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PHILIPPINE Investment-Management Inc. (Phinma) said it will put up
more economy hotels and low-cost houses as it shifted away from
manufacturing.
Magdaleno Albarracin, Phinma vice chairman, said
the group is expanding its property development in the next two to
five years.
Albarracin said it will establish an economy
hotel in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija which will cater to local and
foreign travelers and business people.
“Microtel is not a money making business right
now but we’re looking forward five years down the line,” he said
on the sidelines of the Asian Institute of Management’s
Entrepreneurship Forum.
The Board of Investments recently approved
Microtel’s plan to establish a 50-room hotel in Cabanatuan. The
project to be known as Microtel Inn and Suites Cabanatuan will cost
P94.4 million.
Albarracin said the group has about 8 economy
hotels and will put up 20 in the next five years.
“It caters to business people like marketing
and sales,” he said.
Phinma plans to put up economy hotels in Cagayan
de Oro, Dagupan and Laoag.
The company has 30-square meter low-cost housing
projects in Mindanao and Commonwealth avenues.
Albarracin said the demand for low-cost houses
is still strong despite slower economic growth.
Besides low cost housing, Phinma is into power
and oil exploration, steel roofing, financial services, business
process outsourcing and education.
Albarracin said Phinma is looking to buy three
more colleges, possibly in Iloilo, Baguio, Dagupan, Cebu or Naga.
He said the company considers education and
low-cost houses as profitable businesses.
Previously, Phinma was into cement and paper
manufacturing, oil refining and distribution, sugar and coconut
plantations, shrimp farming, and mangoes and vegetable exports.
-- Maricel E. Burgonio
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