ILOILO CITY – Ayala Corporation, one of the biggest firms in the Philippines, is eyeing to expand its business interests in this southern city.
Fernando Zobel de Ayala, chief executive officer and president of Ayala Corporation, together with the company’s senior executives were in the city recently.
Ayala, which owns QualiMed hospital, is eyeing to expand its operation in the city, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Also, QualiMed executives shared their plan to start offering state-of-the-art services such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) by September or October this year.
“Wala na diri sa Western Visayas. The nearest is Cebu, so dako nga bulig ina sa mabudlay magbusong nga couple,” said Treñas.
Ayala is also eyeing to build more infrastructures for business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies.
Treñas said the BPO industry is booming in Iloilo and one of the reasons for this is the low electricity rates which attract more investors.
“Nakit-an naton nga sige-sige ang expansion kag improvement sang MORE Power (the city’s power distributor). This will make it even more attractive for BPOs nga magsulod,” the city mayor added.
At the moment, there are over 36,000 regular employees in the BPO sector here apart from part-time workers.
Treñas stressed that more investments will help Iloilo recover from the adverse economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ayala is also looking at more investments in real estate.
“I think kadaku gid sang nabulig ang pag-approve sang aton CLUP (Comprehensive Land Use Plan),” said Treñas.
Another factor is the fast processing of business permits, building and other related documents following the separation of the Office of Building Official from the City Engineer’s Office./PN
