THE LAGUNA INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL PARK: A BRIEF HISTORY

Many Asian nations like Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, enjoyed rapid growth until they ran into difficulties spawned by the adverse effects of trading blocks and aggravated spiraling production costs in these home countries. This situation demands that today’s enterprises, which are backbones of economic growth of nations, must adopt innovative management and business strategies. One of the best alternatives is to relocate business operations abroad where they can be more cost-competitive in terms of serving the global market.

The popular choice of the Philippines as a new production base did not come as a surprise. The increasing popularity of the Philippines is due to important factors that make it more attractive than other countries such as its strategic location, highly trainable and English-speaking labor force, reasonable labor cost, and complete system of laws, investment incentives and guarantees.

In 1992, Laguna International Industrial Park (LIIP) was developed by Laguna International Industrial, Inc. (LIIPI), a joint venture of Samsung Corp and Solid Corp. This is in response to the call of the government for private sector to participate in the area of investment infrastructure support which the Philippines need to make significant advances.

LIIP is a world class industrial park located at Mamplasan, Biñan Laguna, about thirty (30) kilometers away from Manila, complete with facilities for power, telecommunications, water, roads, a centralized Sewerage Treatment plant (STP), and other. It has 117 hectares total area with thirty (30) hectares allocated to Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) – registered companies under PEZA registration signed on February 19, 1992.
In January 14, 1993, Laguna International Industrial Park Association, Inc. (LIIPAI) was registered at the Securities Exchange Commission or SEC. LIIPAI was formed to promote and safeguard the general welfare, property, service reputation of the offices and commercial areas at the LIIP, as well as the best interest and well-being of the owners, lessees and occupants of the properties inside LIIP.

The management of the industrial park eventually was turned-over by the developer (LIIPI) to the Association (LIIPAI) under the Memorandum of Agreement signed on November 6, 1995.