANDULI for Peace, an
activity endorsing the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro
(CAB), at the Covered Court, Oval Plaza, this city. The signing of the CAB was
on March 27, 2014. It was covered nationally and programs were simultaneously
organized in major cities in Mindanao.
CONCLUSION
The
hallmark of our strong advocacies as an organization is captured in our quest
for Excellence, steadfast Commitment, and effective Service.
The
Chamber is only forty years old. It is a very young organization. It has new
horizons to conquer given the new challenges that the 2015 ASEAN Integration
will bring about. We will sustain our strong advocacy points; strengthen our
areas of improvement; think outside the box; be open to paradigm shifts, but
most importantly, we will press on as the champion of the business community.
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