President’s Corner

 

Greetings…

 

It’s been a year, 2 months and 10 days, or more precisely 436 days, when Pampanga was advised to undertake necessary precautionary measures against the spread of the Covid-19 virus in the province, more popularly known as community quarantines now.

 

A lot has happened since and we expect a lot more to happen henceforth.

 

What is certain is that one day, in the near future, we hope sooner rather than later, global herd immunity will be achieved through the administration of the vaccines, subsequently restoring consumer confidence, eventually leading to business recovery and economic revitalization.

 

The ongoing pandemic and the resulting economic crisis is continually stretching the resiliency of the countryside business community, more significantly the MSMEs.

 

PamCham, since last year, at the onset of the pandemic, have made considerable efforts to continue delivering services to the members, now limited to online events.

 

Our then face to face GMMs, Kapihans, and Business Matchings, have since transitioned to virtual encounters.

 

Of course, nothing will ever replace personal and interactive events, social beings that we are, we crave physical mingling and interpersonal conversations that enable us to instantaneously read, interpret and react to the situation at hand. This is a tremendous challenge when doing online networking and business matching.

 

But the adoption of virtual communication platforms and adaptation to rapidly evolving technological advances in the way we interact and do business, are the imperative of the times, and so we must adjust.

 

This pandemic, in my opinion had indelibly altered our perception of the economy and how it relates to our present health system and there is much room for improvement in this sector.

 

For the telecommunications industry however, particularly on internet connectivity, our country’s infrastructures are gradually being improved, we hope that these will be accelerated,  so business can cope with the operational changes that we perceive will be the norm, post pandemic era.

 

Indeed, this health crisis had triggered the onset of the 4th Industrial Revolution, which as early as January 2016, the World Economic Forum, referred to as the “technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another”.

 

Moving forward and in anticipation of our country achieving herd immunity, hopefully soon, we should be uploaded on and informed of government’s plans and strategies in helping business rebuild and consumer confidence restored.

 

The vital information to be shared by our distinguished guest of honor and speaker this afternoon, who will be properly introduced later, is indeed crucial to our economic recovery.

 

And we are aware that no less than the concerted efforts of both the public and the private sector is needed to get our economy back on track and business to thrive once again.

 

We assure you, our dear members, that PamCham will continue to utilize all means probable to help businesses restore Pampanga’s economy anew.

 

Before I end, let me take the opportunity to thank our members for the continued support to the organization.

 

PamCham will not be able to serve and promote the best interest of the business community in the province, especially during these challenging times, without you.

 

My congratulations also to our new members who were inducted just last week. The video of that induction will be shown later in the program.

 

The board of directors of PamCham are equally elated and grateful for PamCham’s continued growth in membership, complemented by the active leadership of our committees that are pursuing our advocacies and organizing our activities online.

 

A pleasant afternoon to you all and Welcome to our 69th General Membership Meeting.