Zamboanga-Malaysia bridge mulled to boost PHL trade

CEBU, Philippines - One of the projects to be prioritized by the newly organized ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) is to connect the Philippines to the rest of the region, starting with a bridge from Zamboanga to Sipadan Island in Malaysia.

Newly appointed member of the council, that represents the Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs), Jay Yuvallos said that establishing a bridge that will connect the Philippines to other ASEAN member countries, starting with Malaysia is seen to boost the regional trade exchange within the ASEAN region.

 In the Philippines, connectivity is one of the major concerns. “We are separated from other ASEAN countries or the mainland,” said Yuvallos.

He said this issue has already been initially discussed by the rest of the Philippine representatives including Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) chairman Manuel Pangilinan, and the country’s business power-lady Teresita Sy.

According to Yuvallos, this infrastructure connectivity that will provide a RoRo (Roll-On-Roll-Off) facility from the Philippines to Malaysia, and eventually to other ASEAN countries is part of the long term plan under the ASEAN Integration program.

Also, Yuvallos said the council will look at connecting the Philippines through RoRo to Indonesia, so that exchange of goods vice-versa will be cheaper and that trade linkages can be strengthened.

 The establishment of a RoRo facility, Yuvallos reiterated is one of the top agenda to be taken into serious consideration, “we want to push this plan.”

This is also timely, he said because President Benigno Aquino III is also pushing on establishing infrastructure connectivity to other neighboring countries, in order to ease up the flow of goods, doing away from expensive shipment rates.

The ASEAN Business Council has recently been formalized in order to fast tract the bid of making ASEAN as one economic community, attracting the rest of the world to take advantage of the over 600 million market-base.

As an SME representative to the council, Yuvallos, who is also the past president of the PhilExport-Cebu said his role is to raise SME awareness in tapping the ASEAN market, and understand its potential that having a one ASEAN community dictates viability of links and boost investments.

“The ASEAN is a huge market in itself. With GDP of $US1.4 trillion and 600 million population, it is a strong market base,” he said.

He emphasized that exporters for instance, should start to make aggressive move to tap the ASEAN market, although some of the member countries are producing similar products the Philippines is producing.

“We seem to be competing with each other. But, by 2015 when the integration will be properly set-up, the ASEAN will become a single market and one production base,” he stressed.

By then, he said ASEAN will be one strong brand, and will be more attractive to the rest of the world.

ASEAN member countries include; Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.