Duterte eyes ecozones outside Metro Manila

MANILA, Philippines - Incoming president Rodrigo Duterte is planning to establish economic zones outside Metro Manila to create jobs for the poor and to promote development outside the capital.

The economic zones would serve as trading centers as well as relocation sites for poor people in congested Manila.

“I intend to spend most of the money for this year to alleviate hunger and poverty. Then I will ask the engineers, I will look for land, we will build ecozones,” Duterte said in a press conference in Davao City Wednesday night.

Duterte said residents of the economic zones would be assured of employment and access to basic services like health care and education. 

“I have to build a new environment for the people. I will place them in ecozones and provide them assistance. I will build hospitals there. There will be economic activity,” the incoming president said.

“Once they arrive there, they will have jobs,” he added. 

Duterte said he would no longer permit the building of new factories in Manila, which he described as a “dead city.” 

“I have to create more jobs but Manila is already saturated… I have to relocate them (poor people) but before that, I have to establish economic activity,” he said.  

Last March, the government reported that poverty incidence among Filipinos went down to 26.3 percent in the first semester of 2015 due to higher incomes. Subsistence incidence or the proportion of Filipinos in extreme poverty, was pegged at 12.1 percent in the same period.

The Philippine economy, on the other hand, grew by a higher-than-expected 6.9 percent in the first quarter, the fastest among major Asian economies.

Critics, however, said the growth has failed to generate enough jobs and has yet to benefit the poorest sectors.

The country’s rich-poor divide is on vivid display in the metropolis, where slums are just a few kilometers from gated villages with luxury homes for the rich, as well as glittering skyscrapers and billion-dollar casino complexes.

Duterte expressed dismay at the sight of Metro Manila’s polluted canals, which are surrounded by shantytowns. He said he wanted to create opportunities elsewhere so people would not have to live in such squalid conditions.