(The Freeman) Updated July 27, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines - Mayor Tomas Osmeña has met with the staff of Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque in Manila last week to discuss issues surrounding the planned branching out of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the South Road Properties.
Osmeña said among the major issues discussed was the possibility of bringing foreign doctors to practice in the Philippines but how to go out about the plan is something that he would prefer to keep under wraps for now.
“The discussion came out fairly long and we talked about certain legal issues to be threshed out. I don’t like to discuss my strategy, there are people who don’t like what I’m doing…I might be saying things to their advantage…but I am pushing through with this,” the mayor said.
He said opposition to the project may come from both the national and local scene because of the so-called “crab mentality”.
Osmeña earlier said that having MD Anderson at SRP has the Middle East, Australia and the whole Asia as a market since it is nearer than their hospital in Houston.
The hospital in Texas earns around $1,000 a day for the stay alone, exclusive of the chemotherapy and other treatment fees. He said there was also a day in which the center earned $6.5 million for chemotherapy.
The mayor said he would prefer to build the center within the 50.6 hectare area of the development project of Filinvest Land, Inc. considering that the patients will have to rent apartments and condominiums.
The city earlier presented a proposal to business mogul Manuel Pangilinan for a possible investment at the cancer center. Pangilinan is the president of SMART and Philippine Long Distance Company, heads Metro Pacific Investment Corporation, and owns leading hospitals such as Makati Medical Center.
Osmeña was treated of his cancer of the urinary bladder at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in the University of Texas in Houston.
After nine months in the United States, he returned home last May after he was declared cancer free. — Ferliza C. Contratista/JMO (THE FREEMAN)
(The Freeman) Updated July 15, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines - Now that he has seen the real deal, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said Cebu City will have a localized version of Bogota’s Bus Rapid Transit System.
Osmeña, in an interview at the VIP Lounge of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport yesterday, said his three-day trip to Colombia was very successful.Tomas:
“It was very nice, Bogota’s BRT is more sophisticated and modern than in Curitiba (Brazil), there are variations,” Osmeña said.
Osmeña spent three days in Colombia upon the invitation of former Bogota mayor Enrique Peñalosa, prior to his checkup at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
He observed Bogota’s TransMilenio and then Pereira City’s Megabus BRT. Pereira City is as big as Cebu City.
“Ours will be localized, we will have some adjustments here,” Osmeña said.
The World Bank had already expressed willingness to fund the entire project. It initially released $235,000 under the Private Public Infrastructure Advisory Facility for an initial study which is set to start next month.
The BRT will cut through the heart of the South Road Properties and include Lapu-Lapu City, Talisay City and Mandaue City.
But only Mandaue City had signified interest to join the said project by issuing a resolution choosing the BRT as their public transportation mode.
Talisay City is supporting the thrust of Cebu City 1st District Rep. Eduardo Gullas which is for a Light Rail Transit similar to Manila.
A BRT is like a train station but buses ply the route instead of trains. – Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP (THE FREEMAN)
By Zinnia B. Dela Peña (The Philippine Star) Updated July 07, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines – SM Prime Holdings Inc., the country’s largest shopping mall operator, is beefing up its presence in Cebu with plans to acquire three properties to take advantage of the city’s booming tourism industry.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), SM Prime said the group is in talks with several parties for the purchase of new properties in Cebu and expects to conclude negotiations with one of them in the third quarter this year.
SM Prime is hoping to put in place its second mall in Cebu by 2011.
One of the properties the company is eyeing is located within the 295-hectare South Road Properties (SRP), which is envisioned to become the single biggest growth driver in Cebu.
The SRP is registered as a special economic zone and was designed for mixed land use that can accommodate light manufacturing, commercial, tourism, information technology and other service enterprises.
Cebu is the Philippines’ main domestic shipping port, and is home to more than 80 percent of the country’s domestic shipping companies. It also holds the second largest international flights in the Philippine Islands, and is a significant center of commerce, trade, and industry in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
In May, SM Prime opened a mall in Naga City, its first in the Bicol region and 34th nationwide.
Naga City is considered as the nerve center of the Bicol region due to its proximity to large business establishments, universities, hotels, and regional government offices. It is also a transportation hub with the Naga Transport Exchange servicing almost all of the region’s inter-municipality transportation.
For the rest of the year, SM Prime is slated to open SM City Rosario in Cavite, SM City Pamplona in Las Piñas as well as the expansion phase of SM City Rosales in Pangasinan. By year end, the company’s branch network is expected to reach 36 with an estimated total gross floor area of 4.9 million square meters.
SM Prime is also looking at building a mall in Tarlac, San Pablo, Laguna, Calamba; and Commonwealth.
SM Prime has earmarked P12 billion in capital expenditures this year, P6.5 billion of which will be used to expand its operations domestically while the balance of P5.5 billion will go to its expansion in China.
Three new malls in China – Chonggqing, Suzhou, and Zibo – are targeted for opening between 2010 and 2012.
This will add to its three existing malls – SM Xiamen, Jinjiang, and Chengdu.
Suzhou, with a gross floor area of 73,000 sq.m., is under construction and is expected to open early 2010.
While Zibo and Chongqing, which has the biggest population in China) are scheduled to open in 2011 and 2012.
By Rhia de Pablo (The Freeman) Updated July 06, 2009 12:00 AM
CEBU, Philippines - SM Prime Holdings Inc., the conglomerate that owns and manages SM shopping malls in the country is currently negotiating with three properties here in Cebu for possible sites of three new malls.
“We are still in the middle of negotiations but we will come out with some good news towards the end of the third quarter because we should be closing some deals by then,” said SM Prime Holdings president Hans T. Sy in an interview.
However, Sy stressed that they could not assure that these three properties will all be clinched but he hopes that they can get all three.
He also said that the three new properties will hopefully include the South Road Properties (SRP) site.
After SM Prime Holdings close the deals for the three new sites in Cebu this third quarter, they are targeting to construct the malls simultaneously within 18 to 30 months so that it will be ready for operation by 2011.
Sy said that there are certain formulas that they are looking for in acquiring a new site for their mall operations and traditionally, the size requirement is around four to five hectares because the size that is lower than that becomes a super center, a smaller version of existing SM malls.
The three sites that SM is negotiating with measures around 80,000 to 85,000 square meters with provisions to expand to 200, 000 square meters like SM City Cebu, said Sy.
“Cebu is ready for three new SM malls and we are looking at utilizing our new operation and expansion approach. We believe that there is enough market even during the crisis because people look at shopping malls now as substitute for public parks so we will continue to develop malls into a destination center where people can go and visit,” said Sy.
Just recently, SM acquired new sites in Davao and General Santos for new malls and nationwide, they are set to open a supercenter in Las Piñas this October and in Rosario, Cavite this November.
Currently, SM has 36 malls all over the country and abroad as three of which is in China.
Sy bared plans to put up a fourth SM mall in Suzhou, China and expand its existing Xiamen operations.
“China is our growth story for the next five years. We are up against big competitors in China so our strategy is to move in to second to third tier cities which are areas that have never heard of shopping centers,” said Sy.
Aside from their plans to open another SM mall in China, the company is also looking at opening four new malls in 2010 which will include Tarlac, Antipolo and Calamba.
“Right now our main focus is in the Philippines because we still see a lot of growth here although everybody knows SM already. We will continue to strengthen our organization and we constantly tell our people to focus on Cebu which is currently the best place to be in Visayas and Mindanao. We are bullish of Cebu and we definitely have to have a second SM site here,” said Sy.
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