EDITORIAL - A great ride

As 2012 draws to a close, we look forward to the next year with hope of another fruitful season. We had a great ride this year. And we hope the momentum will continue as we steer into the next year.

Economically, Cebu scored a satisfactory grade in 2012. For the business sector, the climate has been encouraging than ever. Investments had kept pouring in as Cebu continued to shine as the country's foremost business destination. A testament was the robust construction sector that saw the rise of more buildings catering to business locators.

Leading the pack was the sector of the business process outsourcing. Cebu remains a gem for call center investors owing to its large pool of English-speaking professionals. It greatly helped that being the education hub in the south, Cebu continues to draw businessmen taking advantage of the young labor force.

 Tourism activity in Cebu this year has been vibrant, thanks largely to coordinated efforts among its players. As one of the economic drivers, tourism is seen to remain a top lucrative industry that would help bring in more revenues. 

With the ever-supportive local government units across the province, tourism will remain an important star in Cebu's economic skyline. All we need is more infrastructure improvement to cope with the massive investment flow.

Well, politically, cracks continue to divide our leaders. Conflict between Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama and some councilors allied with south district Representative Tomas Osmeña still dominated the air. 

At the Capitol, tensions remain high following the suspension of Governor Gwendolyn Garcia by President Aquino. Branding the order suspending her as politically motivated, Garcia refused to step down in favor of acting governor Agnes Magpale. We see this conflict to continue until the May elections.

It remains to be seen whether the political wrangling will take toll on the investment flow.  But we can only hope that this will not affect the image of Cebu as an important economic structure in the country.

Generally speaking, the future looks bright for the always-resilient Cebuanos despite all the challenges.