The high-level ASEAN Health Tourism & Wellness Economy Summit officially commenced on September 4, 2026, at the SMX Convention Center Manila, drawing a prestigious delegation of trade ministers, diplomatic envoys, corporate investors, and health leaders. Convening as an Official ASEAN Side Event under the theme “Go Explore, Grow Communities, and Glow Together,” the summit is co-presented by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and fully endorsed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
The primary objective of the summit is to consolidate Southeast Asia’s fragmented health services, cross-border investment frameworks, and native agricultural supply chains into a unified, high-yield regional health and longevity economy.
HWONFEX ASEAN Handshake: (Center) Wanda Tulfo Teo, Former DOT Secretary and
Wellness Tourism Advocate; Macky Beltran-Soriano, Managing Director of HWONFEX; (L-R)
Jerome Tumambing, Officer-In-Charge, Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health
Care (PITAHC); Dr. Hernando Delizo, Director for Health and Wellness of the Philippine
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Clinica
Manila; Catherine Turvill, Chair for Health and Wellness of the Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (PCCI) and President of Nurture Wellness Village; Dr. Prem Jagyasi,
Internationally acclaimed consultant, speaker, and global authority on medical tourism, wellness
resorts, and healthcare marketing; Dr. Honey Carandang, National Scientist and Founder of
MLAC Institute for Psychosocial Services, Inc.; Ebb Hinchliffe, Executive Director of the
American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (AmCham Philippines); Brigadier General
Fatima Claire S. Navarro, Surgeon General of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); Dr.
Janice A. Saraza, MD, Officer-in-Charge of the Health Services and Wellness Department of
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR); Dr. Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr.,
President and CEO of the Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (PHILEXPORT)
Key Strategic Takeaways from the Summit Sessions
● The Ministerial Framework: The morning opened with a foundational policy briefing by Dr. Paulo Benito S. Tugbang (DOT Director for Health and Wellness Tourism), alongside critical regional support statements from DFA Undersecretary Leo M. Herrera-Lim (Philippine ASEAN Senior Official Meeting Leader), PCCI President Mr. Perry A. Ferrer, and ASEAN Business Advisory Council Philippines Chairman Mr. Jose Ma “Joey” Concepcion III [1.1].
● Driving High-Value Ecosystem Investments: Panel I unified regulatory and fiscal gatekeepers to unlock investor pathways into local infrastructure. Mr. Roberto Z. Zozobrado (General Manager/CEO of the Philippine Retirement Authority) detailed new Specialized Resident Retiree Visa (SRRV) policies designed to capture the global silver market. Concurrently, Mr. Emmanuel Cortero (PEZA Deputy Director General) mapped out institutional tax incentives and developer benefits for constructing state-of-the-art health zones and regional sports hubs.
● The Global Capability Blueprint: Former Undersecretary Nora Terrado delivered Plenary II, outlining the strategic roadmap to position the Philippines as the premier digital health and global capability hub for international healthcare tech firms.
● Integrating the Wellness Value Chain: Panel II connected market-driven demand to grassroots production, featuring Board of Investments (BOI) Director Mr. Francis Peñaflor, Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Ms. Cheryl Marie Natividad-Caballero, and PITAHC Director General Dr. Ma. Teresa C. Iñigo, who aligned local medical tourism infrastructure directly with indigenous traditional medicine standards.
● The ASEAN Plus Two Roadmap: Global benchmarks were set in Panel III by international diagnostics experts Dr. Junhyung Park (Director, Triohealix, Inc.) and Mr. Satoshi Geng (CEO, MedVigilance, Japan), who outlined how national policy frameworks can successfully utilize healthcare big data analytics, predictive tracking, and remote patient monitoring to scale modern longevity networks.
Anchoring Public Health as the Ultimate Social Safety Net
The summit’s core focus emphasized that national productivity and macroeconomic resilience are permanently tied to preventative, community-led healthcare. Delivering the cornerstone keynote address, DSWD Secretary Rexlon Ting Gatchalian laid out the policy framework linking social welfare directly to public health and human capital preservation:
“A resilient economy cannot be built on reactive healthcare; it must be anchored on proactive wellness and the systemic protection of human capital,” stated DSWD Secretary Rexlon Ting Gatchalian. “By endorsing HWONFEX 2026 as an Official ASEAN Side Event, the DSWD recognizes that preventative health, nutritional sustainability, and holistic well-being serve as the ultimate social safety net for our people. True social development means shifting from simply managing vulnerabilities to actively empowering our grassroots workforce to thrive. When we bridge public welfare policy with high-value health trade, we build healthier local communities and elevate the entire ASEAN region into a unified, wealthy economic bloc.”
Commercial Momentum & Public Access
The high-level policy dialogues directly translated into live business transactions through the concurrent B2B Business Matching channels, which operated throughout the day to connect international hosted buyers with regional suppliers.
While the premium Summit tracks brought together decision-makers inside the plenary rooms, the public gates opened for HilomX, the Philippine Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) eXposition, and the main trade floor, which remain completely free to the public to encourage grassroots wellness access.
The summit concludes tomorrow with resolutions and a structured framework for regional action presented by PCCI Director for Health and Wellness, Dr. Hernando B. Delizo.
Event partners and supporters include Institutional Lead Philippine Chamber Of Commerce And Industry (PCCI) and co-presented by Wellness Tourism Association Of The Philippines (WeTAP); in Major Partnership with the Department Of Agriculture, Department Of Agriculture PhilFIDA, Department Of Social Welfare And Development, Department Of Tourism (DOT), Philippine Institute Of Traditional And Alternative Health Care, Department of Migrant Workers (DMW); in Minor Partnership with the Philippine Amusement And Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA), Tourism Promotions Board (TPB); Official Host Venue of the ASEAN Delegation – Newport World Resorts; and Official Culinary & Hospitality Partner – Treston International College.
