LEGAZPI CITY—The Luzon Area Development Coordinating Council (LADCC) recently elected as its chairman Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, who also heads the Bicol Regional Development Council (RDC).
Salceda vowed to pursue the 2045 Luzon Plan, which is now on the drawing board. LADCC is a cluster of eight RDCs tasked to stir and steer the economic direction of mainland Luzon, the hub of the country’s business and economy, and seat of the national government. It comprises 38 provinces and 771 cities and towns.
Salceda’s economic expertise and knowledge in the field of climate- change adaptation and disaster risk reduction were deemed urgent factors in charting the economic development of Luzon through the LADCC.
His election is Salceda’s second time to hold a Luzon-wide post. The first was when he was elected by a cluster of five RDCs two years ago.
He was also elected president of all RDC chairmen in the country in 2012, and sat in the National Economic and Development Authority Board, representing the country’s 17 regions. Salceda is credited for Bicol’s impressive economic rise in so short a time. The Bicol region is constantly battered by natural calamities but posted a record 9.4-percent growth last year to become the country’s fastest-growing region, faster than the National Capital Region’s 9.1-percent growth rate.
Salceda said the LADCC will initially lay out its Luzon 2045 Plan, under which its 2015-2045 Spatial Development Plan Framework will be formulated. It will basically be a plan for growth, integration and climate adaptation of the area.
He explained that the Luzon 2045 Plan will take into account the concentration or distribution of population based on hierarchy and growth; connectivity or seamless integration of urban, production and protection areas through transport and infrastructure development; vulnerability reduction or hazard mitigation and protection of elements at risk; and enhancement of adaptive capabilities.
The LADCC, he added, shall also prioritize the railway transport system—the North-South Railways Project, principally the South line to Matnog in Sorsogon with a spur to Legazpi City; the North line to Tuguegarao, Cagayan, with spurs west to Clark, Pampanga, and north to Vigan, Ilocos Sur; and the North-South Commuter Rail from Malolos, Bulacan, to Calamba, Laguna.
To get priority billing, too, he added, is the drafting of the strategy for agriculture and countryside enterprises to address the challenges of the integration of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) starting next year into an Asean Economic Community, a single regional common market.
Asean groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Together, they have a combined population of some 600 million people. Salceda said Coastal and Marine Resources Management will, likewise, be given preference, for the island-provinces of Luzon and coastal communities, with special focus on growth and protection of their areas. PNA
A noted economist and former economic adviser to Philippine Presidents, Salceda is also a leading campaigner for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, which are deemed important factors in contemporary development planning.
The 2013 record growth of the Bicol Region, according to NEDA, was powered by a strong tourism program, pushed by the creation of the Albay, Masbate and Sorsogon (Almasor) Tourism Alliance, a Salceda brainchild.
Also a factor in the region’s impressive economic growth was the establishment of the Albay International Gateway (AIG) which now caters to international direct flights from China, and later other Asian countries.
PNA