"Growth has been uneven."
"Growth has been uneven."
The big commotion last year about Benham Rise—the discovery that Chinese ships had been roaming the Rise without the knowledge and authorization of the Philippine government—made most Filipinos aware of the existence of a vast expense of Philippine-owned sea off the eastern coast of Luzon. It did something else too: it brought to their attention the economic situation of the provinces on the eastern side of this country’s largest island.
Excluding the island provinces of Batanes and Catanduanes, there are seven provinces along the coast of Eastern Luzon. In four provinces (Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino, Ilocano and Ibanag are spoken, two (Aurora and Quezon) are Filipino-speaking and four (Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay and Sorsogon) are Bicolano speaking. Cagayan and Isabela are in the Cagayan Valley.
There is no scenic Eastern Luzon highway linking the eight provinces; there is only one Maharlika (originally the Philippine-Japan Friendship) Highway. The only west-east highway is the highway linking Marikina City and Infanta, Quezon.
Official GRP (gross regional product) data for Luzon indicate that of the six regions into which Luzon is divided—Ilocos region, Cagayan Valley Central Luzon, National Capital Region, Calabarzon and Bicol—the two Eastern Luzon regions have been the economic laggards.
Needless to say, the No. 1 Luzon region in terms of economic growth and physical development has been the NCR (National Capital Region). This is hardly surprising, considering the fact that NCR’s 17 LGUs (local government units) are among the wealthiest in the country and NCR’s historical political and economic advantages especially (location, government presence, physical facilities and financial infrastructure). Official estimates place NCR’s contribution to GDP (gross domestic product) at approximately 15 percent.
The second best economic performance has been posted by Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon). Growth has been greatest in Cavite and Laguna, undoubtedly because of their greatest proximity to NCR. But Batangas and Quezon have been catching up.
The No. 3 Luzon region in terms of economic performance has been Central Luzon, which stretches from Pangasinan and Bataan in the west to Nueva Ecija in the east. The presence of two huge former military installations—Clark air base and the Subic-Olongapo naval complex—in the region has guaranteed its emergence into an economically vibrant part of Luzon. This advantage has been buttressed by the operations of two of this country’s two leading agricultural industries, viz., the rice and sugar industries. The development of Clark as a major civil aviation hub and of Subic as a shipbuilding ship repair center have caused an acceleration of Central Luzon’s economic development.
The Ilocos region has been hit hard by the government’s fiscal moves against its traditional lead crop, tobacco. But the region’s leaders have tried to compensate for that by investing heavily in tourism and in the production of indigenous energy resources.
CAR has been the worst economic performer among Luzon’s western regions. There is general agreement that his has been the result not of lack of physical resources—Baguio City’s vigorous tourist industry attests to that—but of lack of leadership on the part of the regional authorities. With increased investment and government attention, CAR’s tourism industry can really take off.
Luzon’s eastern regions—Cagayan Valley and Bicol—could be doing much better, economically speaking, than they have. The agricultural industries of Cagayan, Isabela, Camarines Sur and Albay—producers of rice, corn and sugar—have remained strong, but they are increasingly threatened by the competitive impact of globalization and regional free trade. Very sensibly, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon have been moving more and more into tourism. Given the absence of positive prospects for an influx of manufacturing projects—and the confusing government policy towards mining—harnessing the tourism potential of Luzon’s eastern seaboard is the way for the Bicol economy to go.
Clearly, the eastern part of Luzon has continued its historical record as an economic laggard compared to Luzon’s western part. A look at the Duterte administration’s 75-major-projects infrastructure program indicates no major project for Bicol or the Cagayan Valley. Under the circumstances, the leaders of these two regions will just have to do their best with the resources allotted to them by the General Appropriations Act and work hard to attract a consistent flow of private investment, especially into manufacturing.