The South starts to ‘Sulong’
NEW large property developments in the last two weeks in Northern and Southern Mindanao are a fresh batch of private sector investments that will dovetail with government infrastructure programs and create further opportunity in areas never thought possible.
Developers like Ayala Land and Cebu Landmasters Inc. (CLI) are betting big on Mindanao. Ayala’s Habini Bay, a 526hectare master-planned estate located within the municipalities of Alubijid and Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental.
Located near the midpoint of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, bring a new wave of Investments to the Cagayan Iligan corridor, and pull up growth in the Lanao and Bukidnon provinces.
Meanwhile, publicly listed CLI brings the 20-hectare Davao Global Township, a central business district that will bring in investors to build properties to spur further growth in the two southern Mindanao regions, as Socksargen and Davao, currently on the crest of 8 and 11% growth, respectively.
As peace and order issues continue to subside while martial law remains in place, the rise of the south is clear.
Sulong’s top is agriculture! Continiung martial law in top 10 In the consolidated actionable recommendations of the recent “Sulong Pilpinas” multisectoral regional consultations in Clark, Davao Cebu, and La Union, agricultural productivity and raising farmers’ incomes through education and technologies emerged as No.1.
This is followed by the need to build more physical infrastructure such as seaports, airports, and mass-based transport systems; and simplifying requirements for loans with reasonable interest rates for SMEs and the rural sector.
Other recommendations in the top 10 include improving access to education; stricter profiling of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) recipients, monitoring their expenses and providing them livelihood training; and speeding up the issuance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses.
Still, other proposals in the list are proper planning of infrastructure projects to reduce business disruptions, simplifying processes at the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR); and improving peace and order by ensuring police and military visibility in rural areas, intensively monitoring illegal trade activities in coastal areas, and continuing the implementation of martial law in Mindanao.
These recommendations build on the previous lists and gains of the last two “Sulongs.”
Doubtless, some recommendations may raise the eyebrows of many of Manila’s pundits, but these being results of consultations, and high growth numbers undeniable with the moves of investors to place their bets on the island shows a continuing growth that their eyebrows cannot deny.
They signal is the need to ensure deeper inclusivity of less capable sectors, particularly in the rural areas, to build on previous infrastructure gains by boosting food production and processing and training.
The need for continuing Martial Law in Mindanao was not a surprising outcome, as high regional economic growth in several Mindanao regions are seen as a result of it.
Growth in the south is the key to unlocking the country’s growth potentials. Inclusion of previously excluded sectors makes this possible. Without it, local businesses will not have the markets for their products. That said, the South has nowhere to go but up. The Maroons have already won Across all campuses of the State University, and social media accounts of students and alumni, Maroon fever is on! The entry of the once ignored University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons to the UAAP basketball championship has won more hearts than they hoped to get.
Watch parties sprouted in bars and restaurants all over the country, alumni and politicians weighed in favor of the deep underdogs from Diliman. Mall theaters from Metro Manila to Davao featured the game for free.
Once a lonely chant, “UP Fight!” suddenly became a viral phenomenon swelling chests with pride.
Yet the real draw were the UP Maroons themselves. How can you not fall for them? From perennial cellar dweller, this team now boasts championship capabilities.
The real expectation for this season was but a semifinals slot – something they almost lost. Beating expectations and winning from below is the real story. Filipinos love the underdog and how they clash with the perceived powerful. How the once excluded can now eat at the leaders table is a scene many love to watch. The Maroons just showed how it can be done. For reactions: