2 big Dagupan malls seen to boost employment

September 3, 2017 Community Billboard

DAGUPAN CITY – The city government will soon create a Local Employment Council (LEC) in preparation for the opening of two big shopping malls here which in turn is expected to hire locals.
Josephine Corpuz, officer-in-charge of the office of the City Planning and Development Coordinator, told the City Council Tuesday afternoon (Aug 29) that the city should prepare a list of qualified manpower to respond to the demands for local labor of these two malls.
Opening in Dagupan City next year are The City Mall to rise in Barangay Mayombo and the SM City Dagupan now being built on M.H. Del. Pilar Street on a lot that used to be the main terminal of the defunct Pantranco.
These shopping malls, among many already in the city, will certainly need people to fill up various positions and likely recruit locals, especially graduates from colleges and universities in Pangasinan, Corpuz said.
Corpuz said the formation of LEC, to be headed by Mayor Belen Fernandez, has been identified as one of the priorities of the Dagupan City Comprehensive Development Plan for 2017 to 2022. The plan has been proposed to the city council for approval.
The LEC will tie up with the city’s Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and the Dagupan City Investment and Development Board in preparing for a list of employable city residents, she said.
City Councilor Jeslito Seen hailed the slated opening of the two big shopping malls, saying they will certainly trigger unprecedented economic boom in the city. Dagupan City was recently rated as number 13 in economic index among all component cities in the Philippines, a big jump from being number 44 in 2013.
He noted that Dagupan City was recently picked by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as one of the economic zones of the country to specialize in Information Technology, Business Processing and Outsourcing (BPO) and tourism industries.
In addition, Dagupan is now being groomed as one of the Smart Cities in the Philippines in the coming years due to its big economic potential as site for IT, BPO and other allied industries. PNA, Leonardo Micua / ABN