Opening remarks delivered before the
Strategic Planning Session on the
NORTHERN LUZON TRANSBORDER ECONOMIC COOPERATION
26 October 2002, 12:00 P.M.

The President has said that during the last 18 months her presidency has been about stopping all sorts of small fires. When you assume office in an extraordinary way, you expect a lot of problems and difficulties on our President and on our government. But the good news is the situation is stabilizing. And although the coming elections may be bringing a certain level of destabilization again, it is time to create more strategic objectives focused on the development programs of our country.

We have a government with so many needs. Although our private sector has an overwhelming supply of money, they are not willing to invest. Right now everything is on hold. Nevertheless, something is moving up – the real estate business. Everybody is investing on land. And the President has three major programs involving this booming industry.

For one thing, we have found out that DBP alone has a portfolio of 20B that has been sleeping. This money had been given by the Japanese government to DBP so that we can develop our ports. Here lies the first aspect of the President's program – to build new ports that will bring about new ways of transporting people and goods. Efficient transportation and alternative routes would open up our nation to new possibilities.

Not only alternative routes. The President is going as far as to say - why is everything centered in Manila? Why can’t we create alternative centers of development? The President is thinking of something very dramatic. What we are saying is that we would like to end Manila Imperialism. We have to distribute the center of political power in the country. In doing this, two things can happen – we disperse economic growth, as well as, disperse population.

Everybody is going to Manila that we would need to displace 70,000 families just to build new roads so that the traffic in Manila will improve. It would be costly to move 70,000 families from Metro Manila. At the same time, maintaining the social services of every Filipino living in the National Capital Region is too high, we cannot afford it anymore. Manila seems to be a dying city, and we have a dying center because everything is focused there.

Now, our problem is business and industry. People will only move to a certain location if their needs, like good infrastructure, are met. For example, our friend from the BIMP-EAGA would tell us that they have been meeting for the last 5 to 7 years, but nothing has really happened yet. The political situation in the country, particularly in Mindanao, leaves a negative perception of the Philippines that discourages people from moving and investing there. However, if conditions do improve the private sector and investors are willing to move here.

So, the President thought that if the private sector is willing to move, maybe we can move the government itself. Right now, we center all our government activities in the National Capital Region. About 100,000 employees of the national government are living in Manila. We have calculated that about 2.5 M people are direct beneficiaries of the national government in Metro Manila alone. It only makes sense that we should disperse the national government offices. The President has already made the decision that the National Defense and the Department of Agriculture will move to Mindanao. Laoag is also being considered [for another line agency]because of the good airport facility.

We look at Osmeña’s development plan in Cebu as a model. He invited people to invest in Cebu with the offer that whoever wanted to place the verticals will be promised how many meters of land as payment. That’s why people started grabbing land and Cebu boomed in a matter of years. We are hoping that this will happen in Mindanao, too. We are prepared to distribute 1 M hectares of land for investors.

We also need to capitalize on our resources. Like, with tuna fishing between Taiwan and the Philippines, we should share in the sea’s harvest. We could also take a look on the carabao as a major source of food and milk, and not just as a farmer’s helper. Right now, the former President’s Law on the Carabao protects the animal as a beast of burden. I think that we should advocate that we eat the carabao, like we do chickens. Right now, the largest concentration of carabaos is in Tuguegarao, about half a million. If we breed carabao for food and milk, then we would guarantee supply of the animal, and it will thrive as an industry. This is my pet project: the Carabao.

The President is also thinking of releasing 3B pesos - 1M for every town/per month, and higher amounts for cities, as capital for projects to develop any product they choose. The Department of Trade and Industry will serve as the contact agency for these projects. The presidential advisers are also finding ways to procure money (about 20 or 30B) from the Development Bank of the Philippines at lower interest rates than the current 11% for projects like Governor Dy of Isabela’s port development plan.

The President wants to release this 20B within 6 months! That’s why we are looking to our local officials to help spend this money. They can borrow the money, And they can consolidate their lands in their areas because we may pay in terms of land. If it is owned by the national government, then spot it and hold it. We can use it in building and dispersing the government from Manila to the provinces. These are all part of the second aspect of the development plan – to end Manila Imperialism by dispersing government offices in the provinces, thus creating new centers of development all over the country.

The last thing that we are proposing is the creation of new of summer capitals. We have Baguio, but is has become too crowded. If ever our 7M OFWs, coming home by the thousands everyday, want to go around with their families, we must be able to offer them something. If we are really thinking of developing our country’s products, let’s really think Filipino, and develop tourism. We should develop our best for our own people.

We are a nation of more than 50 languages and dialects, of many influences and cultures. We have so many things to sell. Our natural resources and our people are our strength. Let us develop them. So when foreign and local tourists explore our country expecting to see and actually experiencing what is uniquely Filipino.

These three steps: building ports and means of transportation, creating new centers of development all over the country, and developing tourism we aim to accomplish in the next 15 years. We start with the 20B the President wishes to release within 6 months for creating jobs, opportunities, products and services good enough for the Filipino and for the world.