21 July 2022, Iligan City - Local Economic and Investment Promotions Officer (LEIPO) Eileen E. San Juan presented the Cagayan de Oro experience at the Conceptualization Workshop for the Marawi Investment Promotion and Facilitation Center upon the invitation of the USAID Marawi Response Project (MRP) yesterday, July 20, 2021, at Monlan Suites, Iligan City.

Through the workshop, MRP sought to capacitate the Marawi City local government in investment promotion and facilitation, convening heads of key city government offices, members of the Bangon Marawi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BMCCI), and representatives of other development partners including non-government organizations like Balay Mindanaw Foundation, Inc., towards the creation and operation of the proposed Marawi Investment Promotion & Facilitation Center.

In the open forum that followed, Mr. Marlon Libot, Chief of Party of Plan International, USAID’s implementing partner for MRP, asked LEIPO San Juan if she could recommend concrete first steps that the City Government of Marawi might take towards the realization of their own investment promotion and facilitation center.

LEIPO San Juan responded that first people would have to be assigned and the work that they would do would have to be defined, citing as an example the beginnings of Cagayan de Oro’s Trade and Investment Promotions Center (Oro-TIPC), which started with just her and a staff of two (2) organic city government personnel detailed from other offices, plus the secretary of what was then the Promote Cagayan de Oro Foundation, Inc. (PROMOTE CDO, now PROMOTE NORMIN).

LEIPO San Juan also emphasized the importance of partnerships, which in Oro-TIPC’s case, came in the form of technical guidance from what was then the USAID Investment Enabling Environment (INVEST) Project, logistical support from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and collaboration with the private sector, including business chambers, civil society organizations and the academe.

The participants, which included the heads of Marawi City’s Public Employment Services Office (PESO), City Planning and Development Office (CPDO), and City Tourism Office, thanked LEIPO San Juan and the members of her team who presented with her, namely Simonette Sagaral for Investment Marketing, and Oxanna Custodio and Hanin Laguindab for Investor Services, for inspiring them to forge on despite the challenges they face in rebuilding their city.

MRP Economic Development Head Lauro Tito Ilagan encouraged, and LEIPO San Juan welcomed, the continuation of knowledge exchange between the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Marawi, both expressing excitement at the doors that an investment-enabling environment would open for Marawi City.