LINKING GROWTH CORRIDORS

NEDA’s Ms. Navarro said the government is adopting a multi-nodal spatial strategy that would establish trade linkages between regional centers and Metropolitan areas.

The strategy involves linking growth corridors of Metro Davao, Metro CDO and the 10 regional centers, namely: Zamboanga City, General Santos City, Butuan City, Cotabato City, Dipolog City, Jolo, Surigao City, Pagadian City, Koronadal City, and Tagum City.

“These regional centers function as markets and service centers to several provinces. They also form a network of growth centers intended to improve internal economic integration, as well as the creation of multiple linkages that provide redundancy and reduce vulnerability,” said Ms. Navarro.

On top of that, some 2,130 government- led infrastructure projects worth P547.9 billion have also been lined up for Mindanao until 2022.

The NEDA official said that 68% of that budget will be allotted for the transportation sector, while 16% will go to water resources, and 6% to social infrastructure.

Of this amount, 18 infrastructure projects have been identified as “flagship projects,” five of them have already been approved by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The projects include the P35.26- billion Tagum- DavaoDigos Segment of the Mindanao Railway, the P40.57-billion Davao airport, the P14.62-billion Laguindingan airport, the P4.86-billion Panguil Bay Bridge Project, and the P5.44-billion MalitubogMaridagao Irrigation Project, Phase II.

Projects in the pipeline are the second and third phases of the Mindanao Railway; the AgusPulangi plant rehabilitation; the Davao expressway; the Zamboanga Fish Port Complex rehabilitation; the Balo-i Plains Flood Control Project; Asbang Small Reservoir Irrigation Project; the Ambal Simuay Sub-Basin of the Mindanao River Basin Flood Control and River Protection Project; as well as the Road Network Development Project in Conflict-Affected Areas in Mindanao project.

Ms. Navarro is optimistic the government will deliver the bigticket projects, given the progress of the revenue-generating tax reform program, as well as project bottleneck-mitigating measures through the inter-agency Project Facilitation, Monitoring and Innovation Task Force.

LGU CAPACITY

Regional lender Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that Mindanao’s development is “very critical” for the Philippines.

“I think with the new administration, they really focused on inclusive growth. They’re quite ambitious,” ADB Philippines Country Director Richard S. Bolt said in an interview.

ADB Principal Country Specialist Joven Z. Balbosa meanwhile said that the outlook for Mindanao remains bright given the reduction of poverty levels in the region.

“There’s movement of [ sic] moving poverty out of the poverty level. The prospects are still moving really strong. I think that’s really good. The Philippines is really moving forward,” he said during the same interview.

Still, more work needs to be done especially by local government units.

Helping Mindanao, according to Mr. Balbosa, shouldn’t be all about funneling money for the construction of projects, but instead meant strengthening its institutions.

“The only way to help this area is not to jump in and target a certain place and provide support, and then later

on when that support goes out, you step out.”

“You go to the institutions for the government to continue support, which means human resource as well as investments should be coming along together,” he added.

Aside from loans for physical infrastructure, the ADB had been providing support through local government reforms such as public financial management, project management, capacity development, and local revenue collection.

“For that overall policy environment to be effective, we need to increase local government capacity to plan, implement, manage projects and services,” said Mr. Bolt.

“Only so much can be done, the reforms are needed. But at some point the local government needs to be able to do this kind of planning,” he added.

The lender said that its current investment mix for Mindanao is 50% for infrastructure projects and other programs, and another 50% for capacity development.

Mr. Bolt said the ADB is also conducting its “learning by doing” approach by having the municipal and provincial governments involved in the planning and management of ADB projects.

He noted that a similar approach was conducted in Indonesia, and results were seen within 10 years’ time.

“And that takes a real investment in capacity development. We need to invest in capacity development,” said Mr. Bolt. “It takes time and effort.”

“This is not just about building 300 kilometers of roads. It’s also about doing it with line agencies, working with municipalities. And then they’ll learn and they’ll take ownership of the plans’ implementation, and accountability,” said Mr. Bolt.

Local government capacity is more relevant now that the government is planning to shift to a federal structure, which would put more revenue allotments to local units, he said.

“If you gonna push more budget down, you should have capacity for these things,” Mr. Bolt said while noting that some LGUs might struggle in implementing their projects.

He said that cross-municipality or cross-provincial projects are the most underutilized in local government’s allotments.

“WITH OR WITHOUT FEDERALISM”

The ADB is pushing for municipalities to work together on large-scale projects, instead of having just the national government initiate them.

“Our view, this local government development is needed with or without Federalism, with or without the Bangsamoro Basic Law. This is really needed,” he said.

However, for that strategy to work effectively, continuity is needed. Mr. Bolt cited the LGU’s threeyear political cycle as a risk, as a change in leadership may interrupt the implementation of a project.

Mr. Balbosa on the other hand said that it is a “problem that can be mitigated.”

This is because close focus on government institutions meant working with the planners and project officers who, at the end of the day, are relied on by the chief executives.

Moreover, the ADB said it would let Mindanao itself find out its development opportunities to boost inbound investments, instead of the other way around.

“What’s important is to lay the framework for investments to come in. It’s how you build that enabling investment to come in. We don’t want to say, that place is poultry, that place is fish. Let the players and entrepreneurs decide that. But what they would like to know is if I go to that area, what are the rules for my engagement,” said Mr. Balbosa.

However, the Manila-based bank said that it remains focused on assisting in the establishment of road networks, as a lack of infrastructure still is a constraint in attracting investments into Mindanao.

Building roads creates a ripple effect, he said.

“When we build roads, one thing that usually comes next is power,” Mr. Bolt said.

The ADB has lined up seven projects specifically for Mindanao that form part of the 25 projects identified in its 2018-2020 Philippines: Country Operations Business Plan.

For 2018, these include the $110-million Davao Public Transport Modernization Project; $100-million Regional Development Project, Phase 1 — South Central Mindanao; the Empowering Bangsamoro Communities through Adult Literacy and Productivity Enhancement Programs co-financed at $3 million; and, the Marawi Recovery and Reconstruction Assistance cofinanced at $5 million.

For 2020, the plan involves the $300-million Improving Growth Corridors in Mindanao Road Sector Project, Phase 2; the $160-million Mindanao River Basin Flood Control Project; and, the $200-million Regional Development Project, Phase 2 — Northern Mindanao.

SKILL DEFICIT

However, the World Bank said that even if regional connectivity in Mindanao were established that would open up opportunities for the region’s industries, it would still need to address its skills gap.

“The really critical thing for developing other industries is really skills. There’s an enormous skill deficit in Mindanao because the education system it is not achieving the same outcome as the national education system,” said Ms. Warwick.

She said that bridging the gap calls for improving education systems in Mindanao, as the region has the highest dropout rate in the country due to a lack of quality teachers as well as financial and physical access to schools.