The Development Center for Finance successfully conducted its annual Project Finance Seminar on September 11, 19, and 26, 2026 via Zoom. It was attended by forty-six (46) participants from corporations in various sectors like banking, energy, property, logistics, and service.
The seminar was handled by three (3) experienced resource speakers: Dr. Arthur S. Cayanan, Assistant Professor Diogenes C. Dy, and Mr. Lawrence G. Velasco. Dr. Cayanan and Assistant Professor Dy are faculty members of the Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business who specialize in finance, teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Mr. Velasco is a former Director of the Project Development Services of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines with extensive experience in project finance having handled several project finance deals.
The morning sessions on Days 1 and 2 focused on establishing a strong foundation in core financial concepts. In the morning session of Day 1, Dr. Cayanan led the morning session on capital budgeting, guiding participants through practical tools and techniques using hands-on exercises. In the morning of session of Day 2, Assistant Professor Dy discussed cost of capital and capital structure and demonstrating how cost of capital is computed.
Mr. Velasco led the core project finance modules across all three days. During the afternoon of Day 1, he introduced the essential features of project finance and the roles of various deal stakeholders. In the afternoon of Day 2, he covered risk identification, allocation, and mitigation strategies.
On the final day, Mr. Velasco guided participants through the process of conducting a financial evaluation of a project finance deal and outlined key funding sources. As a final activity, participants tackled a Project Finance case to apply everything they learned across all the sessions. Here is some feedback from seminar participants:
“Sir Lawrence is very good at explaining as he made the topic very understandable through relatable topics. Even when I am still just starting in the finance/banking industry, I was able to follow the discussion through his strategy. Sir Lawrence is prepared, experienced with real industry and government projects, and delivered a very interesting discussion on concepts but also the intricacies of PPPs and large projects.”
“Sir Lawrence is grounded in real-life examples. He is prepared, with the right amount of overviews, concepts, examples, and details. He has a calm yet authoritative manner of speaking.”
“Sir Lawrence’s discussion is so insightful and thorough. As someone just beginning to learn project finance his topics are really helpful!”
“I enjoyed the discussion with Sir Art as he was also able to engage the class while specifically discussing the subject matter, especially the computation parts.”
“Sir Dondon is a great teacher. I learned which are the potential sources as well as the references for cost of capital estimation.”
