LEGAZPI CITY—Tourism and significant economic gains in related fields have cut poverty in Albay by half, the Philippine Statistics Authority said in a recent report.
Albay’s poverty incidence rate went down to 17.6 percent in 2015 from a high of 33.9 percent in 2012, the PSA report said.
The national poverty downgrade average for the same period was just 3.6 percent, from 25.2 percent in 2012 to 21.6 percent last year. The Bicol Region’s average was 4.5 percent, from 32.2 percent in 2112 to 27.5 percent in 2112.
Albay’s 16.3 percent reduction makes it the least poor among Bicol’s six provinces. Trailing its poverty threshold are Camarines Sur with 27.15 percent, Camarines Norte (up 29.3 percent from 21.7 percent), Sorsogon (31.7 percent from 31.3 percent), Masbate (35.5 percent from 40.6 percent), and Catanduanes, (33.6 percent from 27.1 percent).
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, who was governor of his province for nine years until his recent return to Congress, attributed the drop to their Albay Green Economy program, tourism gains and “unprecedented unity of purpose among Albayanos.”
As governor, Salceda oversaw Albay’s tourism growth from 8,700 foreign tourist arrivals in 2006 to 374,949 in 2015.
The number becomes even more impressive with domestic tourists counted. From 124,675 in 2006, it rose to 1,042,646 in 2015, for a total of 1,417,646 arrivals.
Salceda expressed confidence that Albay’s tourism industry, supported by related programs in place, will continue to prosper and hit its goal of five million tourists, US$1 billion in investments and 235,000 jobs created in 10 years, especially after the completion of the Bicol International Airport in 2019 and a faster modern train system to Legazpi City by 2023.
The former governor is now senior vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, and vice chair of three other committees — Appropriations, Economic Affairs and Local Government.
