In his State of the Region Address (Sora), RDC-Western Visayas Co-Chairperson Arecio Casing Jr. said the PDP and RDP shall focus on bringing back the country and the region on the high growth path and more importantly, begin economic transformation for a prosperous, inclusive and resilient society.
Casing, who led the RDC’s third quarter regular meeting at L’Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City yesterday along with newly-elected RDC chairman Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, said this transformation is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This is critical for achieving the country’s long term vision of providing a “matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay para sa lahat,” he said.
Casing said the RDP will also consider the crucial role of innovation in order for the country to sustain its growth towards the new stages of development, as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation.
“It could be an uphill battle, but with our combined efforts and mitigation actions, we can minimize the damage and reduce the vulnerability of our families, our economy, and the environment,” he said.
The official added “I am confident that the people of Western Visayas, with the support of our newly elected officials together with the regional line agencies and the private sector, will be able to sustain and even accelerate our growth further leaving no one behind.”
Casing noted that from a negative 9.7 percent growth in Calendar Year 2020, the regional economic growth as measured by the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in 2021 rebounded to 5.9 percent.
“This means that in monetary terms, our economy was valued at P874.1 billion,” Casing said.
He said among the major industries, the services accounted for 59 percent of the region’s total economy in 2021. Industry shared 21.5 percent while Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (AFF) shared 19.5 percent.
For agriculture, as of the first quarter of 2022, Casing said, the region has a 136.9 rice sufficiency ratio on average, and remains to be the third largest rice producing region in the country.
He said palay production in Western Visayas increased by around 2.7 percent, from 2.3 to 2.4 metric tons.
From 2020 to 2021, Antique has the largest yield increase at 14.02 percent.
A higher yield in corn production, meanwhile, is recorded at 9.69 percent.
Higher yields can be attributed to greater production subsidies, the assistance provided under the Bayanihan II Program and the annual Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) Seed Program, the official reported.
Unfortunately, the region was again challenged by the occurrence of Typhoons Odette, Agaton and Basyang in the last quarter of 2021 and second quarter of 2022, respectively, Casing added.
For Typhoon Odette alone, the investment requirement to address damages, losses and needs was about P18 billion.
“As of April 12 this year, Typhoon Agaton’s initial damage and losses amounted to P270.3 million. As a consequence, we expect another decline in the value in agriculture due to the major damage of standing crops and infrastructures needed for productivity in the farming and fisheries sector brought about by the two typhoons early this year,” Casing said.
In terms of labor, he said, an overall improvement was seen in the region’s labor indicators during the second quarter of 2022.
Unemployment or the percentage of the total number of unemployed persons to the total number of persons in the labor force, decreased by 25.12 percent while underemployment reduced by 23.87 percent.
He added that the number of employed individuals grew by 2.04 percent while the Labor Force Participation Rate or the percentage of the total number of persons in the labor force to the total population 15 years old and over, showed a slight improvement of one percent during the second quarter of 2022.
In terms of poverty in Western Visayas, he reported that the poverty incidence in 2021 was 19 percent and is targeted to decrease at nine to 12 percent in 2023.
Overall, the modest performance was attributed to the increase in economic activities brought about by the resumption of businesses and easing of movement restrictions.
He said the full vaccination of 93.65 percent of individuals in the region of as August 31 this year also added to the rising confidence of employers and employees in the opening and reopening of establishments.
Likewise, the resumption of tourism activities contributed to the positive performance of the sector, he added.
In terms of inflation rate, Casing said, the Philippine Statistics Authority – Western Visayas reported that prices of goods in Western Visayas remain higher than the national average.
He said for four consecutive months, the prices of basic goods in the region have been more expensive than the national average as the inflation rate jumped to 7.4 percent in August 2022.
Meanwhile, Benitez said they are still waiting the ratification from the office of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. so he can formally take over the functions as the chair of RDC.*