Palace: Mega regions to bring RP to first world status

An ambitious economic plan to divide the country into four "mega regions" could put the Philippines back on the international economic map and bring "a quantum leap in investment and jobs," Malacañang declared yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the "mega regions" — North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines, and Mindanao — are envisioned to be "the harbinger of the first world-class status of the Philippines in 20 years."

"The massive devolution of development from the national to the regional level will break up the bureaucratic clog that impedes local progress, and spell a quantum leap in investments and jobs," Bunye said.

At the same time, the mega regions would complement the devolution of powers to local governments as envisioned in recently proposed amendments to the Constitution, Bunye stressed.

"The mega regions are a good companion to the broader distribution of political power through Charter reform," he said.

Though the economic strategy was announced last week, this was the first time the Palace had linked the creation of the four regions to efforts to amend the Constitution.

The Arroyo administration’s Charter change campaign has been widely embraced by local government officials who view it as a means to greater autonomy and federalism under a parliamentary form of government.

Malacañang announced earlier that it was drafting the blueprint of an economic plan that would divide the country into four "supra-regions," where financial resources could be poured jointly by the national and local governments to spur growth and create markets for investments.

The government said the move is a fundamental shift in the Arroyo administration’s plan to "review and revitalize investments and developmental blueprint from a supra-regional perspective."

Last week, Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo announced that President Arroyo would soon issue an executive order dividing the Philippines into the following areas: North Luzon, which covers Regions 1 and 2, the Cordillera Autonomous Region, Aurora and Nueva Ecija; Metro Luzon; Central Philippines, which covers Regions 4-b, 5, 6,7 and 8; and Mindanao, which covers Regions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and the ARMM. 

The President said she aims to bring the national government and local governments into closer coordination for better economic planning.

Instead of discussing the administration’s vision from the usual centralist point of view, Mrs. Arroyo said she wants to hear the perspectives of Regional Development Councils and other local bodies since they are Malacañang’s partners in development.

"Today, we begin a renewed partnership with regional leaders to bolster education, invest in infrastructure and encourage greater investment all over the country such as logistics investments, expressways and ports in the urban beltway, business process outsourcing in Baguio, Cebu and Davao, tourism investments in the Visayas, Palawan and Bicol, agribusiness investments in Mindanao and Northern Luzon, to name only a few," Mrs. Arroyo said last week at the start of the series of meetings with local officials from the four mega regions. 

The President has pledged some P100 billion for the four mega regions which local officials could use over a span of three years to jumpstart their fledgling economies.

During a joint Cabinet-Regional Development Council meeting last week, the President announced plans to pour a total of 75 billion into Northern Luzon alone for the region’s tourism, agricultural and mining potentials.