(From left) Advanced Energy Technologies Chairman Samuel West Stewart; Franklin Quijano, CEO/Administrator, PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority; and CICSI Technology Solutions Consultant Manny S.D. Lopez at the Philippine Industrial Summit Exhibit at Limketkai Mall Rotunda, Cagayan de Oro City on Monday (November 25, 2019). (PNA photo by Jess M. Escaros Jr.)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The first Philippine Industrial Summit in Mindanao was formally opened on Monday making louder call for stakeholders to build an "assertive" industrial sector in the country.
The four-day summit, which will run until November 28, seeks to stir discussions on ways to push the full industrialization beginning in the region.
Franklin Quijano, president of the government-owned and controlled PHIVIDEC Industrial Authority (Phividec), said it is high time the Philippines stop relying solely on the traditional goods it receives abroad via trade.
"We want to raise consciousness. The Filipinos are aware that they can do more," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the Philippine Industrial Summit in Mindanao exhibit at the Limketkai Center here.
"Number one, we have to put our acts together. Instead of complaining, for instance, about the price of copra, can't we be innovative and produce more products from coconut rather than just relying on coconut oil?" he asked.
For Filipinos, innovation could generate more value in a product such as the coconut.
"We have our captive minds and we're complaining that copra price is only PHP14 therefore the government must do something but then again this is not just an issue of the copra farmer, this is an issue for our country to think. If our universities, our captains of industries work together, we could produce more value to coconut," he said.
The country could also put a value on its human capital who often opt to work in foreign countries.
"If we really want to put alternatives to our OFWs who want work, this is it, we must industrialize," he said.
The summit aims to solicit views and recommendations from the industry's movers on how the government should move forward towards full industrialization and its economic boom.
Hundreds of participants are expected to arrive Tuesday for the panel discussion component of the summit.
On Monday, the media covering the four-day affair were toured at the vast PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental and were allowed to take a closer look at the operations of some of its tenants such as popular bread maker Gardenia and coal-fired power plant STEAG State Power Inc. which supplies Mindanao Grid and FDC Misamis Power. (PNA)
