Speech by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. at the Inauguration of the Mactan Expo Center

Thank you very much to the President and CEO of Alliance Global Group, Mr. Kevin Tan. Thank you, Kevin.

[Please take your seats.]

The Lapu-Lapu District Representative Ahong Chan; the Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Maria Cynthia “Cindi” Chan; the Megaworld Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer Lourdes Gutierrez-Alfonso – and idadagdag ko na ‘yung aking congratulations dito sa napakaganda – hindi lang mabilis, kung hindi napakaganda na inyong ginawa na paghahanda para sa ating mga…

Well, this is not going to be just for one – this is for MICE. This is for the entire… Lapu-Lapu City is lucky that you have it in here in your town because this will be a big draw for all kinds of activities.

My fellow workers in government;

Actually nagbubulungan kami kanina – kaming mga sa gobyerno sabi namin sana sa government kaya nating gawin ‘to ‘yung dalawang taon ganito kalaki ang ginawang project. Eh tayo napakabagal kaya nagmamahal nang nagmamahal. Pero that is why it was very early on we recognized that there are things that government does well and there are things that the private sector does well. And to partner with the private sector, ito nga ang nagiging resulta.

Other distinguished guests;

Maayong adlaw kaninyong tanan.

To the people of Cebu: daghang salamat sa inyong mainit na pagtanggap.

Kaligayahan ko po ang makabalik ulit dito sa Cebu, makasama kayong lahat. Isa na ito sa mga lugar na muli talagang aking binabalik-balikan.

And I think hindi lamang dahil ito’y Cebu, dahil pinaghahandaan natin, palagay ko bawat linggo makikita ninyo ako rito nangungulit para to make sure that everything is prepared.

Mabuti naman at dito gaganapin ‘yung ating mga opening ceremony dahil Cebu now – Cebu is well known around the world.

And you always, and the reason for that is not only because Cebu is a beautiful place, but your warmth, your generosity, kindness, continues to show the world the true meaning of Filipino hospitality.

Now, pinapalakas natin ang turismo sa Cebu dito sa pagbukas nitong Mactan Expo.

Our tourism industry is now under a great deal of pressure dahil sa mga nangyayari. And last year, we only welcomed 6 million people. Just to give you a frame of reference, Thailand welcomes 30 million tourists every year. Kaya malaki ang hahabulin natin.

But still, facilities such as this are an encouraging sign. And I am excited to explore more ways to elevate Philippine tourism. Of course, Cebu will always play a very, very large part in all our plans for tourism.

That you have made a name for yourselves around the world and you are recognized as one of the favorite tourist destinations in the Philippines. Because travelers look for destinations that are easy to reach, equipped for with facilities such as this. And of course, the beauty that all of the Philippines is able to offer.

But alongside that, our infrastructure must continue to improve so that every visitor’s experience becomes smoother, more memorable.

That’s why we need to build more facilities such as this and strengthen our infrastructure so that we support tourism even more strongly.

Mactan Expo is one of the projects that will further enhance our tourism sector.

Kevin gave you a little bit of background as to how the Mactan Expo came about. And I’ll take it even a step further back.

What really happened here was that we were in Indonesia for the ASEAN. And kausap ko si Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia dahil sila ang susunod sa – dahil sila ang susunod sa Indonesia.

And we were talking about it and he was saying that “we are next.” And then I asked him, “What is it that you have to…?”

Well, first of all, the first question I asked him, “how much are you spending?”

Hindi ko na lang sasabihin sa inyo kung ano ‘yung sinabi niya sa akin. Nagulat na ngayon ako. Sabi ko ang laking ano.

And then he explained to me that we have 650 meetings. Besides the big ones in May, the opening ceremony and the summit in May, and then there’s another summit in November.

But even last January, nagsimula na tayo.

We have had ministers meetings, we have – kung saan-saan sa Pilipinas. So it is a really big deal.

And of course, siyempre kailangan we show the best of the Philippines. So doon napaisip kaagad ako. And that’s when I started talking about it.

I said, look, where is the place in the Philippines where we can bring our guests? Because I remember in Indonesia, kung saan kami dinala was a new tourist destination.

And I remember seeing that talagang bagong-bago, ‘yung medyo hindi pa tapos, not yet completely finished.

And I asked President Widodo, “why did you ask us to come here?”

And he said, “because Bali is already too full. And so we need to develop a new tourist destination.”

And that’s why and then that’s what I said, “okay fine.”

When I got back, sabi ko susunod na tayo sa Malaysia. Paghandaan na natin. Saan tayo puwedeng maglagay ng 11 – at the time 10 – 10 heads of state plus their delegations in one place?

Simpleng-simple lang, hotel, accommodations. Each leader has to have the presidential suite. Hindi mo puwedeng ilagay sa junior suite na maliit. And it has to be – the facilities have to
be sufficient so that the delegation there then they can work.

Because when you go to these meetings, you bring a whole secretariat with you. So kailangan may lugar para ‘yung mga – the entire secretariat, tapos ‘yung media. The logistics are quite daunting.

So they said the only place is going to be in Manila around PICC. Around doon, maraming hotel doon, maraming tayong…

And sabi ko, I took the page out of President Widodo’s book. And I said, okay, but everybody knows already Manila

And PICC is wala, magandang-maganda ‘yan, no problem. But let’s bring them to another place para makita naman nila.

And we thought, where’s the other place? Where are the big cities? Well, there’s Cebu, there’s Davao, there’s CDO, pero hindi ‘yung – kulang na kulang ‘yung accommodation.

The only place that we could do it was here, in Lapu-Lapu City. [applause]

So, the next concern, saan natin iko-conduct ‘yung summit? At nakita ko ‘yung mga ginawa nila sa ibang bansa, very impressive.

So, nagtanong na ngayon ako. Kung gagawin – if the only alternative to Manila is going to be in Lapu-Lapu City, in Cebu, sabi ko, ano – saan natin gagawin? Where do we have the summit meetings?

And they said, well, there’s no real place to conduct it. And that’s when we had the conversation with Kevin

When he was saying, I said, papaano nga, you know, where can we do it? What hotel? Function – o ‘yung malaking function room?

Then that’s when he told me, actually, may plano kami na para sa magtayo ng convention center.

Pero ‘yun na nga, na-postpone dahil sa pandemic.

And then I said, “oh sige, ituloy na natin para – tutal gagawin na rin ninyo, ituloy na natin.” And he showed me the plans.

And I think the capacity then was for 600 – 600, 800 people. Sa loob-loob ko, hindi ko ma – sabi ko, kulang ito. That’s not big enough. We need to have a bigger space simply because ganoong karami ang tao.

Like for example, for the gala dinners, we are going to feed close to a thousand people. During the delegation, you know, each leader brings 20, 30 people na kasama talaga niya all the time. Mayroon pang staff doon, security, kung ano-ano pa.

So we really had to have a bigger place. That’s when I asked him, sabi ko, “Can you make it bigger?” That was the first question.

Sabi niya, “Oo, bakit hindi? Why not?” We’ll make it so that we can have a plenary hall – plenary hall which can accommodate the numbers that are required.

And then the next question, hindi mo nabanggit ito, “When can you build it? When will it be finished?” Because the first summit is in May of 2026.

Napaisip si Kevin. Sabi niya, “we can finish it by the end of ’25 – of 2025.” Sabi ko, “totoo?” Sabi niya, “kaya namin ‘yan, kaya namin ‘yan.”

So, ayan na. That’s when, that’s when – [applause] that’s when he started putting pressure on all of you guys. [laughter]

Mula noon, hindi na kayo natutulog, hindi na kayo kumakain, puro lang ang pagpatayo nito.

My fault. That was really my fault.

But true to his word, look at us, we are here now. [applause] I came here last January and the structure was already here. Hindi pa finished na kagaya nito.

But then, you know, I said, “Kevin, will it be finished in time? Will it be finished in time?” He says, “we’ll finish it. We’ll finish it in time.”

And lo and behold, here we are now, March 16 of 2026, and look at this very, very nice facility that is world-class that ipagmamalaki ko. [applause]

Kayang-kayang ipagmalaki ng Pilipino sa kahit sino pumunta rito that this is as nice and as well appointed, as well built, and as the capacity of any other convention center, all the MICE kind of activities kayang-kaya lahat ito, hindi tayo mapapahiya, not only sa hindi tayo mapapahiya, maipagmamalaki pa natin.

And so I congratulate you all who have put in all the long hours and have put in all the long days that made this a success. [applause]

And looking forward now… Now I was here, I inspected now the other, the lot that’s in front of the convention center, kung saan namin gagawin ‘yung gala dinner. At saka siyempre may palabas tayo.

And we have to make, we have to make, again, kailangan magpasikat. Dahil noong kausap ko ang mga Prime Minister at saka President ng ASEAN, sinasabi ko, aba I didn’t realize it was such a big production. Oh yes, and I’m sure, but they said, I’m sure the Philippines, you’re going to have a very, very nice show because we know the Philippines is full of talent, the singers, the dancers, all the entertainers. Sabi ko, oh no pressure, sabi ko [laughter] kailangan pagbutihan natin.

And so today I went there and we made the necessary adjustments. Basically minadali ko lahat to make sure that everything is in place. And that’s why I was saying earlier that I will be here more often. Magkikita tayo but your job is I suppose 90 plus percent done.

Now it’s our job to put up the tent and the hall for the gala dinner which is very, very important, which will feature the best of the Philippines.

The other reason why we chose Cebu was maraming talent dito. Marami tayong puwedeng puntahan. There are many areas. Kasi hindi naman, ‘pag kami, mga leaders, all we see are the inside of the convention center and the inside of our hotel.

But the rest of the delegations go around and they visit all the places. So you have to have a place for them to go. And this is the only place that’s really tourist-oriented and visitor-oriented. Outside of Manila, of course.

Actually, mas maganda pa yata rito dahil you don’t have to deal with all the other things. And the facilities are excellent. Malapit ang airport. Madali i-secure. You can secure the entire place. So hindi magulo. Traffic is not going to be a problem.

So it really turned out, ‘yun lang kulang was the convention center. Now that you have built the convention center, we can say that when we have built the temporary – tatayo kami ng tent and put up a bamboo house, then we will have completed all the preparation at least for May. And the next thing, the next job that we are going to have to do is to prepare in Manila.

But in Manila, again, PICC is ready. We have fixed it. Pinaganda namin. It’s brand new. It looks brand new. And it’s a very good facility anyway. And so, medyo mas magaan ang loob ko – I don’t worry as much now about them there because the facilities have been there for decades.

And, you know, having seen this, I don’t have to worry about this area anymore because of all your hard work. [applause]

So, I congratulate you all and I am happy that we have this here, not only for ASEAN, not only for the big summit meetings, but for afterwards because this will be here. After the Philippine Chairship of ASEAN is over at the end of this year, this expo – Mactan Expo will still be here to welcome all the visitors from around the world.

And once again it is of such quality and it is of such beauty that I don’t think we will have to worry about it being good enough for whatever else you decide to organize, whatever else you decide to conduct here in this Mactan Expo.

So, I’m very proud to have my name on the plaque there in front that we just unveiled. I had very little to do with it except to put pressure on all of you guys. You guys did all the heavy lifting, as they say.

And again we are – I am very grateful for all your hard work. I am grateful for all your dedication to put the Philippines’ best foot forward for not only our Asian neighbors, but for the rest of the world.

In the many years to come, this will be remembered as a landmark facility for not only for Cebu, not only for Lapu-Lapu, but for the entire Philippines.

People will come away from here and they will go back home and they will say, “ang ganda pala doon.” We were hosted in this beautiful place. Not just ASEAN, everyone that will come here will have the same reaction.

And for that, we have you to thank. We have – and I look forward, the future is going to be bright for all of those who will be involved in the use and the running and the operation of the Mactan Expo and of course all the surrounding development that has been put together.

We were driving around with Kevin earlier at nakita namin lahat nung mga — the restaurants, the bars, all of these places that are really very well suited to our visitors traveling here. And that’s why I speak not only of ASEAN, I speak not only of Mactan Expo, but also all the entire tourism industry.

This is a big boost to our tourism industry. We have to develop our tourism industry. We have such competition around our region.

But we have the single advantage. And that is what we have come to call in the tourism industry here in the Philippines – the Filipino smile. And that is something that everybody appreciates. And we are the most – as far as I can tell as hospitable as – probably more hospitable than the average person. And so we look forward to greater successes in the future

So once again, thank you all of you that have been involved in the putting up of this facility. All the way from Kevin, all the way to every single worker that ever put their hands on this facility. I thank you for all your hard work.

I congratulate you for the very beautiful building that you have put together, this facility that you have put together, not only is it good looking, it is functional and it is ready, it is open for business. And so, all we now have to do is to get ourselves organized, make sure that everything goes well.

And so long as we get a good start with the ASEAN Summit which begins on the 8th of May, then I’m sure that there’s nowhere to go but up.

Well done. Congratulations. The future is bright.

Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat. [applause]

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