Development of the east, the sunrise area (A must)

Basic in development planning is the effort to develop all land areas in order to make them productive and to disperse the population to work on the land. A twin effort is to put in place the infrastructure and utilities all over the country again with the aim of encouraging people to move to the countryside and make the land productive.

This is possible only if government is able to finance all these developments with new money. Government, indeed, should be allowed to borrow from the central bank fresh local currency via 30-year long-term bonds with a 10-year grace period and at minimal interest rate of four percent. This is the only viable way to develop now as the present domestic money supply is grossly inadequate to finance the country’s development in the whole.

In the Philippines to date the bulk of development has been concentrated on the western side of the country facing the South China Sea. This poses a serious security risk if and when conflict arises out of the conflicting claims over the Spratly islands.

For economic reasons, it is high time that we should concentrate on the development of the Eastern Luzon seaboard of the country which has been neglected for over 50 years since our independence. Indeed, this five million hectares of land in the Eastern Board, one-sixth of the total land area of the country, remains largely idle and depressed.

It should be the primordial concern of government to develop these areas as they do not presently contribute to national productivity, revenues or employment.

The advantage on embarking on the development of the eastern seaboard now is that we have the technology both in planning and actual implementation such that we can direct its progress from day one through proper master-planning. We can look up to California as a model as it fully and beautifully developed its eastern side facing the Pacific Ocean from San Diego to San Francisco.

Even in feng-shui considerations the east is the better side where people should be living and working. The east, which is the direction of the sunrise, is associated with good luck while the west, where the sun sets, is given to bad omen. It is no wonder, then, that the Philippines which has, heretofore, concentrated development on its western side is not as lucky as its neighbors who have develop more purposely their eastern portions.

The vast tracts of our eastern land could very well serve as the relocation site of our people who congest the urban centers in the west. Here in the east there is land for our homeless brothers and land, and yet more land, to be worked on by them.

Specifically, on the Eastern Luzon Seaboard straddling the Sierra Madre mountain range in Dingalan, Aurora and General Nakar, Quezon is a 30,000-hectare master-planned area that can easily decongest the Metropolitan Manila area. With full government support, this 30,000-hectare area, together with a possible joint-ventureship with the government over 50,000 more hectares at General Nakar, Quezon, could very well spur economic development of the eastern board as all of the 80,000-hectare area has already been master-planned for growth.

Already, as projected in the masterplan, the 30,000-hectare property alone is determined to generate more than a trillion pesos in taxes during the lifetime of the project. Additionally, studies show that the project will provide 3.5 million employment opportunities also for the duration of the project.

Particularly, this Eastern Luzon Seaboard Project has been master-planned to be composed of an integrated and complete development that encompasses all major phases of human activity.

Envisioned in the master-plan is a City of Learning where state-of-the-art educational facilities shall rise to teach and educate our people to be productive citizens in their time. An Industrial City is proposed to be home to the factories and plants that will produce local products of superior quality. There will be a Worker’s City for the labor force in the area. Being naturally endowed with the virgin Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean front, the project includes a Resort City to cater to tourists, both local and foreign.

The master-plan includes, as well, a Government Center where all government offices will be housed. A substantial portion is reserved for the indigenous people of the area. There is a planned Ecumenical Center and an Olympic City. The entire 30,000-hectare area, to the last square meter, is master-planned from day one.

The project just described is of course but a model of what the Eastern Board promises to be with its vast natural resources and pristine beauty. There can and should be other master-planned projects that can contribute to the full and complete development of the sunrise side of the country.

All these grand designs, plans and dreams can, however, come to reality only with proper and adequate government financing in local currency. Ultimately, they have to be financed by government though long-term, low-interest bond floatations bought by the central bank through the issuance of new money and securitized against future taxes.

In this connection, we propose again, as we did propose in our last article, that the New Central Bank Act be amended to include a provision as follows: "In order to foster sustained economic growth, the BSP is mandated to buy with local currency 30-year long-term and up to four-percent low-interest securities or bonds with a 10-year grace period issued by the government, its agencies and instrumentalities for purposes of financing all the infrastructure and utilities of the country."

This singular change in the law will be a positive giant leap forward and is the only way we can develop the Eastern Board and all the other areas of the country as well.

(You may write your comments/suggestion at 15/F Equitable Bank Tower Paseo de Roxas, Makati City or through e-mail at [email protected])

(Editor’s note: Atty. Roxas is writing a limited series of articles dealing with financial matters and other important topics.)