Defensor prodded: Help revive Caraga economy

TANDAG, Surigao del Sur — Business and other private sector leaders, non-government organizations and local government officials requested Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael Defensor to focus his attention on how to develop the wood, mining and ecotourism industries of the Caraga region, being its Cabinet Officer for Regional Development (CORD).

They aired this concern in seven resolutions they passed during the 11th Caraga Business Conference held in this capital town last Aug. 18-19.

In their resolutions, they said the regional economy relies heavily on the wood, mining and ecotourism industries and reviving them could provide jobs and other livelihood opportunities to more than 300,000 people.

The lack of jobs, they bewailed, has forced many Caraga residents to seek employment in the cities of Davao and Cagayan de Oro and even Metro Manila, among other areas.

They said the DENR and other government agencies can make or break Caraga’s hemorrhaging economy since local and foreign investments are normally infused into these industries.

Some sectors expressed doubts about the government’s seriousness in improving the economy of Caraga, the country’s poorest region, since previous regional business conferences had raised the same issues and concerns.

Based on 1995 statistics, the Caraga region accounted for 67.75 and 37.7 percent of the country’s log and lumber production, respectively.

But this has dwindled because the government has failed to simplify procedures for the issuance of cutting permits.

Meanwhile, Bonifacio Ondona, regional coordinator of the World Bank’s Community-based Resource Management Project, said the Caraga region boasts of many potential world-class ecotourism sites.