Entertainment City Manila to provide jobs to Paranaque residents

PARAÑAQUE City Mayor Florencio Bernabe said the completion of the Entertainment City Manila, a casino and tourism complex, will generate around 1 million jobs and most of these will go to the city’s residents.

Bernabe also said the project, under the stewardship of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Chairman Cristino Naguiat Jr., will “translate to huge taxes and revenues for the city and thousands of job opportunities to city residents. It will make Parañaque at par with Las Vegas in the US.”

He said the project will generate at least 4,000 jobs for city residents once it starts initial operations by the third or fourth quarter of this year.

“Pagcor’s Entertainment City Manila project is of great importance to Parañaque,” Bernabe added.

Earlier, Naguiat said the mixed-use gaming and entertainment multibillion project will transform the Philippines into one of the premier tourist destinations in the world.

“A 10 percent share in the $115 billion global gaming pie will give the Philippines $11.5 billion in revenue, making the country an even bigger destination than Las Vegas in terms of earnings. If we succeed, we will generate an additional 1 million jobs and bring in a million more tourists,” he said.

Naguiat also said that “Pagcor is committed to creating a multifaceted leisure and entertainment center that is internationally benchmarked.

“We will also continue to emphasize the strength of our human resources,” he added.

The Entertainment City project site spans 961,937 square meters at the bay area of Parañaque City plus 141,250 square meters at the Aseana Business Park and Mall of Asia Complex. Of the project’s total land area, 561,937 square meters was bought by Pagcor.

The four companies granted licenses to build, own and operate integrated resorts in Entertainment City Manila are the SM group, through gaming- and leisure-oriented unit Belle Corporation; Okada’s Aruze Corp.; Enrique Razon’s Bloombury Corp.; and Travellers International Hotels.

Pagcor guidelines require a minimum $1-billion investment in each integrated resort. Each licensee is also required to build a minimum of 250,000 square meters of floor area and complete 800 hotel rooms with an average room area of 40 square meters.