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Sunday, June 18, 2006
League weighs ‘mega-region’ proposal today
By Jeanette P. Malinao & Allan I. Varquez
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
Both the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (Ulap) and the League of Provinces support President Arroyo’s proposal to divide the country into four “mega-regions,” Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado said yesterday.
The Ulap president said, though, that they will have “a little amendment” to the proposal because officials of Nueva Ecija and Aurora Province prefer to be lumped together with Metro Luzon, where they are organic member-provinces, instead of North Luzon.
“I got the sentiment from my fellow officers of the union in an informal meeting, because the intention of the proposal is for cooperation towards economic development,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in a mobile phone interview last night.
Provinces under the proposed Central Philippines are likely to rely on the more advanced Cebu Province, he added.
“This is a sharing of economic development per se. And the local executives in Cebu like Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia are open-minded,” he said, adding that the proposal would be ruined if Cebu wants to be “Imperial Cebu.”
But while he believes that integrating all the Visayas provinces as one region is a good idea, former Cebu governor Pablo Garcia also said it is one that will not produce immediate results and will be hard to implement.
The division may be good if the alliances created will be “economic units” but not “political units.”
If the proposal means making the provinces as one economic unit run by businessmen, Garcia said it will create economic advantages because those managing the region will look at the “best possible and less costly manner of developing.”
But if these economic units will still be subject to the powers of the political units, Garcia is certain that what would be created will “remain just a consultative society.”
An example of such a body supposedly overseeing development, he said, is the Regional Development Council, which is “not given enough clout and is just a recommendatory and debating society.”
However, if the new regional formation will be a political unit and with political powers, Garcia is sure that the proposal will only cause conflict and rivalry among provinces.
“It is a natural human tendency for a leader to look after his immediate constituents, especially the ones who put him in power,” he said.
Governor Garcia, for her part, did not give her insights on the proposal because the country’s governors will gather today for a meeting in Bohol of the League of Provinces in the Philippines, and she would like to first listen to the discussion on this.
Osmeña has said he favors the plan because it will unite the entire Visayas, and will strengthen Cebu’s ties with its neighboring provinces and regions.
In a recent meeting with her Cabinet and Isabela’s Regional Development Council, President Arroyo revealed her plan to divide the country into four multi-regional investment and development areas.
The plan is to have the regions of North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao.
Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo said that with the set-up, richer regions will be supporting the poorer regions.
To that, former governor Garcia answered: “The economy of integration is a good idea, but this will take time. We have to educate both the leaders and the people to accept the idea and we can’t expect immediate results, it won’t happen.”
“However, this can be a step in the right direction. With enough clout and resources, this may be a beginning of an in-depth, thorough and well-coordinated body of a region and the discovery of how certain activities can be coordinated for practicable and efficient approaches to the solutions of a given problem,” he added. (JPM/AIV)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 18, 2006 issue)
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