Our government has been constantly under threat for tha past 2 decades. Part of the problem is that all of the National Government Offices are located in the countries' most congested and biggest metropolis. I hope that like the USA, Australia, Brazil, S. Africa and Pakistan. Our country has a serious problem in the process of selecting our leaders as well as the equally serious problem of coups and revolutions. I hope that with the change of the government system and leadership later on, our government will also be relocated to a more central and secure location. This may be far fetched as of the moment but maybe the leaders will also realize this later on and we will have a list of good and viable options. So do you guys have any suggestions?

This is right for me, I read South Korea and Malaysia had already transferred their capital cities to another cities in order decongest Seoul and Kuala Lumpur.

i think it should be in Mindanao...somewhere like Dapitan...

Our government has been constantly under threat for tha past 2 decades. Part of the problem is that all of the National Government Offices are located in the countries' most congested and biggest metropolis. I hope that like the USA, Australia, Brazil, S. Africa and Pakistan. Our country has a serious problem in the process of selecting our leaders as well as the equally serious problem of coups and revolutions. I hope that with the change of the government system and leadership later on, our government will also be relocated to a more central and secure location. This may be far fetched as of the moment but maybe the leaders will also realize this later on and we will have a list of good and viable options. So do you guys have any suggestions?

Cebu would be nice since we already have the Malacanang of the South here.. Hehehe!!!

I think it should be anywhere in Jolo. Just make sure the president is not always there 99.9 %.

There was a proposal under the Constitutional Commission of Pres. GMA to transfer the capital to Clark, Pampanga. I don't know if the proposal pushed through.

nice idea transferring the capital but can our government actually afford to do that, just imagine how much that is gonna cost. Maybe a decade from now its possible.......

clark sounds cool. lalo na pag plantsado na ang northrail. :)

Perhaps in Spratly's Island. Let see if leftist protesters can muster enough critical mass to stage another people power.

Definitely not Cebu, please. :)

Let's move the capital to Laoag. Farinas won't tolerate any hanky panky from the rallyist. Vigan is not good enough. Bing Bong has mellowed quite a bit and is now into Christ.

id like it here: babuyan island

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/philippine_mammals/graphics/map/Babuyan2.gif

South Korea roils over capital relocation
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040811-104312-7766r.htm

Malaysians to visit Celebration to get ideas for their new capital
http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/1996/12/16/newscolumn1.html

I want it to be in Northern Mindanao area so that Mindanao will progress faster... Northern Mindanao coz it's still one of the peaceful areas in our country that is located in Mindanao.

Cebu? nah, it should be outside Cebu. Cebu is for business and tourism, not for a capital ;)

Planong ng plano wala naman nangyayari!

Planong ng plano wala naman nangyayari!

''POR aqui, no paso la Revolu-cion…" translated literally, "The Revolution did not pass here…" – that is a favorite phrase in Mexico used to describe a hopelessly depressed area bereft of the most basic public services, beyond the reach of any civil institution, where people’s lives have hardly changed since the last colonizer was booted out, where hope for progress and modernity remains precarious. It may also apply to people, specially to political troglodytes who cleave to retrograde positions as if we were still in the dark days of the Holy Inquisition. Recently, that meaningful phrase has kept popping in my mind, which is disquieting indeed. I am still trying to figure out whether the tragic stampede in Pasig, the shocking shabu supermarket there discovered, the landslides in Quezon, Southern Leyte and Zamboanga del Sur, to name only a few disasters, are, in any way, manifestations of being bypassed by the "Revolution."

The revolution referred to in that provocative Mexican adage is not their anti-colonial independence movement that ended Spanish rule in 1821, but the social revolution that took place from 1910 – 1917. Bloody and violent as it was, the structural gains of the Mexican revolution were institutionalized into a sui generis system that sustained economic development for at least three decades and guaranteed political stability for about seventy-five years. In the case of EDSA 1, most of those who participated in "people power" have stopped calling it a revolution, twenty years later. Although multitudes (including the middle class) joined hands with the military to deal the final blow that ended a dictatorship, and, even if a revolutionary government ruled for seventeen months, no essential transformation has taken place. Now it is more than evident that most of its lofty and noble goals have remained unfulfilled. The changes brought about by EDSA 1 ( and EDSA 2 for that matter) were more cosmetic than systemic so today there are innumerable areas of concern that are still being bypassed by revolutionary winds.

In St. Bernard, Southern Leyte, a survivor who was miraculously dragged out of the mud alive was interviewed by a jaded radio commentator. "So, what kind of help are you expecting from the government?" "Wala." (Nothing.) – was the victim’s ready answer. She said it softly, with the tranquility of a sage, with just a hint of resignation but without a trace of resentment or pent-up rage. To begin with, the media man’s query was somewhat moot and academic – why should she now expect anything from a government that has consistently bypassed her? I thought her candidness was absolutely devastating. With nothing more to lose or gain, with nothing to struggle for or fiercely defend, that woman has stopped waiting for "the revolution" in any manner or form. gemma601@yahoo.com

http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2006/02/21/OPED2006022156845.html

I would suggest the capital should be at the center of the Philippines but not in any big city or regions with huge industries. The Palawan, Panay, Bohol, Negros, Leyte and Samar Islands are the ideal cadidates.

^^ yah... subic nalang kaya or anywhere in luzon

Somewhere in the geographic center. Visayas of course--proximity to both northern and southern ends Luzon and Mindanao. also where Visayan people are majority cos they really are majority. Probably in Cebu Island (in a small town in the northern or southern tip of the island that shall undergo modern town planning and shall be renamed--RIZALIA (after the Father of the Republic). Cebu island cos that's where it all started--First Capital of the Empire, the Cradle of Catholic and Hispanic Filipino civilization.

I guess Cebu wouldn't want to be renamed Rizalia.

how about Davao City

QUOTE: Manileno
Somewhere in the geographic center. Visayas of course--proximity to both northern and southern ends Luzon and Mindanao. also where Visayan people are majority cos they really are majority. Probably in Cebu Island (in a small town in the northern or southern tip of the island that shall undergo modern town planning and shall be renamed--RIZALIA (after the Father of the Republic). Cebu island cos that's where it all started--First Capital of the Empire, the Cradle of Catholic and Hispanic Filipino civilization.

Its a good idea to have the capital at the geographic center. I am looking at Bogo, a medium sized town a few hours north of Cebu City proper. The new capital has to be planned carefully, and there should be a strong "Seat of Goverment", like a gigantic compound where all national offices will be located. (like vatican city, its is an independent city which is the seat of the roman catholic church..) but, am not comfortable with the name Rizalia, sorry, its like etheria or encantadia :) Rizal City maybe :)

QUOTE: Manileno
Somewhere in the geographic center. Visayas of course--proximity to both northern and southern ends Luzon and Mindanao. also where Visayan people are majority cos they really are majority. Probably in Cebu Island (in a small town in the northern or southern tip of the island that shall undergo modern town planning and shall be renamed--RIZALIA (after the Father of the Republic). Cebu island cos that's where it all started--First Capital of the Empire, the Cradle of Catholic and Hispanic Filipino civilization.

Its a good idea to have the capital at the geographic center. I am looking at Bogo, a medium sized town a few hours north of Cebu City proper. The new capital has to be planned carefully, and there should be a strong "Seat of Goverment", like a gigantic compound where all national offices will be located. (like vatican city, its is an independent city which is the seat of the roman catholic church..) but, am not comfortable with the name Rizalia, sorry, its like etheria or encantadia :) Rizal City maybe

I guess Cebu wouldn't want to be renamed Rizalia.

manileño is not referring to cebu city neither the island of cebu..
he's pointing to a town in northern cebu to be named rizalia and appointed new capital of RP..
but for me,,that's a lot of hard work..AND a lot of money-spending..

Definitely not in Cebu. It should be located far away from any major cities in the Philippines.

my suggestion is somewhere in northern mindanao like near cagayan de oro city and to be named "Maharlika City". how about that guys?

A maharlika palace where the president will be residing, a senate and supreme court palaces will be built in a malay architecture similar to davao airport but with intricate/ornate decorations.

my other suggestion is at the foot of Mt. arayat cos it has a good proximity with DMIA. (I hope my arayat won't erupt)

^^dalawa na tayo, Northern Mindanao din ang gusto ko coz it's a part of mindanao that is not chaotic and the fact that it is in mindanao, it will be a big benefit for mindanao...

Mindanao is a great idea. Para ma-divert naman yung development boom doon.

Gusto nyo sa Mindanao? I highly nominate Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao.

heres Bukidnon posted at Travel & Geography Forum:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Ph_locator_map_bukidnon.png

http://static.flickr.com/49/109370369_aebc702c3b.jpg?v=0

Bukidnon is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital is Malaybalay City. The province borders, clockwise starting from the north, Misamis Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Davao del Norte, Cotabato, Lanao del Sur, and Lanao del Norte.

The greater part of Bukidnon is a gently-rolling plateau cut by deep and wide canyons of the Cagayan, Polangui and Tagoloan rivers and their tributaries. At Mailag, south of the capital, the plateau begins to descend and gradually merges and eastern borders are lofty and densely-forested mountains, including Mt. Kitanglad at 2350 meter, a dormant volcano, Mt Kalatungan at 2187 meters and Mt. Tankulan at 1678 meters.

The province´average elevation of more than 1000 meter gives a pleasently cool climate. the mountains shield it from the eastern monsoon.

A Brief History

Before the Spaniards colonized Misamis, settlers from the Visayas had already established themselves there. As the migrants kept coming, the tribes who orginally inhabited the area were driven inland toward the rugged and mountainous territory. They were eventually called Bukidnons, meaning "people of the mountains", from which the place derived its name.

Bukidnon became a municipality of Misamis in 1850 and remained as such until 1907 when it was made a subprovince of the newly created Agusan province. When the department of Mindanao and Sulu was created in 1914, Bukidnon itself became a separate province.

After World War II, the area was opened up to settlers from the Visayas and Luzon. Those who came primarily were from Cebu, Panay Island, and the Ilocos Region.

Getting There and Away

From Cagayan de Oro, there are buses going to Davao and return, who passing the Bukidnon province



http://static.flickr.com/41/109388726_5b334e46b1.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/34/109388727_81dc11235b.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/50/109388295_b5069a0508.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/44/109388291_84d30e5684.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/43/109370371_8db150e795.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/35/109370370_deaa3a214b.jpg?v=0

http://static.flickr.com/50/109371184_728daa22d7.jpg?v=0

Mindanao is a great idea. Para ma-divert naman yung development boom doon.
Don't mean to be discriminatory but ... what if ibang 'boom' ang ma-divert doon

Kuala Lumpurs model is good..

their not actually "transferring" their nations capital..but they have created a new town that is FULLY dedicated in the administration of public service..

it is known as the PUTRAJAYA....Malaysia's Admin capital and its first "intelligent" city.

what about dito sa Butuan we have plenty of spaces to spare :) ....the government is even preparing a 40 hectare government center east of the city...

^^ like what boom? :lol: :lol: :lol: if you are thinking what i am thinking, theres no need to divert that "boom" in mindanao, its already happening there for centuries! but oh well, maybe they just need a new kind of boom for that old boom to be gone

hmmmm

with or without that 'new capital' thing.....Mindanao will always grow.

In fact some of our cities and growth zones have actually surpassed those mentioned in Visayas and Luzon.....considering our distance from Manila.

while Manila and other centers control the governance and economic admin of this country....

Mindanao had a major control on this nations raw material and Food supply.

How about somewhere in Northern Mindanao? Maybe Camiguin or Zamboanga del Norte? It could be anywhere far from present major cities. The most important thing is to set up a mandatory Filipino-Spanish/Bahay-Bato architectural design for all buildings public or private for a certain radius around the center of this city.

Cagayan De Oro or Zamboanga City could be the best.

i don't know why this "new capital" have to be in a far-flung, secluded place (though i know some were suggested with sarcasm). remember that there will be thousands of employees who will be working in these government centers, as well as foreign and local officials to do business with whatever office they have a business with. so accessibility and good transportation infrastructure should be taken into consideration.

i'd prefer having Manila to remain as the country's capital and a new administrative capital (for government offices) to be created near a major city, with an international airport. clark is a good place. for our brothers in mindanao and in the visayas, don't worry if this new administrative capital is either in the geographic center or not because once federal states are set up, it wouldn't matter that much because as we all know Washington DC isn't in the middle of the US either.

Pwede kaya sa Parañaque na lang? Wala lang though mukha atang weird yun... Hometown ko kasi.

IMO, the capital shouldn't be moved to anywhere in Mindanao. I'm sticking to Visayas as the ideal location of the the next capital. Why not Mindanao? For historical and sociocultural reasons. (incl. politics of religion)

We all know it was Cebu vs Marawi and Manila vs Jolo for centuries. The Spanish never captured the whole island except for the northern coasts and Zamboanga, Davao, and Cotabato. Moreover, the Bangsamoro and ARMM people might see this move as a final campaign to subjugate them and crush their national aspirations. (Also, we are putting our government closer to 'danger'. The government might have a hard time implementing its projects with Bangsamoro just in the other end of the national highway.) The new capital of the Strong Republic should be placed where Filipino is majority, where history and culture is strongest. Moving the capital outside Manila and still within Luzon is just waste of time. It's not signalling any change.

The benefits i see from moving the capital to Visayas (and Cebu in particular) are:

1. being in the geographic center (easy administration of Luzon in the north and closer integration to Mindanao in the south).

2. increased domestic air travel. (Cebu being an island and Visayas being an island group, the government would encourage more spending in local tourism with the thousands of officials and government employees themselves travelling to and from their constituencies/hometowns to work and represent the government.)

3. increased inter-island sea travel and shipping/RO-RO (officials and employees from neighboring Visayan islands and even Luzon and Mindanao who are trying to save their pork money would opt for this mode of transport.)

4. decongest Manila and Luzon. (Luzon & Mindanao are the 2 largest islands in area and with the largest population. Being the largest, they have the most number of provinces and administrative divisions. "Official Land travel" will be lessened and will help decongest our cities as the politicos will head to the nearest airport instead to go to the nation's capital.)

5. Linking the Visayas islands (Bridge/Tunnel) and Visayas with Luzon and Mindanao will be more realized. Iloilo(Panay)-Guimaras-Negros-Cebu with the government(imperial capital) thinking of more ways to facilitate land transpo within the neighbouring islands to be closer and accessible to more Filipinos.

http://www.alltravelnetwork.com/philippines/images/visayas.jpg

Clark would be a good option or Cebu or even maybe in Laoag where the Malacanan of the north is.... but.. for me.. I'd like to keep Manila as the capital as is... this is because even if the capital moves into any island of the country, this does not assure us that corruption will be squashed.. plus it may become a window for more corruption with the funds that will be used to build the house of representatives and the new presidential palace etc...

Manila should still remain as the cultural capital of the country, with the administrative capital being transferred to Clark (or Cebu)

it wont be transfered..Sure! But if ever, Clark and Cebu..

let's not forget dinho is the one who created this thread, so let's nominate bacolod to be the next capital of the philippines. it's heaven and the most highly urbanized and metroist in the whole country. after the transfer of malacanang to bacolod, let's all transfer our residency also to this very progressive city and close all the cities of the philippines. in that way dinho will be very happy. malacanang in bacolod go go. i will nominate dinho to be the next president too not only here in SSC for the philippines. go read all his posts and you'll see dinho is the man!

"We all know it was Cebu vs Marawi and Manila vs Jolo for centuries. The Spanish never captured the whole island except for the northern coasts and Zamboanga, Davao, and Cotabato. Moreover, the Bangsamoro and ARMM people might see this move as a final campaign to subjugate them and crush their national aspirations. (Also, we are putting our government closer to 'danger'. The government might have a hard time implementing its projects with Bangsamoro just in the other end of the national highway.) The new capital of the Strong Republic should be placed where Filipino is majority, where history and culture is strongest. Moving the capital outside Manila and still within Luzon is just waste of time. It's not signalling any change."

Filipino is the majority? This is nonsense. Salipada Pendatun, Mamintal Tamano, etc. are Filipinos. It just happen that their religion is Islam. So Pres. Ramos is not a Filipino because he is a Protestant? How about the members of Iglesia ni Kristo?

^^ www.bangsamoro.com
the struggle continues. let's just say Malaysia is not 100% muslim (and that it has Chinese (Buddhist), Indian (Hindu), and Christian (Moluccan) population. but the government is Muslim (Malay) exclusive. :D Fidel Ramos (Protestant) was acting as a National leader when he invited the Vatican City to hold the World Youth Day in Manila in 1995. National :D Iglesia ni Kristo has RC and Spanish(Filipino) roots obviously.

National. Nation building. :D

let's not forget dinho is the one who created this thread, so let's nominate bacolod to be the next capital of the philippines. it's heaven and the most highly urbanized and metroist in the whole country. after the transfer of malacanang to bacolod, let's all transfer our residency also to this very progressive city and close all the cities of the philippines. in that way dinho will be very happy. malacanang in bacolod go go. i will nominate dinho to be the next president too not only here in SSC for the philippines. go read all his posts and you'll see dinho is the man!

You are totally out of line and you are already making a personal attack. You can check out the Bacolod and Negros Occidental Thread II if you want. We Bacolenos don't want our city to become a national capital. As somebody here had said, a new capital, if ever they move it, should not be a major city. Bacolod happens to be a major city and is the 4th largest metropolitan area after Cebu and Davao... therefore, it cannot be qualified. I never even suggested one of the cities or towns that make up Metro Bacolod. A new capital should be built from scratch in the Central Philippines. As Askal said, we should go federal, but I believe we really need a thorough overhaul and it means moving out the financial capital out of Metro MAnila and Luzon to a less populated area.

I don't think we need to be Catholics to be considered a Filipino.. our Muslim countrymen are Filipinos as well even though there are some Muslim groups who want to separate... I believe majority of the Muslim Filipinos still want to remain part of the Philippines and not with the warring Muslim minority..

political crisis nga hirap na hirap na eh, eto pa kaya?

^^ Bago nilang ilipat ang kabisera ng bansa, dapat maging federal government muna. Ang kaso : gusto nila munang mapatalsik si gma. :lol:

Yup no need for a new capital too because everything would be different then if every province in the country would be treated as a state, as in Federalism..

Sabah, anyone?

id like it here: babuyan island

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/philippine_mammals/graphics/map/Babuyan2.gif


Nyahahahha!!!!!! Tamang tamang yan babuyan isalnds kasi mga baboy silang lahat kaya dapat dyan sila mag sama2x nyahahaha!!!! :lol:

Mainland China may be tempted to rain missiles on Taiwan because of Taiwan's saber rattling these days. Kung ililipat ang Malacanang sa Babuyan Islands ay baka tamaan si GMA ng missiles. Pag nawala si GMA ay baka humiwalay na sina Duterte.

IMO, the capital shouldn't be moved to anywhere in Mindanao. I'm sticking to Visayas as the ideal location of the the next capital. Why not Mindanao? For historical and sociocultural reasons. (incl. politics of religion)

We all know it was Cebu vs Marawi and Manila vs Jolo for centuries. The Spanish never captured the whole island except for the northern coasts and Zamboanga, Davao, and Cotabato. Moreover, the Bangsamoro and ARMM people might see this move as a final campaign to subjugate them and crush their national aspirations. (Also, we are putting our government closer to 'danger'. The government might have a hard time implementing its projects with Bangsamoro just in the other end of the national highway.) The new capital of the Strong Republic should be placed where Filipino is majority, where history and culture is strongest. Moving the capital outside Manila and still within Luzon is just waste of time. It's not signalling any change.

The benefits i see from moving the capital to Visayas (and Cebu in particular) are:

1. being in the geographic center (easy administration of Luzon in the north and closer integration to Mindanao in the south).

2. increased domestic air travel. (Cebu being an island and Visayas being an island group, the government would encourage more spending in local tourism with the thousands of officials and government employees themselves travelling to and from their constituencies/hometowns to work and represent the government.)

3. increased inter-island sea travel and shipping/RO-RO (officials and employees from neighboring Visayan islands and even Luzon and Mindanao who are trying to save their pork money would opt for this mode of transport.)

4. decongest Manila and Luzon. (Luzon & Mindanao are the 2 largest islands in area and with the largest population. Being the largest, they have the most number of provinces and administrative divisions. "Official Land travel" will be lessened and will help decongest our cities as the politicos will head to the nearest airport instead to go to the nation's capital.)

5. Linking the Visayas islands (Bridge/Tunnel) and Visayas with Luzon and Mindanao will be more realized. Iloilo(Panay)-Guimaras-Negros-Cebu with the government(imperial capital) thinking of more ways to facilitate land transpo within the neighbouring islands to be closer and accessible to more Filipinos.

http://www.alltravelnetwork.com/philippines/images/visayas.jpg

If ever in Cebu Island, it should not be in Cebu City. The most ideal one should be in the northern part of Cebu island. The Bogo, Medellin, Daan Bantayan and San Remegio towns where the vast flat lands in Cebu are located and here are the advantages:

1. Very near to white sand beaches of Bantayan and Malapascua islands
2. Ro-Ro access to the Bicol Region via San Remegio-Masbate route
3. Near the cities of of Ormoc City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Cebu City
4. At the center of Visayas Islands / Philippines Islands
5. Vast flat lands since most areas are sugar lands.

http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/~Philrail/4P5011593.jpg

Land area of the four towns:

Bogo - 10,545.93 Has
Daan Bantayan - 10,545.00 Has.
Medellin - 7,382.33 Has.
San Remegio - 11,978 Has

I think the combined area is 10 times bigger than Manila.

Malaysians to visit Celebration to get ideas for their new capital[/b]
http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/1996/12/16/newscolumn1.html

That article was hilarious! :hilarious The town of Celebration here in Florida hardly is the role model for a country's administrative capital. It's too cookie-cutter. For those who haven't got the slightest idea how Celebration looks like, watch "The Truman Show" or "Pleasantville" movies and you can imagine how Celebration looks like. :colgate:

Here's my suggestion -- build a new capital on the other side of Luzon directly east of Manila and call it Bagong Katipunan.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e117/PiliNut/Katipunan.jpg

^^ Welcome to SSC Pilinut. :wave:

Or build a brand spanking new administrative capital on a man made island! :okay:

or a satellite capital city here in the US mwahahahhaa :lol:

I think the new capital should be in geographical center of the country. It should not belong to any provinces. The ideal candidates for this is Negros and Panay. Similar to Washington DC which is a piece of land between Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, the portion of land shared lets say between Iloilo, Capiz, Antique or Aklan can be the new capital. If Negros Island is to be designated as where the seat of government shall be, the land portion between Negros Oriental and Occidental.

Lets get a little more hightech, maybe lets build a 'floating movable capital' similar to the Terran Command Center of Starcraft. :lol:

^^ Welcome to SSC Pilinut. :wave:
Thanks for the welcom, that was quick! Glad to be here :)

hello Pilinut.
are you from Bicol?
i love pilinuts

ok back to topicccccc

hello Pilinut.
are you from Bicol?
i love pilinuts

ok back to topicccccc

no. ilonggo guid. but I'm in Canada now

or a satellite capital city here in the US mwahahahhaa :lol:

Sin City in particular Matt? :lol:

no. ilonggo guid. but I'm in Canada now

From Iloilo or Bacolod? :dunno:

I think the new capital should be in geographical center of the country. It should not belong to any provinces. The ideal candidates for this is Negros and Panay. Similar to Washington DC which is a piece of land between Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, the portion of land shared lets say between Iloilo, Capiz, Antique or Aklan can be the new capital. If Negros Island is to be designated as where the seat of government shall be, the land portion between Negros Oriental and Occidental.

But a capital should also be easily accessible. Panay and Negros are too disconnected. Samar or Leyte would be better since connecting them to Luzon and Mindanao is technically feasible :) with bridges and tunnels

From Iloilo or Bacolod? :dunno:
both. Dad's from one, Mom from the other :)

But a capital should also be easily accessible. Panay and Negros are too disconnected. Samar or Leyte would be better since connecting them to Luzon and Mindanao is technically feasible :) with bridges and tunnels

Samar and Leyte are storm/typhoon prone areas.

Or build a brand spanking new administrative capital on a man made island! :okay:

haha, sounds like Alcatraz to me. :lol: but hey, it's a good idea. we should treat Presidents as prisons. if they get caught stealing money, then there's no reason for 'em to go back to the mainland. astig dba? lolz

I think it is a bad idea to trabsfer the capital once federalism takes place. I think Manila needs an urban modernization and rehabilitation plan.

Or build a brand spanking new administrative capital on a man made island! :okay:

thats a great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it is a bad idea to transfer the capital once federalism takes place. I think Manila needs an urban modernization and rehabilitation plan.

agree... and once we become a federation, the problem of congestion in metro manila will be lessened... all we need to do is refurbish manila! :lol:
*and because people will go back to their "home states" we can finally see manila without too much people...

and there's a good time to bring back the former glory of manila... (with historical stuff and all...) :)

we dont need to transfer the seat of power... we just need to distribute it.

Pilinut is right! Tacloban City can be the new capital. Remember that Samar and Leyte are connected to each other. A bridge, an expressway and a railway system could be built connecting Samar with Luzon, and Leyte with Mindanao. Very feasible. :)

@richard24

Or maybe we'll just have to do with the original idea which is to make Quezon City the capital of the country.

After all, almost all government agencies are already positioned there.

why don't we follow what south africa did... one capital for the legislative, another for the executive and another for the judiciary......

we'll have manila , cebu and davao....... then divide the nation into twelve states... each with it's own governors......interdependent with the main executive federal government,... with a six year... term. and instead of electing a president, we'll have a rotating presidency... with each governor assuming office every six months....

each governor we'll have his own state cabinet...which he can bring with him...plus once he assumes office his own state will automatically falll under the federal govt... so that there'l be no problem with who will run his state... while he assumes control of the nation....

plus the vice president wil act as the senate president , not a member of the cabinet.... it'll also be a rotating vice presidency with each vice governor... assuming control every six months..... meanwhile the state assembly will be presided by its foremost member during the term....

this way... power is distributed ... and no one we'll be able to assume too much control... plus the leaders we'll have a pulse of the people on a smaller scale.

but take note, the president we'll be granted additional powers, to compensate for his short term...

"But a capital should also be easily accessible. Panay and Negros are too disconnected. Samar or Leyte would be better since connecting them to Luzon and Mindanao is technically feasible with bridges and tunnels."

The wind and the current across the San Bernardino Strait are very, very strong. Building a tunnel or a span bridge across the San Bernardino Strait is equivalent to the whole Philippine budget for tens of years. Add this to almost $80 billion that we owe and we can say good bye Philippines. The better and more economical option really is to develop the ro-ro on the eastern and the western seaboards.

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Vote for Babuyannnn Island as the next capital..!!!!!! :lol:
bagay na bagay kasi sa mga politiko natin ang name na yun... nyahahaha!!!!
Sabay2x na rin sila ka agad ihawin dun at letchonin...hahaha!!! :lol:

@Pilinut: Illonggo ka man gali? Ga damo illonggo diri sa SSC haw. Taga-diin ka sa aton? Ari ko di sa NY. :)

@TJ: Maupod ka nalang sa mga politiko naton subong didto sa Babuyan :lol:

Panay will be nice because it's in the center of the Philippines pero ayoko because kami naman dito ang maging target ng terorismo and political unrests, kaya any place will do, kahit na sa Spratlys wag lang sa Visayas, hehehe.

:bash: :eek2: :eek2: I would go for federal government, all the regional capitals will be capitals of their respective federal states, i.e., Iloilo-capital of the Federal State of Western Visayas, Cebu-capital and largest city of the Federal State of Eastern Visayas, etc. :bash: :bash:

^^

Ummm, nice proposal.. Take note that before there was no Central Visayas.. Cebu was part of Eastern Visayas then...

I have a new idea.. Let's bring back the capital to Quezon City. Besides, all government agencies are already neatly arranged there except nalang for Malacanang, Supreme Court, and the Senate...

Manila Forever. :nocrook:

Manila 4:39 pm | New York 3:39 am | London 8:39 am
Malacañang scouts for a new site
Posted: 0:18 AM | Mar. 15, 2006

Victor Agustin
Inquirer


(Published on Page B3 of the March 15, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer)


THE Fidel Ramos-era plan to transfer Malacañang to Clark Field, north of Manila, has been dusted off by the Arroyo administration in the wake of continuing moves to overthrow Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

According to the grapevine, a team from the Bases Conversion and Development Authority is visiting Clark this weekend to inspect the possible future seat of government.

During his presidency, Fidel Ramos created a commission to study the relocation of the presidential palace, whose century-old location amid a warren of narrow, congested streets and an overflowing putrid river has become a traffic and security nightmare.

After Ramos briefly considered the Fort Bonifacio headquarters of the Philippine Army in Taguig City, near the Makati business district, he chose Clark, the sprawling former US air base in Pampanga province, with its world-class infrastructure and foreign investor accessibility, to be the new political seat for the 21st-century Philippines.

The renewed interest in Clark, ironically, comes in the wake of a preliminary offer of property firm Ortigas and Co. to convert possibly half of the 178-hectare the Camp Aguinaldo general headquarters of the Armed Forces, in Quezon City, which the Spanish-Filipino Ortigas family had donated for military use during the Commonwealth years, into a new Malacañang.

In return, Ortigas and Co. proposes to take back the remaining portion of Camp Aguinaldo, offering to swap a 250-plus hectare property in the Tanay area for the Logistics Command and other military uses.

Despite his oppositionist political sentiments, Ortigas president Rex Drilon II has met with Bases Conversion Development Authority president Narciso Abaya, and was trying to also see Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz, to pitch the idea.

Between Clark and Camp Aguinaldo, the military camp carries more political gravitas because of its accessibility. Symbolically, it grounds the proposed presidential palace to the People Power origins of the Edsa People Power I and Edsa II governments.

Should the swap push through, the Santolan Road side of Camp Aguinaldo could be made as wide as Katipunan Avenue on the side of the Corinthian Gardens subdivision.

One unlikely enthusiastic supporter is former Batangas provincial governor J. Antonio Leviste, the Muslim husband of oppositionist Loren Legarda.

Leviste, in a stunning Supreme Court reversal, won back the undeveloped half of the White Plains Road behind Camp Aguinaldo and has been trying for some time now to swap the property with either Camp Aguinaldo or the Quezon City government site.

Mike's squabbling relations

AFTER Bomboy and Linggoy Araneta, another group of relatives is giving Mike Arroyo a new headache.

This time, it is his nephew and neighbor in the La Vista subdivision in Quezon City, stockbroker Jose Tuason Quimson, who is being accused by another cousin of having illegally sold a valuable piece of property in Manila's Santa Mesa district.

A Sogo Hotel is now being built on the disputed 4,800-square-meter property near the SM Centerpoint mall and the Light Rail Transit station in that area, apparently without the consent of one of the listed property owners, Concepcion Beatrice Quimson-Del Rosario.

According to the grapevine, Quimson-Del Rosario owns 1/15, or 320 square meters, of the property, which she and her cousins inherited from their Tuason mothers.

Heard through the grapevine

TERESITA Sy and Government Service Insurance System president Winston Garcia were scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss Garcia's proposal to buy out the Sy block in the contested Equitable PCI Bank for a gravity-defying P95 a share.

E-mail: cocktales_pdi@pldtdsl.net or cocktales_pdi@yahoo.com

Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Do we really have to move the capital?

Manila Forever. :nocrook:

I agree! ;)

I would have to be biased, but it should be in Negros. If you look at the map of the Philippines, this area is really at the center. Central and Western Visayas, from Iloilo to Cebu are strong economically. Dumaguete port is being built to be one of the main hubs of the Strong Republic National Highway. The country's fiber optics system also has Negros, particularly the Dumaguete-Cebu area as one of the main hubs. Dumaguete has been very peaceful, an excellent educational center, it is clean, and recently booming. The Occidental side has also been economically progressive with its sugar plantations and other agricultural products. There was a proposal to put the regional center of the proposed one-island region for Negros between Mabinay and Kabankalan...maybe the government should consider building an aerotropolis (airport city) between Occidental and Oriental boundary, put up an international airport there, also a railway system extending to Cebu and Panay, and build that new capital city from bottoms up, meaning all the basic infrastructure should be excellent such as sewerage system, and power lines should be buried underground, as well as telecommunications cables...that new city which would serve as the country's capital should be a model to the rest of the cities in the Philippines, and it should have plenty of trees and excellent road networks...

Suggestion - wag nalang yata sa visayas o sa mindanao...

why?
1) We have to admit na ang big market is Luzon... Mas mahirap kung ilalagay pa sa Visayas... Paano and transpo ng goods at tao??? Naku po, it would cost hundreds of millions in one year and dagdag naman sa budget... Unless mura ang Air at sea transportation! Definitely not in Negros, Cebu and Panay. The vacant lands should be devoted to industry, agriculture and most of all, tourism. Iloilo is very congested as it is one of the tell-tale signs of improvement and economical progress. The city right now is planning to develop the other nearby towns, and will become a metropolis in its most true sense. Also same to Cebu, that aside from its commercial district and beaches, it is rapidly becoming like Manila, Very industrialized and commercialized (go Cebu!!!).

pero...
If ever it will be in the Visayas I suggest it will be somewhere in Negros. Being the 4th most developed 'metropolis' as you say and at the same time still having vast lands yet to develop, why not??? In fact, it would be very nice to see Bacolenos as the future leaders of this country because of their being 'visionaries'. I believe that the government, if ever it will be transferred there would not be patriotistic to Negros and Bacolod unlike what is happening to Manila sometimes. Look at the captial now, most are concentrated to it. If ever the capital will be transferred to an alternative city like Bacolod I believe that it will not be the case; wealth will be evenly distributed throughout the Philippines. Pero yun lang, ang transpo naman to other islands ang problema.

P.S.

If ever the government will be transferred to Bacolod, my gosh, our tourism will boom (+ boom i meant)... Tourists will be very much convinced... to invest in the Philippines...

Clark, imo. Not too far from Manila, but also far enough to escape its congestion. Similar to Putrajaya and KL.;)

Clark is perfect. Maybe Subic could be too, imo.

Clark's the best choice for me too.

Clark, Philippines. Doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as Manila, Philippines does. :colgate:

Clark, Philippines. Doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as Manila, Philippines does. :colgate:

But it won't be Clark anymore, they will rename it "New Manila". wow sounds like american version of New Jersey, New York, New Washington. But why not "Bagong Manila"?

Bagong Maynila. New Manila. Nueva Manila. Just Manila is still the best sounding. ;)

Cagayan De Oro, in Northern Mindanao. Allow US bases in Sulu and Basilan for 20 years. let the US develop the place then after take it back and transform the bases into economic zones like in Subic or Clark.

my second choice after northern mindanao is near clark...perhaps if the government can build capital city at the foot of arayat mt and will be called "Maharlika" that would be great.
i remembered there was a group of people who wants to change philippines to maharlika.
adding to that, the presidential palace, legislative and judicial buildings should be built in a truly filipino/malay architecture (if there's such thing as one).

I would have to be biased, but it should be in Negros. If you look at the map of the Philippines, this area is really at the center. Central and Western Visayas, from Iloilo to Cebu are strong economically. Dumaguete port is being built to be one of the main hubs of the Strong Republic National Highway. The country's fiber optics system also has Negros, particularly the Dumaguete-Cebu area as one of the main hubs. Dumaguete has been very peaceful, an excellent educational center, it is clean, and recently booming. The Occidental side has also been economically progressive with its sugar plantations and other agricultural products. There was a proposal to put the regional center of the proposed one-island region for Negros between Mabinay and Kabankalan...maybe the government should consider building an aerotropolis (airport city) between Occidental and Oriental boundary, put up an international airport there, also a railway system extending to Cebu and Panay, and build that new capital city from bottoms up, meaning all the basic infrastructure should be excellent such as sewerage system, and power lines should be buried underground, as well as telecommunications cables...that new city which would serve as the country's capital should be a model to the rest of the cities in the Philippines, and it should have plenty of trees and excellent road networks...

Finally, somebody had mentioned the place I had in mind. I too may be biased but to me, It would be the best, most central location. Although people from Panay and Cebu could arguably say they are the most central location, I think it is Mabini that is most centrally and ideall located as it is between the four regions that make up the central Philippine Islands. to the East is Weestern Visayas and the Island of Palawan which is or was part of a Southern Luzon Region. To the East would be Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas. The only problem with this particular town is that it won't have its own seaport. But having a seaport is not really an important factor because there is a good port in the town of Tanjay and a capital city is not supposed to be a primary port anyway... just an hour down and south of Mabini... most of Mabini is on a plataeu so building an airport, which is more essential to a capital city, is a possibility though they have started working on a new airport in the small city of Kabankalan on the occidental side. But I should say they should build a new airport even then for security and convenience.

Though more money will be spent on transportation, I am sure our economy will improve with a more central government capital because money will be more equably circulated as a result of this. We don't even have to rename it as the present name is appropriate enough already. One advantage of having a capital in Mabini is that our government will be more stable with the greater distance from the poor people that could be easily manipulated by other people.

With some people pushing for a federal government system, I think it would be even more essential to have the capital relocated to this particular town as it would mean a complete change and overhaul of the whole country. Of course Metro Manila will remain the Financial Capital and Metro Cebu, a tourism and industrial center.

They should also switch to English as the official language as it is more neutral, it is part of our culture and history and we cannot just shirk it away. Switching to english will enable future generations to speak it well... and get jobs in other countries that are reserved only for native English Speaking people. Our economy would definitely improve with more people speajing English. We should also resume teaching Spanish as a second language.


pero...
If ever it will be in the Visayas I suggest it will be somewhere in Negros. Being the 4th most developed 'metropolis' as you say and at the same time still having vast lands yet to develop, why not??? In fact, it would be very nice to see Bacolenos as the future leaders of this country because of their being 'visionaries'. I believe that the government, if ever it will be transferred there would not be patriotistic to Negros and Bacolod unlike what is happening to Manila sometimes. Look at the captial now, most are concentrated to it. If ever the capital will be transferred to an alternative city like Bacolod I believe that it will not be the case; wealth will be evenly distributed throughout the Philippines. Pero yun lang, ang transpo naman to other islands ang problema.

P.S.

If ever the government will be transferred to Bacolod, my gosh, our tourism will boom (+ boom i meant)... Tourists will be very much convinced... to invest in the Philippines...

As for Bacolod, I would say it is the fourth major metropolis in the country... BUT I would not say it is the fourth most developed Metropolis as there is currently no such thing even with CDO or Iloilo considered as a metropolitan area. Development in the rest of the country has definitely stagnated because it had all been concentrated in Manila and Luzon up to the late nineties. As for having the capital in Bacolod, I don't think it would be ideal because a new capital should be located away from all major cities in the country and Bacolod is the fourth major metropolitan area.

The diversity in opinion in this thread shows you why it's highly unlikely to have this thing moved, very difficult to get agreement, everybody want's it in their own city and why not , tis helpful indeed! But Better to focus on manageable problems. Quite expensive to move this you know.

Metro Manila should remain as our capital city for now. Period. Malaking gastos na naman if we move the capital.

Instead let us develop new regional capitals, dapat new towns para well planned, yung regional urban centers like Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio, and so on should be regional commercial and industrial centers para at least di ma-congest ang mga regional capitals. In short these regional capitals be purely administrative, with good city planning, beautiful buildings and monuments, parks, tree-lined boulevards, etc. para maka-cater din sa tourism. Malaking gastos din ito but at least more people can benefit from it.

Tapos i-impose yung federalism, but definitely not parliamentary, like the US. para yung kinikita ng mga regions natin ma-enjoy naman ng mga regions na ito. I mean like for example, Western Visayas is a very rich region. Sa tourism pa lang we have Boracay, Palawan, and Guimaras. Seafoods-Roxas City and Capiz, Estancia and Iloilo City in Iloilo, Neg. Occ. Sugar-Neg. Occ and Iloilo, Rice-Iloilo (btw Iloilo is the largest producer of rice outside Luzon) And so forth pero kakarampot lang ang funds na ibinibigay sa WV.

walang kokontra ha, opinyon ko lang ito, gumawa kayo ng sarili nyong opinyon, hehehe. :bash:
:cheers:
:runaway:

Metro Manila should remain as our capital city for now. Period. Malaking gastos na naman if we move the capital.

Instead let us develop new regional capitals, dapat new towns para well planned, yung regional urban centers like Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Baguio, and so on should be regional commercial and industrial centers para at least di ma-congest ang mga regional capitals. In short these regional capitals be purely administrative, with good city planning, beautiful buildings and monuments, parks, tree-lined boulevards, etc. para maka-cater din sa tourism. Malaking gastos din ito but at least more people can benefit from it.

Tapos i-impose yung federalism, but definitely not parliamentary, like the US. para yung kinikita ng mga regions natin ma-enjoy naman ng mga regions na ito. I mean like for example, Western Visayas is a very rich region. Sa tourism pa lang we have Boracay, Palawan, and Guimaras. Seafoods-Roxas City and Capiz, Estancia and Iloilo City in Iloilo, Neg. Occ. Sugar-Neg. Occ and Iloilo, Rice-Iloilo (btw Iloilo is the largest producer of rice outside Luzon) And so forth pero kakarampot lang ang funds na ibinibigay sa WV.

walang kokontra ha, opinyon ko lang ito, gumawa kayo ng sarili nyong opinyon, hehehe. :bash:
:cheers:
:runaway:

Why the bash? Why in Tagalog? Had to read it several times to understand it.

The government is keen on replacing the capital. Maybe by 2010, we will have a new capital...on paper.

Moving the capital to the Visayas, to Mindanao or somewhere else in Luzon will not help the country at all. The problem of our nation is not that the capital is in Manila, it is generally speaking the people in government and mostly the politicians. Even us who are not in government are part of the problem. It would be just a case of an old dog having a new collar. This also goes for charter change. It is a case of substance over matter. If we move the capital and lets say, also change the constitution, nothing would have change at all if the same people wether administration or opposition will run our country. Even if these personages are replaced (probably by people related to them) it won't make a difference if they have the same mindset and attitude. The name of the game is keeping the status quo. In addition, it would be a huge expense and the government could barely provide for basic social services. And judging by the present state of major cities in the country, we have poor urban planning. We who are not in government (being also part of the problem) could also use some change in our mindset and attitudes. How many are barbaric drivers out there, we like to keep to the quick fix solutions like bribery and connections etc. We could do away with apathy and be more pro-active and several ways that I could think of doing this is by being disciplined, be civic-minded as to care for our surroundings so as to reduce the chaos out there. We could also be concious of history in order to help us know who we are.

As trite or cliche as it may sound, as was mentioned in the past, what we need is a change in men, in all of us wether in government or not. Let us begin with ourselves. And yes I know my statements sounds preachy.

^^ Not only the men, but a massive overhaul of the system itself as well.

:weirdo: Suggestion :

Why not find a new name for our new Capital city?

Let us say Cyber Nilad ?

:weirdo: Suggestion :

Why not find a new name for our new Capital city?

Let us say Cyber Nilad ?

Silly!

why not try what south africa did... they had three capitals... one for the executive branch, another for the judiciary, and another for the legislative...

I'm also thinking of the same thing before. But, that would be confusing. And BTW, in the present set-up, Manila would be the executive and judicial capital while Pasay and QC would be the legislative capital. In addition to that, Makati is the fianancial center. Hehehe... So the whole MM is a good capital indeed. Almost all aspects are integrated in one place.

yeah...but i as linda thinking of putting the judiciary in mindanao or the legislative in visayas... just a thought.

"And BTW, in the present set-up, Manila would be the executive and judicial capital while Pasay and QC would be the legislative capital. In addition to that, Makati is the financial center. Hehehe... So the whole MM is a good capital indeed."

Add Pasig as the capital of shabu.

^and sabog :lol:

Reading Dr. Jose Abueva's book on the Federalism, they plan to move the capital in Clark, Pampanga.

Proposed name: New Manila

On my opinion, give it a new name by not linking it with a present day city. Be Innovative :D

^^ well, congressmen said on ANC they will adopt only few recommendations of the Consultative Commission. And, it seems there is no interest in moving the capital. Too expensive they say. Probably twenty years after the true chacha.

Reading Dr. Jose Abueva's book on the Federalism, they plan to move the capital in Clark, Pampanga.

Proposed name: New Manila

On my opinion, give it a new name by not linking it with a present day city. Be Innovative :D

parang area sa QC yun ahh.. hehehe.. anyways... yeah I think if they do plan to move the capital... use the town/city name to where it is moving.... Angeles City... kasi parang India... when they established New Delhi (from Delhi) and their plan for New Mumbai ata yun...

Besides there is already a New Manila around Balete Drive and Gilmore. It's also the place where Erap's Boracay is located.

Reading Dr. Jose Abueva's book on the Federalism, they plan to move the capital in Clark, Pampanga.

Proposed name: New Manila

On my opinion, give it a new name by not linking it with a present day city. Be Innovative :D

Or they can just simply call it "Clark." Hmm....Clark, Philippines....it has a nice ring to it, but of course the nationalists will want to have a purely-Pinoy moniker if a new capital is indeed to rise in Clark in the future.

Clark is Clark. 'Yan ang pangit sa Pinoy. Ang grandiosong pangalan, papalitan ng mabaho.
eX. Philippines to Maharlika.. wtf?! nasisiraan na sila!

^^kelan naging mabaho ang Maharlika? remember the song Ako ay Pilipino? it says there, "ako ay pilipino, ang dugo'y maharlika" so that means ang dugo mo mabaho? http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/7260/tysmiley38xw.gif

^^ Mas gugustuhin ko na yung Maharlika kesa Clark. Sino ba si Clark? Kano?
Maharlika na lang. :D

But "Maharlika" is not representative of the Filipino Nation. It's from one part of our history when we weren't even united yet under one state with a common culture. Who were the maharlikas? How can you connect it to today's Juan de la Cruz?

If not Clark, then Stotsenberg District is another option.

but of course the nationalists will want to have a purely-Pinoy moniker if a new capital is indeed to rise in Clark in the future.

In a federal parliament, a capital is where regional representatives meet to debate and make laws. That's why I suggested something with Katipunan or maybe just Tipunan --"the gathering place". I think the name works in most dialects.

^^ Mas gugustuhin ko na yung Maharlika kesa Clark. Sino ba si Clark? Kano?
Maharlika na lang. :D

But "Maharlika" is not representative of the Filipino Nation. It's from one part of our history when we weren't even united yet under one state with a common culture. Who were the maharlikas? How can you connect it to today's Juan de la Cruz?O, e di yun na lang... Juan de la Cruz, the new Philippine capital. JDC, for short. :lol:

Bakit hindi na lang "Malaya"? Totoo namang Malayo race tayo kahit na mestizaje ang marami. Mas marami ang nananalantay sa dugo ay dugong Malayo. Lahing kayumanggi. Plus, the term Malaya is very significant. Freedom and Independence.

Reading Dr. Jose Abueva's book on the Federalism, they plan to move the capital in Clark, Pampanga.

Proposed name: New Manila

On my opinion, give it a new name by not linking it with a present day city. Be Innovative :D
Besides there is already a New Manila around Balete Drive and Gilmore. It's also the place where Erap's Boracay is located.

Halatang hindi tubong Maynila 'yan si Abueva. Hindi niya alam na matagal ng may New Manila. 19 kopong-kopong pa.

^^ Hmmm...Malaya sounds good. Except that it reminds me of the tabloid

^^ :laugh: :laugh:. Mayroong Malaya newspaper but I dunno if its tabloid.

^ ay ganoon ba. sorry. :)

Anyway, I'm for moving the capital. It will spur development in other areas especially Central Luzon and also will spur construction and real estate in that area giving a jolt to the economy and providing jobs. Of course, it helps that we will finally have a showcase capital. It does not have to be that expensive. The government can give out parcels of land to private companies in order for them to develop as an incentive for pitching in in the development effort.

^^ Mas gugustuhin ko na yung Maharlika kesa Clark. Sino ba si Clark? Kano?
Maharlika na lang. :D

But "Maharlika" is not representative of the Filipino Nation. It's from one part of our history when we weren't even united yet under one state with a common culture. Who were the maharlikas? How can you connect it to today's Juan de la Cruz?

as far as i know, "maharlika" means "noble". so how can't it be representative of the whole Filipino nation? :)

Here's my suggestion -- build a new capital on the other side of Luzon directly east of Manila and call it Bagong Katipunan.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e117/PiliNut/Katipunan.jpg

as if many people aren't having trouble spelling philippines already.. ;)
try bagong katipunan, philippines.. :lol:

Clark is my vote. There hundreds of building space there.
Its well protected now, and will be even more wen PGMA is there. :D
but its got a problem with ghosts..
but thats a different story. :)

place the capital where 50 percent of the money of the philippines comes from....mindanao... :)

as if many people aren't having trouble spelling philippines already.. ;)
try bagong katipunan, philippines.. :lol:

Clark is my vote. There hundreds of building space there.
Its well protected now, and will be even more wen PGMA is there. :D
but its got a problem with ghosts..
but thats a different story. :)

Yeah and it already has some infrastructure in place or about to be constructed like the expressay, northrail and the DMIA

What ghosts, Dizflip? Post it in Samahan. :)

The ghosts of Pinatubo.

Palace announces ‘mega-regions’ plan

First posted 02:21pm (Mla time) June 15, 2006
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQ7.net


IN GOVERNMENT’S continued efforts to spur growth in the country’s regions and boost their economic potential, Malacañang on Thursday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be formally unveiling what it called "mega-regions."

The “mega-region” concept divides the country into four multi-regional “investment and development areas,” namely: North Luzon (Regions 1, 2 and Cordillera Autonomous Region, plus Aurora and Nueva Ecija); Metro Luzon (Regions 3, 4A, and the National Capital Region); Central Philippines (Regions 4-B, 5 to 8); and Mindanao (Regions 9 to 13 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

The President will present the concept when she and her Cabinet meet local officials of Northern Luzon in Cauayan, Isabela on Friday, Secretary to the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo said at a briefing on the mega-regions.

At the briefing, Saludo said Arroyo will soon draft an executive order outlining the boundaries of the development areas and the mechanisms by which local government
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units will participate in implementing the concept.

Saludo said the new groupings will allow regional leaders and sectors to participate more intensively in planning, monitoring, and fine-tuning development programs and projects in their regions.

"The President's idea is to move toward larger groupings that will boost economic and market potentials beyond what each region can generate, with economies of scale, synergies, and complementation that will be more attractive to investors," Saludo said.

"In addition, a larger resource base of each mega-region will be available for the provision of social services and pump-priming infrastructure, particularly the poorer provinces," he added.

Saludo said planning discussions will be held among the regional development councils executive committees, governors, and mayors of regional capital cities.

During Friday's Cabinet meeting, the National Economic and Development Authority will also make an economic and social report on the enlarged investment areas, noting key features such as land area, major industries, power-generating capacity, tourism, road network, strengths, weaknesses, demographics, and industrial facilities, Saludo said.

The Cauayan meeting is the first of four out-of-town Cabinet meetings until July to "review and revitalize investments and development blueprints from a supra-regional perspective" together with local governments, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said.

The next two out-of-town Cabinet meetings, in Metro Luzon and Mindanao, will be held before Arroyo leaves for Europe towards the end of the month. The last meeting, for Central Philippines, will take place upon her return to the country.

Bunye said the discussions with local officials will be used as inputs for the President's State of the Nation Address next month.

I'm not sure I see the point. The Philippines is already divided into the three mega-regions that we call Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

I'll reserve judgement until more details of this concept are unveiled tomorrow. Though I'm sure the opposition will waste no time in grandstanding their way into the headlines...

basically, they just divided Luzon into 2 regions. maybe these is a test-run of the federal system or something...

Im not really an expert myself but in humble my opinion this strategy will boost and empower more the already big fast growing metro's namely cebu and davao and of course metro manila itself but i still have no ideas what will be the effects on the rural area, small townships and medium cities if this will be implemented and i may be wrong. hehe :)

how will these regions' local government work? only 4 governors? and since she's already pushing for a parliamentary government, will we be seeing regional parliaments as well?

basically, they just divided Luzon into 2 regions. maybe these is a test-run of the federal system or something...

actually, we badly need this federal system such that it is already overdue to implement such system, and such program by the government is a way of making it happen without much change (cha-cha)

I watched news some time ago and GMA said that the Metro Luzon area contributes about 50% to the countries total GDP. I'm just confused with all the planning.

^^ i actually watched the president's show in nbn 4. and she said that the urban belt (from clark to metro manila to calabarzon) contributes around 50% of the country's GDP

so what now?? is it good?? or bad??

sounds interesting, but personally, im not in favor of how she divided it

do you think that this division is a prelude to federalism? what will now happen to the proposed 11 states? it will now be down to 4.

^^

I hope this will be realized and not just another "pure talk."

I support this agenda, however I guess it would be far more better if they divide Mindanao and Visayas into two, so a total of 6 mega regions.

^^

I hope this will be realized and not just another "pure talk."

I support this agenda, however I guess it would be far more better if they divide Mindanao and Visayas into two, so a total of 6 mega regions.

yes, i agree with you...make it 6 mega regions or even 7:

3 in luzon
2 in the visayas
2 in mindanao

Let me clarify what ANC said... this is not a prelude to the federal system and it "new" states but a new economic system wherein the this regions are set up in or order to better relenquish economic and infastracture projects...

how are 4 governrs going to manage a whole country when they can't even manage one single small province of their own...

if this is implemented then we must make very sure we really have some good and not just good but very very very very goooooodddd governors becoz if one governors messes up 1/3 of the country will be affected and will be in a world of sheeet hehe..

to add the runners for the governor that are coming from big provinces with bigger population will always have the big shot even if they plain stupid nuts.. thats what u call mobocracy.. hehe

when she said "mega-regions", i don't think she means political regions where there are elected officials (governors, vice governors, etc). i believe this is more of economic groupings. governors and other local officials of the existing provinces that will comprise these mega-regions can work together to implement projects that are of bigger scale. because, right now, some regions are just too small that resources are too limited and by clustering them with the more developed regions, there's more chance of having economic spillovers from these developed regions as far as infrastructure and social services are concerned.

four governors? it's not a political division they're talking about, is it? it's an economic division... :sleepy:

Palace announces ‘mega-regions’ plan

IN GOVERNMENT’S continued efforts to spur growth in the country’s regions and boost their economic potential, Malacañang on Thursday said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be formally unveiling what it called "mega-regions."

The “mega-region” concept divides the country into four multi-regional “investment and development areas,”

^^look..
why are all of you so i-don't-know about this issue?
you see that she's pertaining to economic potential of these so-called mega-regions, but you overlook that point to the extent that you see it as a prelude to federalism..
yes, she really wants to change our form of government but i don't see anything wrong with her plans to spur up the country's economy by sub-dividing it into four mega-regions..
i think this is a better idea than taking the whole philippines into spuring its growth which is obviously very hard to do..

oo nga naman, tama si kevin. naka-bold na nga eh, napaka-i-don't-know-about-the-issue pa kayo hehehe:D i like that term, it sounds sosi hehehe joke lang ha kevin;)

how will these regions' local government work? only 4 governors? and since she's already pushing for a parliamentary government, will we be seeing regional parliaments as well?

Nope, remember that provinces are different from regions. :)

Btw, I'm with PGMA on this. :D Reasons? Maybe later. :bash:

^^ people don't usually answer rhetorical questions. but you just did.

^^ I answer all questions as the ombudsman. :colgate:

^^ okay.

why not put it in Los Baños? hehehe... or Talim Island in the middle of Laguna Lake, hehehe, then they could build bridges across the lake, considering that at present the lake is quite shallow, and even decongest manila by building such bridges to cross luzon from north to south... just an idea though... hehehe

as far as i know, "maharlika" means "noble". so how can't it be representative of the whole Filipino nation? :)

Elders say, that during the time of President Macoy, he was planning to change the name of the Philippines into Maharlika. It was because the Philippines was the name given to us by the Spaniards and therefore should be changed. But, The Philippines sounds better. :D
Republic of the Philippines or Maharlikan Republic? Pero good thing sa Maharlikan Republic, astig pakinggan. Parang Weimar Republic ng Germany. :D

sabi ng nscb sa huling study nila, zamboanga del norte raw ang poorest province ng pilipinas. dun kaya natin ilipat ang mga mambabatas nang matauhan sila at umaksyon.

at kung di man sila maging mabuti e di unlad pa rin ung zamboanga del norte kasi gagawin nilang mas convenient ung kapaligirang nagalawan nila.

^^kung dun naman kasi yun ililipat, parang nilagay mo yung capital sa pagudpud, ilocos norte 'di ba?ang layo na kasi masyado..

oo nga naman, tama si kevin. naka-bold na nga eh, napaka-i-don't-know-about-the-issue pa kayo hehehe:D i like that term, it sounds sosi hehehe joke lang ha kevin;)

it's okay.. :D

Btw, I'm with PGMA on this.
ako din.. ;)

place the capital where 50 percent of the money of the philippines comes from....mindanao... :)

50% jud bai? hehe

^^ actually 50% of the gdp is in the urban belt of central luzon to calabarzon.

IMO, the new capital should be placed on a new city... d yung developed na para start from scratch..pero that would be a big isue kay maglalis ang mga tga Luzon , Visayas and Mindanao kung saan dapat ilagay. so manila shoul remain capital of the philippines....


tapos DAVAO, the Capital of republic of mindanao!!!!!!!

dapat 3 mega-regions lang...exclude mindanao..however th phils divide it, mindanao will always have the smallest share in terms of govt support..well have our own....


REPUBLIC OF MINDANAO!!!!!

lets just get rid of the whole idea of even having three or even four separate mega-regions... basta stick to the original political divisions... wala nang mindanao o luzon o visayas pa.

In my humble opinion, the mega regions plan isnt bad at all. :)

ey demented pigeon, whats with the sig? :)

in unity with the democratic struggle. that's unless some people will immediately tag anyone espousing socialist ideas as communists and think that they should allburn in hell when in fact, half of GMA's cabinet came from socialist/progressive organizations.

oi just asking lang ha :) so dis ninoy espouse the same ideas ( socialist)? d ko kasi cya inabutan

he espoused progressive ideas which is why if he didn't die, he'd give the hacienda luisita to its farmer tenants instead of fooling them into bargaining with a stock distribution option and just give them a weekly salary of 20 pesos.

so in a way,cory failed ninoy?

yes in a way... since the stock distribution option should have been in the comprehensive agrarian reform program since it came from mostly rich landowners. and now, 50% of supposed farmer beneficiaries of such a program still haven't availed of the CARP despite its end two years from now. that leaves mostly farmers in a agricultural corporation still majority controlled by the landlords with no choice but to accept a measly salary of below-minimum wage proportions. i wouldnt even call it a wage. things like these breathe strength to the communist insurgency. since the communist insurgency seems the only way out from very unfair deals. of course, many from the leftist factions try in vain to rectify such mistakes by trying to convinve farmers/peasants that there is an laternative to an armed struggle. but such is hard especially if we have paramilitary force who dont know how to distinguish above-ground leftist from communist rebel. even if many of us condemn communist atrocities, still we're condemned as communist rebels.

well from a non-leftists point of view kasi, its hard to distinguish talaga..ask any civilian (the one w/o any political affiliation or any knowledge about parties...like me :)) and theywould say they are just one (i.e. militants in the streets, student orgs and the armed movement) as they seem to have one cause..sorry for my ignorance but thats how most people see it..

^^... ahh explain ko sayo... i-ym m ko... para maintindihan mo kung which is which kasi minsan ung mga leftists lang ang nagkakadistinguish sa sarili nila

I want a confederation of sovereign states, not this BS. What do Bicolanos, Tagalogs, Pamapngueños and Ilocanoshave in common that they should be stuck together as a political entity except you can meet them without using a boat?

Good idea, PGMA... ignore history, ignore local community pride, ignore culture, ignore linguistics, ignore territorial disputes, ignore religion, ignore common sense...

Just to make lines on a map which will ensure that the powerful get more power.

I watched news some time ago and GMA said that the Metro Luzon area contributes about 50% to the countries total GDP. I'm just confused with all the planning.


Its on NBN "Working President". Actually its just Central Luzon and Mega Manila who accounts the 50% of the Philippines GDP.

"I want a confederation of sovereign states, not this BS. What do Bicolanos, Tagalogs, Pamapngueños and Ilocanoshave in common that they should be stuck together as a political entity except you can meet them without using a boat?

Good idea, PGMA... ignore history, ignore local community pride, ignore culture, ignore linguistics, ignore territorial disputes, ignore religion, ignore common sense..."

Too much ethnocentrism.

@ RDC: you might want to read the article (and the previous replies) again before calling this a BS. just a suggestion :) because it has been pointed out that the intention in coming up with these "regions" is to spur economic development. just relax. there will be no changes in the political subdivisions that we have at present unless we go federal. that's a different story. so no "ignore-history-ignore-something-something" comment muna until we find out the entirety of the plan, which will be out soon :)

"I want a confederation of sovereign states, not this BS. What do Bicolanos, Tagalogs, Pamapngueños and Ilocanoshave in common that they should be stuck together as a political entity except you can meet them without using a boat?

Good idea, PGMA... ignore history, ignore local community pride, ignore culture, ignore linguistics, ignore territorial disputes, ignore religion, ignore common sense..."

Too much ethnocentrism.
its also called regionalist dogmatism. just right where the colonizers wanted us to be.

this isn't connected with any political subdivisions..
if you want the phil to be richer again (God-damned the term!), you will set aside those ethnocentrismic ideas and focus on things that would make a lot of good changes in our economic playground today..
even if it means that this certain region of a certain land mass of the country will be grouped to another certain region that would entirely mess up their traditions or whatsoever!
that is so, because, again, ethnocentrism or regionalist dogmatism, (whatever term you wish to call it) doesn't matter in this particular issue..
it's about regaining from the international community what was truly ours --- economic stability recognized internationally..

^^ actually 50% of the gdp is in the urban belt of central luzon to calabarzon.

you're right but they're saying that 50% of the country's money should come from mindanao where they want the new capital to be relocated.. :D

Any city in Central Luzon. I also think Cebu or Davao can represent the country very well.

P500b earmarked for 4 mega-regions
By Joyce Pangco Pañares

THE government plans to invest P500 billion up to the year 2010 to jump-start the development of four newly formed “mega-regions,” President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday.

Citing the Asian Development Bank’s assessment that “investment or social capital” must rise 10 percent yearly for its effects to trickle down to ordinary Filipinos, the President said her fiscal program called for spending P100 billion more each year in public investments.

“The government must invest in infrastructure and industries, in health and education programs, and in the promotion of security and social justice, and we will use our economic gains for all these,” the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo met representatives from the Metro Luzon mega-region (Central Luzon, National Capital Region, Southern Tagalog) yesterday in Malacañang, where she announced the spending plan.

On Thursday, the President went to Isabela City to convene the North Luzon mega-region composed of the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and the Cordillera Autonomous Region.

“We are calling all these meetings so we can identify together the areas where we will invest,” she said.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the government has earmarked P25 billion annually for the next three years to the four mega-regions, or P300 billion.

The President will decide by 2008 whether to increase the funding or keep it at P100 billion per year until her term ends in 2010.

The other mega-regions created by Mrs. Arroyo were Central Philippines (Mimaropa Region, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Central Visayas) and Mindanao (Western Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Socsargen, Caraga Region, Southern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

On Friday, Mrs. Arroyo will fly to Davao City to meet the representatives from the Mindanao group.

The funding allocated for the mega-regions will come from the additional revenues expected with the imposition of increased taxes.

The government expects to earn as much as P75 billion in revenues annually from the higher value added tax that took effect in February.

Of this amount, P26.2 billion has been allocated for defense, social services, economic services, and general public services.

The tax-funded projects include the hiring of 3,000 policemen and the purchase of 630 patrol cars, the expansion of the school feeding program to cover pupils in all public elementary schools nationwide, and the construction of new irrigation systems.

In an earlier interview, Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo said the outcome of the consultations in the four mega-regions would be reflected in the President’s State of the Nation Address.

Also yesterday, the presidential assistant for Eastern Visayas, Victor Domingo, said the creation of the supra-economic zones would encourage regions to work together for development. With Ben M. Veridiano

If 25 billion pesos each mega region, so ok na sa Mindanao yan. 125 billion pesos worth of development projects for the next five years.

Cebu would be my choice for an alternative capital.

^^ :laugh: :laugh:. Mayroong Malaya newspaper but I dunno if its tabloid.

Malaya is a newspaper, not a tabloid. :)

Cebu would be my choice for an alternative capital.

for me it would be davao.

IMHO, cebu is so masikip already.

davao is so maluwag. so development would not be a problem. plus davao is typhoon free... and alot more nice and wonderful things to boot...

even though cebu is more cosmopolitan than davao, davao would still be my choice..

^^ I say build a new one...... like what Brazil did.... we could be creative... we could build a super skyscraper instead of a single city... in the middle of an island.... that would be so cool....

I think it would help Mindanao a lot if the capital would be moved to any province there.

IMHO....Clark would be a good choice (like Washington DC), its not far from manila, Metro Manila then would be like Los Angeles (entertainment capital)and New York (financial capital), but i really don't care, when we turn into a Federal form of Government, the country will not be too centralized anyway (i hope).

I'm from iloilo but i don't want it (capital) moved here in Visayas and definitely not in Mindanao, Iloilo will still be a Regional Capital of the Federal State of Western Visayas.The other states should just concentrate on improving themselves economically as well rather than thinking about being the next capital.

Clark!

Cebu is too... slummy... already.

IMHO....Clark would be a good choice (like Washington DC), its not far from manila, Metro Manila then would be like Los Angeles (entertainment capital)and New York (financial capital), but i really don't care, when we turn into a Federal form of Government, the country will not be too centralized anyway (i hope).

I'm from iloilo but i don't want it (capital) moved here in Visayas and definitely not in Mindanao, Iloilo will still be a Regional Capital of the Federal State of Western Visayas.The other states should just concentrate on improving themselves economically as well rather than thinking about being the next capital.

I agree with your statement. not in yloilo. we have enough problem to tackle on our own. bigay ca kanila kung gusto nila. isipin nyo na lang ang mga rally, ca kanila na lang. tahimik ang buhay ca yloilo para magingay ng ganun.

P500b earmarked for 4 mega-regions
By Joyce Pangco Pañares

THE government plans to invest P500 billion up to the year 2010 to jump-start the development of four newly formed “mega-regions,” President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said yesterday.

Citing the Asian Development Bank’s assessment that “investment or social capital” must rise 10 percent yearly for its effects to trickle down to ordinary Filipinos, the President said her fiscal program called for spending P100 billion more each year in public investments.

“The government must invest in infrastructure and industries, in health and education programs, and in the promotion of security and social justice, and we will use our economic gains for all these,” the President said.

Mrs. Arroyo met representatives from the Metro Luzon mega-region (Central Luzon, National Capital Region, Southern Tagalog) yesterday in Malacañang, where she announced the spending plan.

On Thursday, the President went to Isabela City to convene the North Luzon mega-region composed of the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, and the Cordillera Autonomous Region.

“We are calling all these meetings so we can identify together the areas where we will invest,” she said.

Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the government has earmarked P25 billion annually for the next three years to the four mega-regions, or P300 billion.

The President will decide by 2008 whether to increase the funding or keep it at P100 billion per year until her term ends in 2010.

The other mega-regions created by Mrs. Arroyo were Central Philippines (Mimaropa Region, Bicol Region, Western Visayas, Eastern Visayas and Central Visayas) and Mindanao (Western Mindanao, Northern Mindanao, Socsargen, Caraga Region, Southern Mindanao and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

On Friday, Mrs. Arroyo will fly to Davao City to meet the representatives from the Mindanao group.

The funding allocated for the mega-regions will come from the additional revenues expected with the imposition of increased taxes.

The government expects to earn as much as P75 billion in revenues annually from the higher value added tax that took effect in February.

Of this amount, P26.2 billion has been allocated for defense, social services, economic services, and general public services.

The tax-funded projects include the hiring of 3,000 policemen and the purchase of 630 patrol cars, the expansion of the school feeding program to cover pupils in all public elementary schools nationwide, and the construction of new irrigation systems.

In an earlier interview, Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo said the outcome of the consultations in the four mega-regions would be reflected in the President’s State of the Nation Address.

Also yesterday, the presidential assistant for Eastern Visayas, Victor Domingo, said the creation of the supra-economic zones would encourage regions to work together for development. With Ben M. Veridiano

paano yan, tataas nanaman ang taxes. sino nanaman ang mamomoroblema ca pagkain ca araw araw. ibibigay nanaman ca taong bayan ang problema. malamang pupunta nanaman yan ca bulsa ng iba. arruuuu, kaya pala gusto ng ganito eh. pahirap na nga ng pahirap, sige, raise the taxes. this is where your taxes go.

Cebu would be nice..it's centrally located in the country..
but i like kyle's idea..
build a new capital..but not in an island! :D

^^This shows that this is not just propaganda. The allotment of P500B for the proposed mega regions will greatly help the local economy of the proposed different mega-regions. Eventually, this will improve the present economic recovery we are already experiencing. The national economy will then benefit with the proposed mega-regions by the administration.

Working together for development is the best weapon to economic stability. As much as the investments in the regions continue to expand as we move together for development, the formation of mega-regions will deliver more investments to the regions.

^^ we could build a flotilla of ships.... presto a moveable capital,.... one ship for the executive another for the legislative and another for the Judiciary.... and another for each department.... and every month the kids at school have to memorize which capital is which.... at any given time..... it will also give rally organizers a head ache....

think about it... if there's a big rally in manila... it will be anchors away.... to the next port, which would be chosen for it's friendlier citizens.....

IMHO....Clark would be a good choice (like Washington DC), its not far from manila, Metro Manila then would be like Los Angeles (entertainment capital)and New York (financial capital), but i really don't care, when we turn into a Federal form of Government, the country will not be too centralized anyway (i hope).

I'm from iloilo but i don't want it (capital) moved here in Visayas and definitely not in Mindanao, Iloilo will still be a Regional Capital of the Federal State of Western Visayas.The other states should just concentrate on improving themselves economically as well rather than thinking about being the next capital.

I agree with this that if ever the capital would be move we need to check for a good location near the financial capital (ex. Makati). Mindanao would not be feasible for now because it will cost more and would take longer to create a new capital city with infrastructures. As a Davaoeño, I would not want the capital be transfered to Davao. IMO, Davao is still lacking a lot of things and a little behind after Cebu.

decentralization of budget....... filamente!!

Working together for development is the best weapon to economic stability..

:okay:

IMO, Davao is still lacking a lot of things and a little behind after Cebu.

i also agree with you, IMHO..
but there are certainly things to be accomplished for the new capital to be moved, like infra..i really think it would be great if it will be moved to the visayas, if ever..

in my humble opinion, if would be difficult to move the capital..too many isses might come up..Visayas coz its PGMAs stronhold..Mindanao??why mindanao?? those type of issues (though i dont support any, but still, it could come up)
too many disagreements, and the area not chosen..well feelings of resentments...so let the capital stay in manila for now.and if the capital should be moved, it shouldnt be in an already established city? clark? cebu? davao? what for? it isnt that much different than manila (not exactly at par w manila in terms of urbanization buyt these cities do enjoy and suffer ,to some degree,things that are in manila) anyway so whats the use? my choice..somewhere in bukidnon (or any province w/ the same characteristics), cool, rustic, untapped,little population, even smaller (or none at all) slums... A FRESH START (plus a healthy proximity "not too near not too far" to major cities like CDO, Davao, Cebu.. )

decentralization of budget....... filamente!!


FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

w/ davaos huge income going to davao alone...hmm the possibilities!!!!

paano yan, tataas nanaman ang taxes. sino nanaman ang mamomoroblema ca pagkain ca araw araw. ibibigay nanaman ca taong bayan ang problema. malamang pupunta nanaman yan ca bulsa ng iba. arruuuu, kaya pala gusto ng ganito eh. pahirap na nga ng pahirap, sige, raise the taxes. this is where your taxes go.

wala naman sinabi na tataas ang taxes. additional revenues will come from the higher value added tax that took effect in February this year.

The funding allocated for the mega-regions will come from the additional revenues expected with the imposition of increased taxes.

The government expects to earn as much as P75 billion in revenues annually from the higher value added tax that took effect in February.

I go for Clark... perfect venue for the new capital of the country!

An ambitious economic plan to divide the country into four "mega regions" could put the Philippines back on the international economic map and bring "a quantum leap in investment and jobs," Malacañang declared yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the "mega regions" — North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines, and Mindanao — are envisioned to be "the harbinger of the first world-class status of the Philippines in 20 years."

"The massive devolution of development from the national to the regional level will break up the bureaucratic clog that impedes local progress, and spell a quantum leap in investments and jobs," Bunye said.

At the same time, the mega regions would complement the devolution of powers to local governments as envisioned in recently proposed amendments to the Constitution, Bunye stressed.

"The mega regions are a good companion to the broader distribution of political power through Charter reform," he said.

Though the economic strategy was announced last week, this was the first time the Palace had linked the creation of the four regions to efforts to amend the Constitution.

News (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606220420.htm)

"The massive devolution of development from the national to the regional level will break up the bureaucratic clog that impedes local progress, and spell a quantum leap in investments and jobs," Bunye said.

that's what i'm talkin' about! :D

An ambitious economic plan to divide the country into four "mega regions" could put the Philippines back on the international economic map and bring "a quantum leap in investment and jobs," Malacañang declared yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the "mega regions" — North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines, and Mindanao — are envisioned to be "the harbinger of the first world-class status of the Philippines in 20 years."

"The massive devolution of development from the national to the regional level will break up the bureaucratic clog that impedes local progress, and spell a quantum leap in investments and jobs," Bunye said.

At the same time, the mega regions would complement the devolution of powers to local governments as envisioned in recently proposed amendments to the Constitution, Bunye stressed.

"The mega regions are a good companion to the broader distribution of political power through Charter reform," he said.

Though the economic strategy was announced last week, this was the first time the Palace had linked the creation of the four regions to efforts to amend the Constitution.

News (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606220420.htm)

I agree. Why not go a step further and implement the federal system? Having the four mega-regions is a good start, maybe it can be shown to skeptics how federalism can be better for the country as it dispenses with legislative gridlock and will spur progress in the countryside.

By dividing into 4 mega regions, investors will be afforded a view of the Philippines in four (4) areas. From a foreigner's perspective, traditionally, the country is seen through Manila. But Manila is not really the Philippines. Well, in economic terms, yes, the size of Manila economically may drive the Philippines. But GMA's government is trying to encourage investors to look at other areas of the country so that investments go also to other areas aside from Manila. This way, people need not go to Manila to have jobs but remain in their home provinces and cities, for that matter.

Eto na lang, Jollibee has around 400 branches, more than 200 of which are in Metro Manila. If you combine the Jollibee branches in Luzon, outside of Metro Manila, wala pa siguro yun 25% sa Manila. So with the Visayas, sa Iloilo, 15 (more or less), Negros, 10 (est), cebu, 20 (est). Kahit i-total mo pa yan wala pa kalahati ng Metro Manila. That only means that business in Manila is really that big, that the amount of money circulating there is really big compared to the Visayas, Mindanao, or Luzon. With the creation of the economic regions, it hopes to be able to disperse opportunities to the provinces para hindi na lang palagi Manila.

The question is what will happen to the existing regional division? Will it be disbanded? If not then this 4 mega regions will just add up another layer of beaureacratic mess.

wala naman sinabi na tataas ang taxes. additional revenues will come from the higher value added tax that took effect in February this year.

so saan sila kukuya ng 425billion pesos? kasi 75 billion pa lang, di ba dapat 500 billion. expected pa lang naman yun. nagbabago. gobyerno pa. alangan namang ibababa nila ang taxes. tataas yan. pero kung hindi nila tataasan, salamat ng malaki. kung tataas, salamat?

di ba nakasulat din sa taas na hanggang 2010 pa naman, baka doon nila maabot ang 500 billion, so doon na lang siguro magimplement ng mega regions kung saka sakali. pero lalampas yan ca mga bulsa.

The question is what will happen to the existing regional division? Will it be disbanded? If not then this 4 mega regions will just add up another layer of beaureacratic mess.

as i've said, this four mega-regions isn't connected to the political and geographical subdivisions of the present situation..the proposal is only a technique in order to spur up the country's economy..

tsk.. uutang nanaman sa world bank?

^^that i don't know..it was never mentioned whether the gov't is making a loan or something, or at least i overlooked some parts of the news..

as i've said, this four mega-regions isn't connected to the political and geographical subdivisions of the present situation..the proposal is only a technique in order to spur up the country's economy..

the current regional division also has no political mandate. IMO, the president can disband it if she wants. I don't think the current regional set up was legislated. Correct me if i'm wrong. palawan was a region 4b member before but she transferred it under western visayas.

this mega region i think (the details of which not yet known) will replace the current regional division. this is what i understood from Saludo's statement. the mega region will function like the current set up but in a larger scale and with improvements like allocationg a certain budgeted amount for development projects. that means that each mega region will have to prepare each own program of expenditures for priority projects which is not availble in the current set up.

"The President's idea is to move toward larger groupings that will boost economic and market potentials beyond what each region can generate, with economies of scale, synergies, and complementation that will be more attractive to investors," Saludo said. here (http://news.inq7.net/breaking/index.php?index=1&story_id=79218)

so saan sila kukuya ng 425billion pesos? kasi 75 billion pa lang, di ba dapat 500 billion. expected pa lang naman yun. nagbabago. gobyerno pa. alangan namang ibababa nila ang taxes. tataas yan. pero kung hindi nila tataasan, salamat ng malaki. kung tataas, salamat?

di ba nakasulat din sa taas na hanggang 2010 pa naman, baka doon nila maabot ang 500 billion, so doon na lang siguro magimplement ng mega regions kung saka sakali. pero lalampas yan ca mga bulsa.

the expected 75 billion increase of revenues is only an addition due to the increase in taxes meaning the government earns more than that.

Sunstar Davao
Monday, June 26, 2006
Arroyo's 'mega-region' backed

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Southern Mindanao expressed support for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's plan of creating mega-regions, saying such strategy would promote convergence within every supra-region.

DTI Regional Director Merly Cruz explained how beneficial the plan would be, especially in Mindanao.

"It could help us consolidate the gains of Mindanao," she said.

Strengthening mega-regions, according to Cruz, backs up DTI's banner approach, which is "industry-clustering."

The biggest challenge within DTI's scope in implementing such approach is how to connect Mindanao's gains given the territorial boundaries.

"I have long waited for this plan to come out from the President. Now, she has again proven that she's really a good planner as she puts more weight in strategic planning," she said.

DTI believes that Arroyo, in pushing for these mega-regions, would strengthen regional development councils to form a supra council for the whole of Mindanao.

She explained that the present operation of Regional Development Councils could not do much given the lack of budget.

Cruz thinks that Arroyo would gradually reduce the present bureaucracy and would build a supra body for Mindanao to oversee operations.

DTI explains the many other benefits the said move could give to the people in Mindanao.

"It would encourage maximum participation not just within every province or municipality but within Mindanao as a whole," Cruz said.

Further, she explained that every area would be given full support to produce, promote and market its champion products while making sure that connectivity will be in place in the form of infrastructure, roads, and others.

At the same time, the mega regions would complement the devolution of powers to local governments as envisioned in recently proposed amendments to the Constitution, Bunye stressed.

"The mega regions are a good companion to the broader distribution of political power through Charter reform," he said.

@jimbu: i think you're referring to this..^^

PGMA will be releasing an Executive Order for the creation of the Superbody (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/june/28/yehey/business/20060628bus9.html) for the Super Region project.Under the Office of the president, this will oversee the planning and the implementation of the proposed project.They will supervise all the projects and programs in the regions and will be headed by Regional Dev't council chairs for a private-sector champion, elected or appointed by the President.

Definetely one of the best decision that our President ever made. A "BIG" project like this should have a smooth plan for its success. :cheers:

By dividing into 4 mega regions, investors will be afforded a view of the Philippines in four (4) areas. From a foreigner's perspective, traditionally, the country is seen through Manila. But Manila is not really the Philippines. Well, in economic terms, yes, the size of Manila economically may drive the Philippines. But GMA's government is trying to encourage investors to look at other areas of the country so that investments go also to other areas aside from Manila. This way, people need not go to Manila to have jobs but remain in their home provinces and cities, for that matter.

Eto na lang, Jollibee has around 400 branches, more than 200 of which are in Metro Manila. If you combine the Jollibee branches in Luzon, outside of Metro Manila, wala pa siguro yun 25% sa Manila. So with the Visayas, sa Iloilo, 15 (more or less), Negros, 10 (est), cebu, 20 (est). Kahit i-total mo pa yan wala pa kalahati ng Metro Manila. That only means that business in Manila is really that big, that the amount of money circulating there is really big compared to the Visayas, Mindanao, or Luzon. With the creation of the economic regions, it hopes to be able to disperse opportunities to the provinces para hindi na lang palagi Manila.

(OT) Jollibee's got 10 only in Negros? does that include the ones outside Metro Bacolod like San Carlos and Kabankalan Cities? Well, it could be true since Jollibee is really struggling to get a bigger market share here since MacDonald's is getting a bigger slice because it has a strong presence in Metro Bacolod... the only city where MacDonald's gets bigger sales without even having to put up branches at the major malls.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

w/ davaos huge income going to davao alone...hmm the possibilities!!!!

How about the neighboring provinces and cities Gravy? I hope that they would put up the new regional centers in central and less developed areas like Malaybalay in Mindanao and Mabinay in Negros Oriental. Making Cebu and Davao City the regional centers would only stunt the growth of the surrounding areas.

How about the neighboring provinces and cities Gravy? I hope that they would put up the new regional centers in central and less developed areas like Malaybalay in Mindanao and Mabinay in Negros Oriental. Making Cebu and Davao City the regional centers would only stunt the growth of the surrounding areas.

It's just a planning body. The current Regional agencies, RDC's to stay. here (http://http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2006/07/08/news/regional.agencies.rdcs.to.stay.under.mega.regions.html)

Region VI Development Council joins supra regional meet
THE SOUTHERN BEAT By Rolly Espina
The Philippine Star 07/08/2006

The officers of the Western Visayas Regional Development Council suddenly found themselves invited to a meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and representatives of the Central Visayas Supra Region in Cebu City yesterday.

The meet will have far-ranging impact. The reason: the President is strongly encouraging Western Visayas to shift its medium-term development program from agri-industry to agri-tourism, pointing out the need to make Central Philippines the tourism hub of the country.

Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said RDC chairwoman Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez will present the President the Western Visayas tourism development program with Boracay as its anchor.

THE TWO NEGROS GOVERNORS, HOWEVER, WILL PUSH FOR BRIDGES TO INTERCONNECT PANAY, NEGROS AND CEBU TO BOOST THE ECONOMIES AND TOURISM POTENTIALS OF THE THREE ISLANDS.

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL GOV. JOSEPH MARANON AND ORIENTAL NEGROS GOV. GEORGE ARNAIZ HAVE LONG BEEN BATTING FOR THE AMBITIOUS BRIDGE-LINK PROJECT.

Both said they will also push for the production of ethanol and jatropha as well as organic farming.

Arnaiz will handle the presentation of the common concerns of the two Negros provinces.

Gov. Zaldivar-Perez intends to invite the President to attend the special celebration of RDC VI by the third week of this month to award the first-ever winners of the Best Public Sector Projects evaluated by the private sector components of the council.

Region VI Development Council joins supra regional meet
THE SOUTHERN BEAT By Rolly Espina
The Philippine Star 07/08/2006

Presidential Adviser for Western Visayas Rafael Coscolluela said RDC chairwoman Antique Gov. Sally Zaldivar-Perez will present the President the Western Visayas tourism development program with Boracay as its anchor.

THE TWO NEGROS GOVERNORS, HOWEVER, WILL PUSH FOR BRIDGES TO INTERCONNECT PANAY, NEGROS AND CEBU TO BOOST THE ECONOMIES AND TOURISM POTENTIALS OF THE THREE ISLANDS.

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL GOV. JOSEPH MARANON AND ORIENTAL NEGROS GOV. GEORGE ARNAIZ HAVE LONG BEEN BATTING FOR THE AMBITIOUS BRIDGE-LINK PROJECT.


Visayas also deserve mega projects such as this. If Luzon has NLEZ, SLEX, LRT, MRT then I hope the government could also build bridges to inter-connect Cebu-Negros-Panay islands.

PGMA to preside over joint Cabinet-Urban Beltway Mega Region meeting in Clark tomorrow
WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2006 | PROGRAMS/PROJECTS


President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will preside over the second round of the joint Cabinet-Regional Development Councils (RDCs) meeting on development planning for the Urban Beltway Mega-Region at the Clark Economic Zone’s Museum in Pampanga tomorrow.

It is expected that the meeting would map out the government’s plan to develop the Metro Luzon mega-region into an urban beltway and identify the priority development projects in the area.

The Metro Luzon mega-region is composed of Regions 3, 4A, and Metro Manila.

Governors of the provinces in the Metro Luzon mega-region led by RDC-3 head and Bulacan Gov. Josie de la Cruz are expected to be in attendance.

The President is also scheduled to inaugurate the Clark Institute of Aviation, a world-class training institute for international airline personnel, at the Clark Polytechnic College Complex.

In the first-round discussions held in Malacañang last June 20, the President encouraged greater logistics investments in Clark and Subic Economic Zones as well as in expressways and ports in the urban beltway as well as Aurora.

The President also batted for agri-investments in Nueva Ecija, the country’s number one rice-producing province and investments that would benefit the island provinces of Mindoro and Marinduque from the development of the CALABARZON (Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon) growth corridor.

‘God will judge me’ -- Arroyo

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQ7.net
Last updated 03:03pm (Mla time) 07/13/2006

CLARK SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE, Pampanga - As her foes prepare to again cast doubt on her legitimacy and prepare for another impeachment attempt, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said here on Thursday that only God could ultimately judge her.

"What we were born to be, we were born to serve God,” she said in an interview with a local radio station. “In the end, it's going to be God who will judge who has been good and who has not been good."

Asked if she was confident about the judgment she might get, she replied: "That's what I said, that's for the Lord to determine at the end of my life."

Arroyo was here to launch the Clark Institute of Aviation and preside over a meeting with local officials of Metro Luzon, one of the four mega regions Malacañang created to spur growth and development.

Groups and individuals from all over the political spectrum who are seeking Arroyo’s ouster have joined forces for the latest effort to impeach here. The administration has also claimed the existence of a “leftist-rightist” conspiracy to grab power.

But Arroyo said all she wants is to be good President.

"I'm not after being a great person, I said I want to be a good president," she said, adding that "it is not necessarily history" that judges whether one has been good or not.

Arroyo has taken credit for the economic gains of the past months, saying this was due to her continued focus on governance despite the “political noise.”

why dont they just grant independence to cebu?

^^ taxes....

Super-regions a blueprint for federalism -- Ermita

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Inquirer
Last updated 05:59am (Mla time) 07/14/2006

A PLAN by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to divide the Philippines into four economic super-regions may well be the blueprint for federalism in a post-Charter change scenario.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita admitted as much at a briefing at the Clark Special Economic Zone Thursday.

“Yes, we can say that. The President has been addressing the local governments’ concerns about imperial Manila,” said Ermita.

The government has identified four super-regions that are to be turned into investment and development areas -- North Luzon (to include the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions and the Cordillera Administrative Region, including the provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija), Metro Luzon (Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions and Metro Manila), Central Philippines (Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas) and Mindanao (Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Socsargen and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

Ermita said the super-region strategy was designed to give governors and mayors direct access to official development assistance funds without having to go through central government agencies to speed up the construction of infrastructure projects in their communities.

Solid support

“The President is giving the local government officials more importance because she knows that our economy moves with what is happening in the provinces,” Ermita said.

Local government officials became the most solid support of Ms Arroyo during the most serious political crisis she faced last year as well as the most rabid promoters of her Charter change campaign.

The governors and mayors have agreed to aggressively pursue the campaign to change the present form of government from a presidential-bicameral to a parliamentary-unicameral system through a people’s initiative despite opposition from the influential Catholic bishops.

The President was at Clark Thursday, the last stop of her national consultations with regional development councils in each of the proposed super-regions.

In her opening statement, the President said the consultations were meant to gather inputs for her State of the Nation Address later this month in which she will outline her super-region strategy as one of her policy initiatives in the next 12 months.

“We envision developing the economic landscape for the better because each super-region or sub-economy has its own natural competitive advantage and we will build on that,” Ms Arroyo said.

Super regions defended

He said among the programs included in the medium term development plan are the proposed bridges to interconnect Panay, Negros, Cebu and Bohol and the conduct of a feasibility study has been approved.

The building of the bridges is quite ambitious because the financial requirements are huge but at least they have been included in the master plan, before we were told we were just dreamers and now a feasibility study is under way, he said. here (http://www.visayandailystar.com/2006/July/13/topstory5.htm)

If there are proposed bridges to connect panay, negros, cebu and bohol, why leave palawan and samar-leyte? :D

The implementation of these super regions will be good for the economy as those key cities and provinces will help those provinces and cities in terms of economic progress. In the long run, this will greatly help maintain a stable economy not only to those who are stable but also those cities and provinces who need this kind of strategy.

All in all, this will bring us towards a more stable economy both in the macro and micro level.

Ermita said the super-region strategy was designed to give governors and mayors direct access to official development assistance funds without having to go through central government agencies to speed up the construction of infrastructure projects in their communities.

If local officials can now access development funds without having to go through central governemnt then it's much better. I can't wait how they will implement this. Anyway, I hope by this setup we could move faster to catch up our progressive ASEAN neighbors.

"One of the advantages of the super regions is that local government can access financing facilities with concessionary rates without sovereign guaranty, Gamboa said.

In other words it is not a loan by the republic but by the region therefore it is not a burden on the taxpayer but on the local government concerned, he said."


Wow. So regions can now borrow from international institutions to fund superhighway construction to connect twin cities. I understand a superhighway is scheduled to be built between Iloilo and Kalibo. That's good news. Bicol Region can now solicit funds also from international institutions to fund the superhighway that will connect Naga and Legazpi. I hope they will do that also between Bacolod and Dumaguete.

Mega-regions priority projects to push RP to first world status

"We need to increase investment by ten percent a year in order for us to catch up with the richer countries of Asia," President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said at the opening of the second round discussion on development planning for the Northern Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao super regions.

President Arroyo underscored the need to identify the priority projects in each mega region based on the area's natural competitive edge to push the country for First World status.

She said that the government's planning and economic development strategy of grouping the country's 16 regions into four mega-regions will help spur a quantum leap in foreign investments and jobs, the Malacanang press report said.

The new planning tact, the president said, would allow national government and local government units to put together a series of development packages and invest in the region's strength. The President likewise emphasized that education must be bolstered especially in the poorer provinces. The strategic development plan will be highlighted in the President's State-of-the-Nation-Address (SONA) on July 24, 2006.

The four mega regions are: North Luzon which is composed of Regions 1, 2, the Cordillera Administrative Region and the northern part of Aurora and Nueva Ecija, would be developed into an agri-business center; Metro Luzon-Region 3, 4A and Metro Manila. During its first round discussion, the President encouraged greater logistics investments in Clark and Subic Economic Zones, in expressways and ports in the urban beltway as well as Aurora. She also called for investments in agri-business in Nueva Ecija as well as investments that would benefit the island provinces of Mindoro and Marinduque from the development of CALABARZON; the Central Philippines mega-region, which includes the island provinces of in the Visayas, shall be developed into the country's tourism center; and Mindanao mega-region would be developed into the country's food basket.

(PIA/T.Villavert)

Categorizing Manila as the industrial center, Central Phil. as the Tourism Center, North Luzon & Minda as the food baskets are mere ploys of Manila to further centralize capital & investment in Manila. By Making Manila the industrial center they would further congest Metro Luzon...Why, is Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod limited to Tourism only? Is Davao, CDO, Zamboanga, Butuan limited to "food-baskets" only? I mean dev't should be diverse & wholistic not limited...Mindanao & Visayas could be industrial centers too...

The question is does this "Mega Regions" another sly ploy of further milking the resources of Mindanao & the Visayas into Mega Manila?

^^Did you even read the entire content of the mega regions plan or the entire thread? Anyway:



Gov defends Arroyo’s plan to create 4 super regions

Cebu Daily News
Last updated 11:35am (Mla time) 07/14/2006

BACOLOD CITY — Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon yesterday came to the defense of President Arroyo for her creation of four “super regions” amid allegations that it could just be a ploy to deflect the people’s attention away from moves to impeach her.

The four mega regions created by the president are North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao.

The Central Philippines mega-region is composed of Regions 4B (Mimaropa), 5 (Bicol) 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas) and 8 (Eastern Visayas).

“At least she makes plans for the country. She has some objectives, she has some vision as to how she will achieve it, that is another story,” the governor said.

Marañon said the current regional structures would remain the same, as placing several regions under one super region is just for consolidating projects and for planning.

He said among the programs included in the medium term development plan is the proposed bridges to interconnect Panay, Negros, Cebu and Bohol.

“The building of the bridges is quite ambitious because the financial requirements are huge but at least they have been included in the master plan. Before we were told we were just dreamers and now a feasibility study is under way,” he said.

Binalonan Mayor Ramon Guico Jr., president of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, also believed that super regions are good for the country because they will hasten development.

“There is nothing bad that can come out of this, it will just highlight the need to decentralize to spur development in the countryside,” added Mayor Alfonso Gamboa of EB Magalona town in Negros Occidental.

Inquirer

http://globalnation.inq7.net/cebudailynews/visayas/view_article.php?article_id=9769

My only protest against this Mega Regions is the Unjust Categoriztion of GMA. I mean the investors would see Manila as the "Only" viable destination for Industry for example. Why does GMA need to label the 4 mega regions & categorize appropriate investment options for a specific region?

I mean specifiying Visayas as a Tourism Economy or Mindanao as a food basket...Why can't we for once de-centralize Manila & also invite investors to put up manufacturing or industrial facilities in Davao, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro or Bacolod? By specifying Metro luzon as the Industrial Center, people would flock more to Manila & Calabarzon for more jobs. What does degree holders from colleges look for now? Most of the Baccalaureate courses are for industry-only a few cater to tourism or agricluture. Aside from that I agree that the earnings of each region should be utilized within that region.

SONA to focus on funds for ‘super regions’

By DJ Yap, Leila Salaverria
Inquirer
Last updated 01:19pm (Mla time) 07/19/2006

ONE OF the issues that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will focus on in her State of the Nation Address on July 24 will the decentralization of funds for the development of the country’s planned “super regions,” according to a Malacañang official.

“The President is going to be concentrating on decentralizing a lot of funds,” Arthur Yap, chief of the Presidential Management Staff and presidential adviser on job creation, told the Bulong Pulungan forum yesterday.

Yap said there were enough funds from revenue collections and earnings for Malacañang to put in more investments into the development of the so-called “super regions.”

The President last week identified four regions to be turned into investment and development areas -- North Luzon (to include the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions and the Cordillera Administrative Region, including the provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija); Metro Luzon (Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions and Metro Manila); Central Philippines (Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas), and Mindanao (the Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Socsargen and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).

Yap yesterday indicated the likely development focus of each region -- Mindanao and Northern Luzon for agriculture, Central Philippines for tourism, Central Luzon, Mimaropa and the Bicol regions for major infrastructure.

“You’ll see the SONA concentrate on that,” he said.

Yap said transferring national funds to the so-called super regions would generate employment and investment in these areas and thus jump-start development there.

“When you bring down more funds to super regions, you actually capacitate [sic] them to do more local projects critical to them. That creates jobs in the local level and that is a signal to the private sector to invest,” said Yap.

He said job generation has always been the focus of the President’s SONA.

Yap said he hoped the President’s SONA would be received well and heeded.

He said he hoped “it can be taken as [and] seriously accepted as marching orders on where we intend to go.”

He said “things are really looking up,” noting that the economy grew in the first quarter, revenue collections were up, the peso was stable and unemployment had slightly gone down, among other indicators.

But groups opposed to the President believe they already know what she will say in the SONA.

“She won’t be crowing about the accomplishment of her past SONA promises. Instead, she’ll focus on the supposed destabilization attempts against her,” said Wilson Fortaleza, spokesperson of the militant Laban ng Masa.

“In the past, she used to talk about how she improved the economy, or how she delivered on her promises. But now her being an economist won’t work anymore, she won’t have anything to be proud of,” Fortaleza told a press conference called by Laban ng Masa, the Freedom from Debt Coalition and Sulong.

Looking silly

He said Ms Arroyo would likely talk about crushing the communist insurgency in keeping with the “all-out war” she recently declared against the communists.

“She’ll also talk about the involvement of the opposition and all the critics of her administration,” he added.

Militants said the President would “only look silly” if she were to paint a rosy picture of the economy, citing the many supposed negative indicators.

Fortaleza said the value-added tax (VAT) on oil and power has “harshly [affected] the lives of the people.”

“Under the administration of Ms Arroyo, the cost of power has almost doubled to P9 per kilowatt hour from P5 per kilowatt hour before she signed the Electric Power Industry Reform Act into law in 2001,” said FDC president Ana Maria Nemenzo.

The FDC said power rates in the Philippines are the second highest in Asia. The country also has the third highest industrial electricity rates and seventh highest household power rates in the world, it said.

As a prelude to the protest marches during the SONA, the FDC, Laban ng Masa and Sulong will hold a day of protest against the VAT on oil and power on July 20.

North Luzon (to include the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions and the Cordillera Administrative Region, including the provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija); Metro Luzon (Central Luzon and Calabarzon regions and Metro Manila); Central Philippines (Mimaropa, Bicol, Western Visayas and Eastern Visayas), and Mindanao (the Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao, Socsargen and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao).



Hmmm, pwedeng kasuhan yung gumawa ng article, hindi niya binanggit ang Central Visayas. So buburahin sa mapa ng Pilipinas ang Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor at Negros Oriental? :rofl:

oo nga! pansin ko!

Palace: Super regions prelude to decentralization of political power
By Paolo Romero
The Philippine Star 07/20/2006

President Arroyo created the four new "supra" economic regions of North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao to devolve political power from Manila to local governments nationwide as envisioned by Charter change advocates, Malacañang said yesterday.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye Jr. said the administration awaits the action of Congress and the proponents of the people’s initiative to amend the Constitution.

"Building the economies of the super regions would give the citizenry a preview of how it is to live under a regime of political equity and renewal," he said.

Bunye said the national and the various local governments would pour their combined financial resources to spur growth and create markets for investments, and to facilitate a more strategic approach to planning.

"The decentralization of economic power is a prelude to the eventual decentralization of political power under the aegis of Charter reform," he said.

"At this stage, the people are gearing in growing numbers for constitutional change. We deliver the goods to the people and provide them the much-needed jobs right on their doorstep; and we are confident that now is the time to push the momentum of Charter change to its logical conclusion," Bunye said.

However, Bunye did not say whether the four mega-regions would be the first step to forming federal states as proposed by some Charter change advocates.

"The mega-regions are a good companion to the broader distribution of political power through Charter reforms," he said.

The massive devolution of development from the national to the regional level "will break up the bureaucratic clog that impedes local progress, and spell a quantum leap in investments and jobs," Bunye said.

Earlier, Secretary to the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo said that Mrs. Arroyo might issue an executive order dividing the Philippines into the following areas:

• North Luzon covering the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Cordillera Autonomous Region and the provinces of Aurora and Nueva Ecija.

• Metro Luzon covering Metro Manila, Central Luzon and the CALABARZON region.

• Central Philippines covering the MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) area, the Bicol Region and Western, Central and Eastern Visayas.

• Mindanao covering the Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region, SOCSKSARGEN Region, Caraga region and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Mrs. Arroyo said her goal is to bring the national government and the various local governments to work closely together in economic planning.

Rather than discuss the administration’s vision from the usual central and national point of view, its roadmap would be discussed in the Regional Development Councils and other regional institutions "as our partners in development," she added.

The government would pour P100 billion annually in the next three years into the four new regions to jumpstart their economies, Mrs. Arroyo said.

Hmmm, pwedeng kasuhan yung gumawa ng article, hindi niya binanggit ang Central Visayas. So buburahin sa mapa ng Pilipinas ang Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor at Negros Oriental? :rofl:

oo nga!engot ng writer.. :lol: :jk:
but i like GMAs plans for bicol..infrastructure! :D

President Arroyo created the four new "supra" economic regions of North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao to devolve political power from Manila to local governments nationwide as envisioned by Charter change advocates, Malacañang said yesterday.

full article (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200607200418.htm)

I agree on this.Building the economies of the super regions would give the citizenry a preview of how it is to live under a regime of political equity and renewal.

Super region’ primed to become RP’s tourism hub

BY EUAN C. AÑONUEVO, The Manila Times Reporter

The Central Philippines "super region" is being primed to become the country’s major tourist center.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri, who is also National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) director general, pointing to the vast coastal and marine resources of the Central Philippines super region, said the programs and projects to make it a tourist hub have been endorsed by Regional Development Council and have gone through the Investment Coordinating Committee.

The super region will require P300 billion for the kind of infrastructure it needs to spur the growth of foreign and local tourism, such as better roads, airports, roll-on roll-off ports, hospitals and schools.

The program for Central Philippines was discussed in a recent meeting of the Joint Regional Development Council-Cabinet held in Cebu and in Malacañan.

A report from NEDA outlines the programs for the super regions to include utilization of coastal and marine resources without harming the environment; efficient transportation and communication links; development of agribusiness, small and medium enterprises and exports; responsible mining and quarrying; optimization of power potentials and supply reliability, and enhanced social services.

The government earlier identified four major super regions in the country that will be prioritized for development and investment. These are North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao.

Central Philippines super region is composed of Bicol, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas and the provinces of Palawan and Romblon. Palawan, Boracay, Siargao, Bohol and Cebu are some of the top tourist drawers in the region.

GMA: The best is yet to come
By Aurea Calica
The Philippine Star 07/23/2006

Emerging triumphant from several attempts to oust her, President Arroyo will unveil an ambitious economic recovery plan when she faces Filipinos tomorrow for her sixth State of the Nation Address (SONA) before a joint session of Congress.

The plan, which she envisions as the foundation for a "First-World Philippines" that will emerge in the next two decades, calls for dividing the country into economic regions, each capitalizing on its strengths. Mrs. Arroyo believes this will spread economic development to remote areas.

"It is like I am going to do four or five mini-SONAs," she told a television interview late Friday. "I’ll talk about what has been done, what we are doing and what is yet to be done on our sub-economies."

Mrs. Arroyo’s address will be accompanied by a visual presentation to outline her economic agenda, Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said.

"You will be impressed with her knowledge and what she has in store for every town in the country. She can point out that a port should be in this and that place. She really has a plan," Defensor told reporters.

"This is where you will see her expertise. She knows the overall development of the country, how to connect (economic areas) to each other and create one super economy," Defensor added.

Mrs. Arroyo also will have so-called "people’s champions" as special guests to highlight the potential of the Filipino, Defensor said. He hinted that they could be the recent recipients of the Order of Lakandula award with the rank of Champion for Life, of which boxing champion Manny Pacquiao was the first awardee. Defensor refused to give details, except telling reporters to "just wait and see."

Mrs. Arroyo’s economic development plan calls for grouping the country’s 16 regions into four economic regions or "sub-economies" that she said "goes beyond political boundaries and goes toward the direction of economic boundaries."

These four economic regions were designated as North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao.

North Luzon will be comprised of the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley and Cordillera Administrative Region, and the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Aurora.

Metro Luzon will be made up of Central Luzon, Metro Manila and Calabarzon, while the regions of Bicol, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas and Western Visayas will make up the Central Philippines.

Mindanao will have all the regions in the country’s second-largest island.

Further, Mrs. Arroyo has identified one more sub-economy, a "fifth region that cuts across the length of the four mega regions — from Baguio City in the north to Davao City in the south and that is the cyber corridor-like information and communications technology or ICT," which are composed of call centers and other business process outsourcings.

Mrs. Arroyo said the idea of grouping the regions into economies is to capitalize on the "natural competitive advantage" of each, all identified by local officials.

The national government will work closely with regional development councils, she said, giving recognition to their knowledge of local conditions.

Up to P100 billion in government funding will be allotted annually, to be divided equally among the four economic regions to be invested in education, infrastructure, industrial development and social services to tap each region’s market potentials and attract foreign investment.

Mrs. Arroyo envisions the North Luzon and Mindanao economic regions as the country’s agri-business centers in the north and south, respectively.

Metro Luzon will become a commercial and trade center while Central Philippines will lean on its tourism potential.

Mrs. Arroyo hopes that poor provinces will benefit from their developed neighbors in their economic groupings.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the economic plan will rely heavily on cooperation from local government units. "I think there’s a political undertone here. This is national-local partnership, and then you can see the trend also to distributing the powers more to the countryside."

Local officials also see the economic recovery plan as "empowerment" of local governments that have long complained of interference from "Imperial Manila," Bunye said.

Defensor said Mrs. Arroyo has been working late on her speech for the past nights. "We are there to provide the data and to provide the input but she’s doing everything. And if we continue like this for a month I will be part of the poverty threshold."

Mrs. Arroyo called it a day yesterday at 5 a.m. and went over her speech again after lunch.

"She’s not rehearsing yet. She wants to rehash and check the speech. She’s finishing it, she’s typing it, she does not want anyone to type it," Defensor said.

Defensor said he and Presidential Management Staff chief Arthur Yap have been on standby, ready to make calls when Mrs. Arroyo asks for information.

"It’s unbelievable," he said. "She was calling us up this (Saturday) afternoon because she needed more data. I have no idea how many hours she slept. We have problems with the data. She wants everything to be accurate. If you are a Cabinet secretary and you don’t know what you’re talking about, you’re in trouble."

Cabinet officials were questioned several times by Mrs. Arroyo about data and lectured when information didn’t seem right. "You should know what you’re talking about," Defensor said.

Overall, Mrs. Arroyo seemed happy that her figures and data in her speech are accurate, he added.

"As an example, I am personally elated at the fact that 2.4 million families have been lifted from poverty," he said.

"The opposition, the only arguments they can have against us are emotional. As far as the numbers are concerned, we have solid foundation and basis to say that the economy and the social situation would show that somehow things are looking up."

Mega-regions: NG-LGUs partnership toward RP’s attaining First World status
SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2006

Mega-regions, supra-regions or sub-economies--whatever it is called -- it aptly describes the national government’s new development planning strategy in strong partnership with the Local Government Units (LGUs) in a bid to spur economic growth in the countryside and eventually lead the Philippines to achieving First World status in the next two decades.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has said that her vision for the country should come from the perspective of the Regional Development Councils (RDCs), thus the series of Cabinet meetings with the local executives of the four mega-regions---North Luzon, Metro Luzon, Central Philippines and Mindanao—has paved the way to a greater participation of the LGUs in development planning, much to the delight of the local executives.

The President aptly describes this new strategy as: rather than discussing the administration’s vision/program from the usual central/national point of view, it is now discussing the vision/program from the perspective of the RDCs and other regional institutions.

She said the new strategy is "the beginning of a renewed partnership with regional leaders to bolster education, invest in infrastructure and encourage greater investments all over the country."

In the process, the regional leaders and sectors have intensively participated in the planning, monitoring and fine-tuning development programs and projects in their regions. They also have pinpointed the strengths of their regions and the corresponding priority projects and programs essential to the development of their mega-region’s "own natural advantage" from which the government could build on.

Consultations and collaboration meetings were held beginning June 16 for the North Luzon Mega-Region in Cauayan City, Isabela, followed by Metro Luzon on June 20 in Malacañang, Central Philippines in Cebu City on July 7, and Mindanao in Cotabato City on July 8. The President presided over all the initial meetings and the succeeding second-round discussions held in Malacañang and Clark Economic Zone in Pampanga.

The enlarged grouping of the regions will boost economic and market potentials beyond what each region can generate, with economies of scale, synergies and complementation that will be more attractive to investors.

In addition, a large resource base of each mega-region will be available for the provision of social services and pump-priming infrastructure, particularly for the poorer provinces, Cabinet Secretary Ricardo Saludo said.

The results of the mega-planning discussions are to be inputted in the Medium-Term Public Investment Program and in the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) before the joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives on Monday, July 24.

Under the mega-grouping, North Luzon mega-region is composed of Regions 1, 2 and Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) plus Aurora and Nueva Ecija; Metro Luzon -- Regions 3 (except Aurora and Nueva Ecija), 4-A and National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila; Central Philippines --Regions 4-B, 5, 6, 7 and 8; and Mindanao --Regions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio R. Bunye viewed the four mega-regions as the "harbinger of First World status" for the country in the next two decades as the strategy entails the massive devolution of development from the national to the regional level, thus breaking the bureaucratic clog that impedes local progress and spells a quantum leap in investments and jobs.

The government will be investing P100 billion annually in the next five years, to be spread out evenly to the development of the four mega-regions.

The President said that based on the Asian Development Bank’s assessment on the Philippines, the government must increase public investments by 10 percent annually "in order for us to catch up with the richer countries of Asia…"

The recent planning tact had put together a series of development packages, identified the areas for investments as the government embarks on "an enlarged economies of scale."

North Luzon would be developed as the agri-business center in the North, Metro Luzon would be the urban beltway, Central Philippines as RP’s tourism hub, and Mindanao as the agri-business center in the South.

galing ni PGMA! may UTAK talaga!! just support her at baka mag ka22o na maging 1st world philippines na tau!

TEKA TEKA mindanao for AGRi na lang..so no more industries..infra and tourism suppor for mindanao..WTF? typical treatment of non-mindanaoans to mindanao..

^^
naku brod! baka magsaka ka na lang! hahaha :rofl: :jk:
murahuin mo congressman nyo ... hehehe

TEKA TEKA mindanao for AGRi na lang..so no more industries..infra and tourism suppor for mindanao..WTF? typical treatment of non-mindanaoans to mindanao..

Jeje, magtanim ay hindi biro. Naka-upo at naka-tayo. Joder, I couldn't remember the song anymore. :D

well, it doesn't mean that if they say Mindanao (or Northern Luzon) is going to concentrate on Agri-business then all it's going to have are farmers and more farmers. i see this as a collaboration among the proposed 4 mega-regions--each having its own specialization. kahit agriculture or tourism pa ang main industry ng isang region, hindi naman mawawala dyan ang infrastructures. syempre kakailanganin ang mga daan/seaports/airports para sa mabilis na pagkilos ng mga produkto at tao. at dahil na rin sa makabagong pagpoproseso ng mga produktong agrikultural, kakailanganin na rin ang mas maraming paktorya. i heard that the demand for packaging in northern mindanao is picking up because banana and other agricultural exports are also picking up. so, kakailanganin din ang mga paktoryang nagmamanufacture ng packaging. tapos kelangan din ng mga hotels para yung mga foreign investors na gustong mag-invest sa agriculture ay merong tutuluyan. you see, parang chain reaction yan. marami pa ring businesses ang magbubukas na tutugon sa partikular na uri ng industriya meroon ang isang lugar.

pero hindi ibig sabihin, mawawalan na ng turismo ang Mindanao. ang mga tourist spots, andyan lang yan. hindi sila maglalaho. kapag umunlad na ang agri-business industry sa mindanao, giginhawa na ang buhay ng mga tao. tapos magkakaroon na sila ng mas maraming disposable income. so meron na silang gagamitin mamasyal di ba? hehehe!

it's fine to be versatile, but sometimes it's also good to collaborate as a team. you do what you are good at and let the other members do theirs. iba-iba kasi ang strengths ng bawat rehiyon. kasi ang napapansin ko lang, kapag taga-Luzon ka, or taga-Visayas, or taga-Mindanao, minsan parang ang pag-iisip natin tagaroon lang tayo. Pilipino naman tayo so taga-Pilipinas tayo. you are free to take advantage of what the whole Philippines has to offer, kahit saang parte pa ito ng bansa. so pag maunlad ang apat na rehiyon, eh di masaya :D