At a dinner with President Rodrigo Duterte at Malacañang’s President’s Hall, Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corp., Manuel V. Pangilinan of Metro Pacific and PLDT, Hans Sy of the SM Group, Tony Tan Caktiong of Jollibee and Ayala Corp.’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, among others, vowed to help the government promote peace, spur development and reduce poverty in Mindanao.
The consensus after the meeting was for the business sector and the Duterte administration to work more closely in boosting Mindanao development while efforts to forge lasting peace with rebel groups continue.
Pangilinan said his group will invest more in hospitals, telecommunications and in a coconut oil mill facility in Mindanao. He added his group would also be interested in working with community development movement Gawad Kalinga for housing projects in Mindanao.
President Duterte listened to the business community’s call for the preservation of the current practice of contracting as long as workers’ security of tenure is guaranteed and protected, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president George Barcelon said.
The Department of Labor and Employment has yet to come out with a clear policy on the issue of labor contracting.
Meanwhile, SMC is investing $300 million or roughly P14.9 billion for beer breweries in Cagayan de Oro and Laguna, SMC president Ang said. He said the brewery in Cagayan de Oro would have a total capacity of 3 million hectoliters. It would have an initial capacity of 1.5 million hectoliters.
SMC would also expand its existing brewery and bottling plant in Santa Rosa, Laguna by 2 million hectoliters in capacity. Ang said SMC hopes to complete the expansion of its brewery business within the next two years.