San fernando city: About 2,000 jobs have been initially generated in the province of La Union with the opening of the SM City La Union mall here on Friday. San Fernando City Mayor Hermenegildo Gualberto said this is a welcome development for the city and the province as a whole as the mall’s management has assured that 70 percent to 80 percent of the employees are from the province.

According to Philippines News Agency, Governor Mario Eduardo Ortega, in a separate interview, said the mall’s opening offers a wide array of selections for consumers, and challenges micro, small, and medium entrepreneurs (MSMEs) to upgrade. “When there’s competition, you have to compete. And the consumer is usually the beneficiary,” he said, assuring the MSMEs of assistance from the local government, as needed.

SM Supermalls President Steven Tan, in a recent interview, said they hire locally as much as they can as their way of giving back to the community where their malls are established. He said they also provide training and kiosks for MSMEs inside the mall for business collaboration. “We do not charge them the regular rate of regular players. Instead, we offer them very minimal fee to encourage them to do business. The more MSMEs we would be able to produce in our country, the better it is for our company since MSMEs are the backbone of the economy,” Tan said.

Gualberto confirmed that some of the city’s agripreneurs have availed of this offer. The mall, situated on a 9.8-hectare property at the Diversion Road, Barangay Biday here, was designed using Inabel and Ilocano bricks to pay homage to the culture and design of the area, Tan said. It was also inspired by beach and surfing, which the province is known for.