Property-owner seeks partner for retirement village project

A retirement village facility may soon rise in Bantayan Island, Cebu, as hotelier Joe Mabugat plans to develop his 10-hectare property in the area into a retirement village.

Mabugat, who owns Richmond Plaza Hotel in Cebu, and Richmond Tropical Resort in Bantayan Island, said if he is able to find a good partner for the project, he will develop the part of the entire 10-hectare area that is not utilized by the Richmond Tropical Resort.

Mabugat believes that Bantayan Island as a destination is already an attractive place for foreign retirees to live, more so if the needed facilities will be put together in one place, such as leisure and creation facilities, medical facilities, among others.

"I'm trying to maximize my properties," Mabugat said adding that for the planned retirement village project, he needed a partner to develop it.

Establishing an integrated Retirement Village, is one of the best come-ons Cebu could take advantage of, in order to attract foreign nationals, or even the Filipino-American (Balikbayan) to retire here.

Cebuano developers had been urged to immediately set up a facility in Cebu to attract the huge foreign retirees, to retire in the Philippines, specifically Cebu.

In his visit to Cebu, Jacinto Legal, who headed a Trade Mission from Hawaii, said "It is very expensive to retire in the United States the retirees are looking for a good retirement place, for them to maximize their dollars as well as enjoy the weather. Cebu is a very good place for this kind of facility."

The Philippines, according to Legal is one of the potential countries in the world to host the retirees, not only from the United States, but also from Japan, Europe, and other countries.

The dollar's strength against the Philippine peso is also one of the attractions why most foreigners wanted to live in the Philippines, because their money (dollar) could go a very long way.

Reports said that the Medical Tourism is the next phenomenon here in the Philippines, next to call centers.

In Thailand alone, it earned around $280 million from treating 308,000 foreign patients. India on the other hand expects to earn at least $ 1 billion from healthcare tourism by 2012.

Ten percent of patients in European Union (EU) countries are seeking treatment in medical institutions outside the boundaries of their own country.

According to Board of Investments (BOI), a retirement village should be a large tract of land suitable for development that will ensure healthful, safe and environmentally-sound community life.

The village should be under a unified and continuous management.

And it should be readily accessible by air, land or water transport. BOI requires that a retirement village shall not be less than four hectares of contiguous land, and project cost must be at least US$1 million.