Chiu: Businesses shun countryside expansion

Cebu has to spread its development outside the metro area to create jobs in the countryside, said the new president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Antonio Chiu said that while companies in general want to expand in the countryside, they also face challenges such as the expensive business taxes imposed in far flung areas.

He said expanding into countryside is one way of dispersing industries and create jobs in rural areas but noted "business taxes in faraway places are very expensive."

He cited City’s business taxes are even cheaper compared to other towns in the province.

He explained that Cebu City is implementing a graduated tax collection for enterprises where companies earning higher gross sales will have reduced tax rates.

While other local government units in the province usually, he noted, are implementing only one uniform tax rate across all industries.

Chiu urged the government to create an investment manual for Cebu which should detail the cost of doing business in each Cebu town.

By this way, the business leader said Cebu would be able to attract businesses to expand in the countryside.

To create more jobs, Chiu also called on the need to boost the manufacturing industry in the province.

"We need to strengthen Cebu’s manufacturing sector,” the CCCI official said.

Among all industries, he said manufacturing creates more jobs for the people, citing the need to create job opportunities in the countryside.

The sector, he said, also provides more opportunities for those workers with less education background.

Currently, Cebu’s main job generators include the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, information technology, tourism, retail, construction and real estate, among others.

Chiu also added that among the concerns of the business sector include the ease of doing business, cost of doing business and infrastructure bottlenecks in Cebu.

Particularly, he said the chamber would continue to lobby for more infrastructure projects to be implemented in Cebu to raise its competitiveness as an investment destination.