CLARK FREEPORT – The top executive of a leading banking institution in the country has set his sights on this freeport as the next major metropolis outside Manila.
Alfonso L. Salcedo, Jr., Security Bank Corporation (SBC) president and CEO, said here on Thursday he is optimistic that this freeport will be the next Metro Manila.
“I really think this is going to be the next Metro Manila, there’s a lot of space you have in Clark as the anchor footprint infrastructure here with the airport (new terminal building) which is being built, the train will be constructed, there is the NLEx (North Luzon Expressway) etc.… I could rattle it off why Clark will be the other metropolis that will be complementing Makati,” Salcedo said.
“I really think the solution is to decongest and create metropolises outside Metro Manila,” he said. “From the macro level, we see this area as a cutting edge in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth.”
“When we talk about Clark, the airport, the SEA Games happening this year, (Udenna CEO) Dennis Uy putting up a whole eco system here, it’s exciting” he noted. “George Ong, who handles our banking central, also has a lot of clients here. He was here since yesterday calling clients. I do think this would be the next growth center.”
“This is our very first economic forum outside Metro Manila. It was easy to choose Clark and Pampanga,” he said. “I’m very excited to be here. The key people of SBC are here. We have been doing eco fora every year but mostly in Makati. This year we wanted to do it differently, to have smaller groups for better interaction with our clients.”
“Also, for us to see the different areas in the country,” he added.
Salcedo met the press prior to the SBC organized economic forum held at the Marriot Hotel here where some 200 Luzon-based entrepreneurs, chief financial officers and treasurers from various industries gathered for the event on February 28.
Later in the economic forum, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional director Engr. Leon Dacanay, Jr. delivered the keynote address.
Dacanay talked about the prospects of Central Luzon including an update on its socio-economic performance, competitiveness, regional strategy and regional development investment program.
Salcedo said, “the economy looks rosy and I am optimistic that the consensus growth of 6.4 percent will be achieved and may even reached 6.9 percent.”
He added that, “With these presentations, we want really to arm our clients with the right information so that they could make well informed decisions on whatever businesses they may have.”
He added that their clients also “find this to be a very god venue for networking as in the past.”
Aside from Dacanay, the panel of experts in the forum included Calixto Chikiamco, president of the Foundation for Economic Freedom; Professor Victor Andres C. Manhit, founder and managing director of Stratbase Group; and Robert Dan Roces, chief economist of Security Bank.
The forum is part of a series of meetings that the bank will organize to reach clients in key investment cities around the country. Security Bank said it is slated to host various symposia in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao within the first half of 2019.
