By Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — A PHP300-million convention center is being eyed to be established in Antique’s capital town of San Jose de Buenavista.
Antique Provincial Information Officer Galileo Magbanua said in an interview Thursday that the convention center is proposed to be built in Barangay Badiang in San Jose de Buenavista to cater to big gatherings and conventions.
“The convention center will be put up in a two-hectare lot owned by the provincial government,” he said.
The budget for the construction was included in the 2019 General Appropriations Act (GAA) initiated by Senator Loren Legarda.
“The convention center will have a hotel and swimming pool,” he said.
Antique Governor Rhodora Cadiao, in an earlier interview, said the convention center is needed so the province would be able to host big gatherings of national government agencies, as well as private corporations.
“The convention center might even be bigger than that in Iloilo city,” she said.
As of now, the government conferences are held in private hotels or venues that could cater to only less than 1,000 delegates.
Meanwhile, the hotel and swimming pool would be added as amenities so delegates could relax.
The provincial government, at present, has a swimming pool in Binirayan Hills, being used mostly by athletes for training prior to their competitions.
