IN BACOLOD is a manifestation of people's resiliency and creativeness in the face of economic difficulties spawned by Train 1 and 2 and other national and local factors.

I am not sure in the province; looks like there's not much growth except infrastructure projects that only create seasonal jobs.

In a 2018 yearend report by the City Government, the city posted a huge increase in the registration of business permits at 23,187, or higher by 4,370 since 2015.

I think one factor that spurred the growth is the ongoing strengthening of the ease of doing business. People who want to set business can easily make use of the ease of doing business law to speed their business permits and other papers.

They can now use this to force dilly-dally government personnel to be more efficient, or face administrative sanctions.

I am not saying the ease of doing business law has converted the government people and offices into overnight transformers. It is still a long way to go. But at least measure as this helps a bit.

A further check on the data points that more than 60 percent of these enterprises are micro and small, confirming my previous analysis that the marginalized sectors are not taking the crisis idly or stupidly but transforming them into opportunities for survival.

What is revealing in this is that the marginalized sectors are obviously not in the social equation of the government.

Government projects are not creating jobs, while those it open ups are hardly sustainable.

Nowhere to go, people have to find other means to meet their basic needs. Putting up businesses with little capital is the most practical way.

But even on this, they still cry for government support and protection.

Every local government unit has all the means and command to mobilize in support of the small and micro enterprises.