The construction of the state-of-the-art PICC Complex was undertaken in a short span of 23 months, from November 1974 to September 1976, with Leandro Locsin as architect, who was subsequently named a National Artist.
From its inception to the present, the PICC has also hosted the annual Awards Night of the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences (FAMAS), the Philippine equivalent of the Oscars, mostly at its Plenary Hall.
On September 5, 1976, the PICC, Asia's first international convention center was officially opened to the world when it hosted the 1976 IMF-World Bank Meeting.