New Administrative Divisions (Regions, Provinces, Cities, etc.)

[ark]

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.

[ark]

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.

[LordCarnal]

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...

[Lili]

Manila Forever.

[overtureph]

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.

[JAMAICUS]

Do we really have to move the capital?

[kiretoce]

Originally Posted by Lili

Manila Forever.

I agree!

[ritche]

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...

[ferrersky]

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...

[ryanr]

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

[Sinjin P.]

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

[ramvingar]

Clark's the best choice for me too.

[kiretoce]

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

[Jimbu]

Originally Posted by kiretoce

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

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"?

[kiretoce]

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

[Jimbu]

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.

[vanoy2000]

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).

[Dinho]

Originally Posted by ritche

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.

Originally Posted by ferrersky

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.

[bustero]

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.

[ark]

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.