ORMOC CITY- This city is experiencing an economic boom and it seems, there’s no turning back.
Business leader Apple Alagon has this forecast on the business and investment prospects in the city under the administration of Mayor Richard Gomez.
“The investment atmosphere is picking up. I can’t say where we are for sure but business-wise, more people are coming to Ormoc to invest in businesses, franchise or homegrown,” said Alagon, who is now the elected president of Rotary Club of Ormoc Bay.
“We recently had a Local Government Unit-Ormoc Chamber Kapihan talk at the Multipurpose Hall sometime May this year. The talk was about ‘Preparing Ormoc Towards Urbanization’ where we acknowledged the presence of big players in the city,” she added.
Alagon, who owns JO’s Milagrina chain of restaurants, added that they have seen many opportunities for growth with the opening of Robinsons Place Ormoc in April and the upcoming SM Center and Metro Gaisano.
“Obviously, they see Ormoc City as a prime area where they can grow their businesses which also translates to more job opportunities and more tourists in the city,” she added.
In 2017, the city registered a total of 1,366 establishments.
As of July 19 this year, it has already 896 number of establishments.
In 2017, Ormoc has P1,226,341,583 total budget. For this year, it has increased to P1,320,923,786.
By next year, it will have P1,457,990,318 budget sourced out from Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), local sources, local economic enterprises, other sources, and share from the national coffer.
For its vibrant economy, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry dubbed Ormoc as the “Most Business-friendly city” in the region in 2005. (RONALD O. REYES)
