THERE’s no doubt the Philippines is an archipelago that boasts of incredible diversity in a lot of things.
To begin with, the Philippines has 81 provinces, from Abra in the Cordillera Administrative Region to Zamboanga Sibugay in the Zamboanga Peninsula. In terms of size, the country ranks 64th in the world, behind nations like Japan and Thailand. In terms of population, we are No. 12. Luzon has a population larger than Canada’s. If you travel from northern Luzon to Batangas province in the island’s south, you would hear several major languages being spoken and meet people with a heritage and history that’s different from yours.
But the future of the Philippines belongs to those 81 provinces, not to the National Capital Region (NCR). The seat of the national government and a sizable portion of the country’s population may be in the greater Metro Manila area, but if the country is to advance, then the focus of economic growth must shift away from the capital.
The problem, though, is that the emphasis of policy is not on the provinces. The transportation problems of Metro Manila hog the headlines of the major daily newspapers, but the same cannot be said of the transportation problems of the country’s other metropolitan areas, such as Metro Cebu and Metro Davao. These “local problems” should also be of national concern.
While the media cover a senator standing in line and riding an overcrowded Metro Rail Transit 3 coach, it would seem that no senator publicly braved the eight-hour drive to Baler, Aurora province. Granted that Baler is considered a “second-class municipality” and only has a population of less than 50,000, there are 10 times as many municipalities as there are cities.
While the legislature is worried about the slow Internet speed in the country, some provinces are concerned about the “speed” of tourism-sector growth. In Metro Manila government policy is looking to ensure that there are enough qualified people to work in the business-process outsourcing industry. In Negros island people are concerned that the number of cost-effective, low-skilled sugar-cane cutters is diminishing.
The government must set its priorities based on allocating resources in a way that’s best for the country as a whole. However, it cannot simply ignore the problems in the provinces and dismiss them as mere “local concerns”.
One of the reasons for the repeated calls to shift to a federal system of government is to give a greater voice to provincial matters on the national level. While all our senators may be from a particular province, they do not represent it.
When you look at the economic growth of the Philippines over the last decade, a great part of that was a direct result of what is happening outside the NCR. We can no longer treat the provinces as an afterthought. They must be put at the top of the list of priorities.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano
1 comment
This is one of the reasons that budget allocations (PDAF, not pork) for Senators and Congressmen makes sense. While I concede that legislators need to legislate, they are (for the present) instrumental in pinpointing (not disbursing $$$ of having a hand in) projects that are crucial to the development of our nation’s 81 provinces and 17 regions.