CREATING economic hubs nationwide would be a better use for the government’s resources than to ferry Metro Manila-based Filipinos to their home provinces under the Balik Probinsiya, Bagong Pagasa (BP2) program, according to local economists.
Ateneo de Manila University School of Government Dean Ronald Mendoza said the government can invest in areas outside of Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Metro-Cebu, Metro-Iloilo and Metro-Davao to spread growth and development in the countryside.
Mendoza said there are fast-emerging cities like Vigan City which could benefit from sustained investments that could lead to greater job creation outside of Metro Manila and other new growth engines.
“It is probably more effective (and lasting) incentive for reverse migration to encourage the growth of new economic growth engines,” Mendoza told the BusinessMirror in an email.
Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development Director Alvin P. Ang earlier told the BusinessMirror that developing agriculture can help the country recover from this crisis and chart a better development path.
He said the country already has the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (Afma) of 1997, which aims to create the Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zones (SAFDZ)—areas for production and agro-processing, among others.
Given that this has been legislated already, the SAFDZ is a good first step toward realizing this new development path that will revive the economy and ensure the country’s food security, Ang said.
Action for Economic Reforms (AER) coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III told the BusinessMirror this is why the private sector must be included in any effort to spread development in the countryside.
He said it was only logical for people to move from rural areas to cities to work. This much has been the backbone of progress and modernization through millennia.
Sta. Ana said the government needs to modernize agriculture as well as enable investments and infrastructure in poorer regions. Without this, any reverse migration program is bound to fail.
“Moving people to provinces without private investments spurring development will fail. Besides, we have to accept that some areas will remain an economic backwater, thus compelling locals to look for jobs elsewhere,” he explained.
Federation of Economic Freedom (FEF) President Calixto V. Chikiamco told the BusinessMirror that industries, particularly agriculture, fishing, mining and forestry, must thrive before these kinds of programs exist.
Still, challenges that face these industries are not easy to overcome. Chikiamco said among the challenges are restrictions due to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), as well as what he deems an overreach and overregulation in forestry by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Further, Chikiamco said the ban imposed on new mining permits continues to be a major challenge for mining to thrive nationwide.
These are on top of the lack of infrastructure and high logistics costs that prevent rural goods from being shipped to more urban markets.
“To further incentivize people to remain in the provinces, good schools where families can send their children for a good education without sending them to Manila must be present,” Chikiamco said. “Balik Probinsya will fail, as had some previous back-to-the-provinces [initiatives] failed.”
Mendoza said the Duterte administration is not the first to come up with a reverse migration program. Other administrations introduced incentives for relocation and threw in subsidized housing and other financial benefits to sweeten the deal.
However, he said these mostly failed because these were “shallow, temporary and largely unsustainable” benefits that can support reverse migration in the country.
“These types of programs tend to be a waste of public-sector resources and merely become ‘ningas cogon’—they eventually collapse due to the sheer size of the challenge and lack of significant impact,” Mendoza said.
Confusion
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Acting Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua, who serves as the vice chairman of the BP2 Council, said the decisions made regarding the BP2 were a collective decision, including the timing.
Soon after launching, local government units (LGUs) expressed their dismay at the BP2, blaming the program for the increase of Covid-19 cases in their locales.
BP2 Council and National Housing Authority (NHA) General Manager Marcelino Escalada said there has been confusion between the BP2 and the Hatid Probinsya programs.
However, last week, Escalada said the BP2 Council decided to suspend the program to prioritize the Hatid Probinsiya program of the government. The latter program aims to ferry locally stranded individuals (LSIs), or those caught by the Covid-forced lockdowns in Metro Manila, back to their provinces.
Neda Assistant Secretary for Regional Development Mercedita A. Sombilla said the government will be releasing a primer on the BP2 program to clarify the differences between BP2 and Hatid Probinsiya.
Sombilla also stressed that the BP2 was designed to help boost the local economies in the countryside. This will help strengthen LGUs nationwide.
“That is what the program is all about—to strengthen the LGUs. The first batch and the two or three subsequent ones were selected because they are supposed to have the least need of government support in terms of housing, job placements,” Sombilla said.
Escalada said once stranded Filipinos in Metro Manila are brought back to their provinces, the government can already resume the BP2. This is expected to happen in a month’s time.
Previously, Escalada reported that the government has received 79,746 applications. This includes 79,648 online applications and 98 on-site applications done via barangays.
Of the total, 43,750 were traveling alone and 35,996 were traveling together with their families. The top destination in terms of province is Leyte, accounting for 12.51 percent of applications.
This was followed by Samar with 5.51 percent; Negros Occidental, 4.54 percent; Northern Samar, 3.63 percent; Camarines Sur, 3.03 percent.
The provinces in the top 10 included Eastern Samar with 2.99 percent followed by Zamboanga del Norte, 2.92 percent; Bohol, 2.82 percent; Southern Leyte, 2.78 percent; and Pangasinan, 2.78 percent.
Based on the data, applicants chose to go back to the provinces for employment; farming; and retailing. However, around 17.24 percent of them were still undecided.
Image credits: Roy Domingo
2 comments