Last week’s article dealt with the immense problems of Metro Manila, located on the western portion of Luzon, with a telling day time population of 14 million people, a limited land area of only 63,330 hectares and much more limited resources to decently sustain both the environment and the residents. We proposed then that development should be re-focused to the Eastern Luzon Seaboard and cited a current project – the Pacific Coast Cities – as a viable alternative and solution to the woes of Metro Manila .
Indeed, in the Philippines to date the bulk of development has been concentrated on the western side of the country facing the South China Sea. This likewise poses a serious security risk if and when conflict arises out of the conflicting claims over the Spratly islands.
For economic reasons as well, it is well high time that we should concentrate on the development of the Eastern Luzon seaboard of the country which has been neglected for over 50 years since our independence. This five million hectares of land in the Eastern Board, one-sixth of the total land area of the country, remains largely idle and depressed.
It should be the primordial concern of government to develop these areas as they do not presently contribute to national productivity, revenues or employment.
The advantage on embarking on the development of the eastern seaboard now is that we have the technology both in planning and actual implementation such that we can direct its progress from day one through proper master-planning. We can look up to California as a model as it fully and beautifully developed its eastern side facing the Pacific Ocean from San Diego to San Francisco.
Even in feng-shui considerations the east is the better side where people should be living and working. The east, which is the direction of the sunrise, is associated with good luck while the west, where the sun sets, is given to bad omen. It is no wonder, then, that the Philippines which has, heretofore, concentrated development on its western side is not as lucky as its neighbors who have developed more purposely their eastern portions.
The vast tracts of our eastern land could very well serve as the relocation site of our people who congest the urban centers in the west. Here in the east there is land for our homeless brothers and land, and yet more land, to be worked on by them.
Specifically, on the Eastern Luzon Seaboard straddling the Sierra Madre mountain range in Dingalan, Aurora and General Nakar, Quezon is a 30,000-hectare master-planned area that can easily decongest the Metropolitan Manila area. With full government support, this 30,000-hectare area, together with a possible joint-ventureship with the government over 50,000 more hectares at General Nakar, Quezon, could very well spur economic development of the eastern board as all of the 80,000-hectare area has already been master-planned for growth. This project is known as the Pacific Coast Cities.
Already, as projected in the masterplan, the 30,000-hectare property alone is determined to generate more than P1 trillion in taxes during the lifetime of the project. Also, studies reveal that the project will provide 3.5-million employment opportunities also for the duration of the project.
Particularly, the Pacific Coast Cities has been master-planned to be composed of an integrated and complete development that encompasses all major phases of human activity.
Envisioned in the master-plan is a City of Learning where state-of-the-art educational facilities shall rise to teach and educate our people to be productive citizens in their time. An industrial city is proposed to be home to the factories and plants that will produce local products of superior quality. There will be a workers’ city for the labor force in the area. Being naturally endowed with the virgin Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean front, the project includes a resort city to cater to tourists, both local and foreign.
The master-plan includes, as well, a government center where all government offices will be housed. A substantial portion is reserved for the indigenous people of the area. There is a planned ecumenical center and an olympic city. The entire hectare area, to the last square meter, is master-planned from day one.
The project just described is of course but a model of what the Eastern Board promises to be with its vast natural resources and pristine beauty. There can and should be other master-planned projects that can contribute to the full and complete development of the sunrise side of the country.
All these grand designs, plans and dreams can, however, come to reality only with proper and adequate government financing in local currency. Ultimately, they have to be financed by government through long-term, low-interest bond flotations bought by the central bank through the issuance of new money and securitized against future taxes.
In this connection, we propose again, as we keep proposing in our previous articles, that Section 117 of the New Central Bank Act be amended to include a provision as follows: "In order to foster sustained economic growth, the BSP is mandated to buy with local currency 30-year long-term and up to four-percent low-interest securities or bonds with a 10-year grace period issued by the government, its agencies and instrumentalities for purposes of financing all the infrastructure and utilities of the country."
This singular change in the law will be a positive giant leap forward and is the most effective mechanism to develop the country, in general, and the Eastern Board in particularly as well as the Pacific Coast Cities.
Our succeeding articles will delve in more detail with the components of the Pacific Coast Cities as well as the mechanism for its financing. The Pacific Coast Cities could very well indeed be a model both of development and of financing development and should be replicated in other parts of the country.
You may write your comments / suggestion at 15/F Equitable Bank Tower Paseo de Roxas, Makati City or through e-mail at HYPERLINK "mailto:rgroxas@lawyer.com"
(Editor’s note: Atty. Roxas is writing a limited series of articles dealing with financial matters and other important business topics. He is available for speaking engagements on the subject matters of his articles.)