CEBU Chamber of Commerce and Industry past president Melanie Ng formally accepted Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, her new responsibility as the regional governor (RG) of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Central Visayas.Ng succeeded Edward Du of Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who had served as the regional governor for Central Visayas since 2016.“Being a regional governor for Central Visayas imposes a great deal of responsibility, but I trust the support of the six chambers of Region 7 and PCCI, we will be able to achieve our set objectives as one business community,” said Ng, during the PCCI’s virtual turnover and presentation Ceremony.Ng admitted that she has big shoes to fill as the newly elected RG, especially since the Visayas has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and the most recent super typhoon Odette (Rai) in December 2021.“The mission given to me is to be the mentor, to be the link to strengthen the collaborative efforts and unifying advocacies that the chambers in Region 7 have experienced and continue to face every day. It is against this backdrop that we must assess our progress to date and our ability to move forward to the future, to the plans and priority areas that we have identified in the region,” Ng added.She explained that as the regional representative of PCCI, the RG’s role is to act as a mentor to the local chambers, be their guide in chamber development, concerns and issues.The RG, she said, is the link with the local chambers on advocacies and issues, who sends reports and updates to the Visayas area vice president, vice president for regional affairs and PCCI president and board.“As we continue the advocacies set forth by our outgoing PCCI Region 7 governor Edward Du together with the dedicated presidents of the six chambers in Region 7, I know we can realize our goals so long as we have concrete plans and programs in place. We will adapt our strategies to the current needs of business and the priority areas identified by our Region 7 chambers,” said Ng.These priority areas include addressing the economic and tourism recovery programs post-Odette; how to live with Covid; pandemic recovery and resiliency programs; issues on the high cost of power and fuel; provision of renewable energy source; micro, small and medium enterprise development and regional investment promotion plans; information technology connectivity and infrastructure development; road transport infrastructure development; and to overall address the stumbling blocks to improve and ease the cost of doing business.Moreover, Ng vowed to continue to support the creation and implementation of innovative and relevant policies to help the industry recover and in turn promote economic growth, resilience and long-term sustainability for the region.Besides Ng, the six-chamber leaders in the region—Reginald Ong, president of Bohol CCI, Felix Taguiam of Cebu CCI, Steven Alain Yu of Mandaue CCI, Francisco Martinez of Negros CCI, Angie Hoffman of Panglao CCI and Arthur Chan of Sijuijor CCI—also took an oath before newly elected PCCI president George Barcelon.