A leader of the House of Representatives on Tuesday said the full backing of the country’s biggest business group for the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-Asa program should serve as a strong impetus for Congress to immediately pass the bill.
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. said the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) that boasts 35,000 enterprises nationwide has expressed its support to House Bill 6970 institutionalizing Balik Probinsya to create jobs in the countryside and decongest cities.
According to Villafuerte, with a population density of 20,785 persons per square kilometer (sq km)—or 60 times higher than the 337 persons per sq km at the national level—Metro Manila is ranked 15th among the most densely populated cities in the world.
PCCI has endorsed Villafuerte’s proposed legislation on township revitalization meant to finally decongest Metro Manila and create more jobs and livelihood opportunities in rural communities amid the seemingly drawn-out coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter sent last month to President Duterte, PCCI said “with high population density becoming a major cause of the spread of the contagious Covid-19, we all the more must intensify the Balik Probinsya effort.”
Villafuerte filed HB 6970 during the first regular session of the 18th Congress in a bid, he said, “to fast-track the implementation of President Duterte’s initiative to stop unbridled urban migration and create a lot of jobs plus livelihood and self-employment in the countryside and to encourage people to stay put and work in their home provinces.”
HB 6970 seeks to “harness public investments and incentives as the linchpin of a two-pronged approach to encourage people who have migrated to the heavily congested Metro Manila to return to their home provinces and for those who have opted to stay put in their cities or municipalities to remain there instead of relocating to Metro Manila and other urban centers in search of jobs, or better livelihood opportunities.”
President Duterte endorsed Balik Probinsya in one of his televised public addresses last May.
PCCI told President Duterte in the letter that the decongestion of urban centers, notably Metro Manila, “has been planned and in fact, has been the ambition of previous administrations, their efforts inevitably have fallen short of expectations and come to naught. No administration has yet been able to successfully reverse rural migration to Metro Manila and other urban centers!”
Moreover, Villafuerte said he will “encourage businesses to relocate or expand to rural areas via a slew of government come-ons, such as tax breaks; incentives for relocation and creation of new jobs; and low-interest loans and financial aid for investors who will engage in rural industrialization.”
“Encouraging Metro Manila-based workers to return to their home provinces against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic will only become an effective strategy to decongest the metropolis and spur genuine rural growth and development if government will provide the essential physical and social infrastructure, tax incentives and other financial assistance not only to entice Filipinos to make an exodus to the countryside but also encourage those residing in their provinces to stay put,” Villafuerte said.
He explained that HB 6970’s two-pronged approach of public investments and incentives had been the catalyst for successful programs to create townships and transform rural communities into new growth areas in the United States and Europe.
“By incentivizing business and other economic activities in the provinces, this bill will encourage workers in Metro Manila and other urban centers to go back to their hometowns where gainful employment awaits them,” he added. Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz