Enhancing Regional Development

The development of regions has been a fundamental thrust of the national government since 1972 with the issuance of Presidential Decree No. 1 that created regional offices of national departments.

Over the years, a planning process has been followed in such a way that growth potentials in the 16 regions of the country are taken into account in formulating the national development plan.

In pursuit of this concern for regional development, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board headed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, relies on several committees such as the Social Development Committee, the Infrastructure Committee and the Development Budget Coordinating Committee.

A new committee will be created that will help the NEDA Board address regional development concerns to ensure harmony and effective implementation of policies, programs and projects. Thus committee will be called the NEDA Board - Regional Development Committee (NB – RDC).

It is hoped that this committee will concentrate on reducing regional growth disparities. From this perspective, Eastern Visayas Region will be a major beneficiary of any move to equalize the level of development of the 16 regions of the country.

Reason for this is right now we may not be the most depressed region but we are still in the lower half of the ranking.

What the NB – RDC can do is to bring to the forefront many issues which have posed problems such as in improving transportation across regions, the supply of electric power from one region to another and the establishment of common facilities for educational development.

There are plenty of issues cutting across regions that will certainly keep the NB - RDC busy.

When people get together in a committee, there is bound to be agreements and disagreements but having the big picture in mind will help resolve such conflicts.

This means parochial regional interests will have to give way to the national interest. Nevertheless, a basic principle should be: no region must be left out and all regions must, in the end, benefit from the resolution of these issues.