LEGAZPI CITY—Bicol Region’s 8.4-percent economic expansion made it the fastest growing region in the country in 2015.
Albay’ 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, a noted economist, attributed Bicol’s economic growth performance to the accelerated infrastructure development in the region, the private sector and Bicolanos’ hard work.
Before he was elected to Congress, Salceda served as Albay governor and chaired the Bicol Regional Development Council for nine years and the Luzon Area Development Committee for six years.
Public investments in infrastructure in Bicol reached P1.69 billion in 2015, with the widening of 52 kilometers of roads and 846 linear meters of bridges along Maharlika Highway, otherwise known as Asian Highway 26, under a cooperative scheme among Asian countries.
Salceda said there was strong contribution from planning, implementation follow-up and vigorous project monitoring by Bicol RDC which complemented the dynamic and collaborative members including local government units and non-government agencies.
He recently completed his three-term Albay governorship and was elected congressman of his province’s central district in May.
Bicol’s recorded 2015 gross domestic product growth was almost double that of 2014, which was only of 4.3 percent, exceeding the Regional Development Plan target of 6.7 percent. It was higher by 2.6 percentage points than the national growth of 5.8 percent in the same period.
Many of Salceda’s current priorities in Congress are to support legislations designed to push completion of ongoing infrastructure projects and further accelerate the region’s progress. Among these projects are the Bicol International Airport, which got P1.55 billion in 2015 for airside construction; the South Luzon Railways system; the Almasor (Albay-Masbate-Sorsogon) Tourism Alliance road networks; the Albay-Camarines Sur diversion road, the Guicadale (Guinobatan-Camalig-Daraga-Legazpi) Econ Platform roads, the Albay-Donsol (Sorsogon) triple road links and the Albay West Coast highway.
Salceda sponsored the projects’ feasibility studies and pushed their approvals from the Provincial Development Council to RDC to the Investment Coordination Committee, to National Economic and Development Authority Cabinet Committee, and to the Development Budget Coordination Committee.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said Bicol’s economic growth was driven by the industry sector, which accelerated from 5.3 percent in 2014 to 23.7 percent in 2015.
The services sector also grew faster from 5.4 percent in 2014 to 7.5 percent in 2015, while the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector contracted 2.3 percent in 2015 from a 1.1-percent growth in 2014.
Services contributed the biggest share to the region’s economy with 56.1 percent.