BUILDING THE MIDDLE: DEPDev wants more interconnected processing hubs in W. Visayas

ILOILO CITY — The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) is promoting a polycentric development model for Western Visayas, positioning multiple cities and provinces as specialized economic hubs instead of relying on a single urban center to drive growth.

The 2025-2055 Regional Physical Framework Plan (RPFP), formulated by the Regional Development Council-6 (RDC-6), provides the spatial framework for the strategy through three pillars: concentration and agglomeration, connectivity, and vulnerability reduction.

DEPDev Undersecretary Carlos Bernardo Abad Santos, who heads the department’s Regional Development Group, said that while growth opportunities have been identified across the region, development must be organized spatially to ensure that existing strengths translate into higher-value economic activities.

DEPDev is the former National Economic and Development Authority, which was reorganized into an executive department under Republic Act 12145, signed on April 10, 2025.

The RPFP updates the region’s 2001-2030 framework and follows the transfer of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City to the Negros Island Region under Republic Act 12000 in June 2024, which left Western Visayas with Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Iloilo City.

“We need strong growth centers; that’s your concentration and agglomeration. We need better links between them; that is your connectivity. We need a development that is resilient to climate and other risks, and that is vulnerability reduction,” he said.

Abad Santos said the framework centers on polycentric networked integration, or PONI, which recognizes that Western Visayas should not depend on a single dominant urban center to drive regional growth.

In the RPFP, Iloilo City is envisioned as a services and innovation hub; Roxas City in Capiz as an agri-fisheries hub; Kalibo in Aklan as a creative economy hub; Boracay Island in Malay, Aklan, as a global tourism hub; and Passi City in Iloilo as a convergence and connectivity hub.

Antique is positioned as an agri-ecotourism hub, northeastern Iloilo as a future logistics hub, and Guimaras as an agri-tourism hub.

“Connected by strategic infrastructure and economic corridors, these centers form an integrated ecosystem where industries can specialize, collaborate, and scale. The objective is to allow these centers to specialize, complement one another, and operate as an integrated regional economy,” he said.

The spatial strategy is further translated into four broad development zones: the food basket, blue economy, green energy, and logistics and light industry.

For the food basket zone, the RDC-6 identified central Iloilo and its agricultural corridors as areas for grain and crop processing, while the coastal belt of Capiz can support fish handling, cold chains, and fisheries-related enterprises.

The upland areas of Antique, meanwhile, are seen as a growth opportunity for high-value crops and specialized agricultural activities.

“The objective is to move beyond producing raw commodities and develop stronger local processing and distribution capabilities,” Abad Santos said.

For the blue economy, the RDC-6 said Capiz and northern Iloilo have potential for more organized fisheries and aquaculture value chains, including aquaculture technologies, cold storage, seafood processing, and export-oriented products.

The region’s wind, solar, and biomass resources, meanwhile, could support a more diversified and reliable energy supply under the green energy zone.

The logistics and light industry zone is particularly important in addressing what Abad Santos described as the region’s “missing middle.”

He identified limited local processing and manufacturing as that gap, saying that expanding both could generate better jobs and retain more economic value in Western Visayas.

The RDC-6 said improved connections in Passi City, northeastern Iloilo, Roxas City, and other production centers under this zone could support warehousing, consolidation, packaging, light manufacturing, and distribution.

“These activities provide the link between the regions, agricultural efficiency, production, and the larger domestic and international markets,” Abad Santos said.

Services accounted for 66.5% of the region’s PHP 641.76 billion gross regional domestic product in 2024, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Abad Santos also urged the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and the Department of Finance to consider the identified development zones when evaluating economic zone proposals and investment incentives for Western Visayas.

“The spatial strategy provides the framework for bringing these opportunities together. We have our growth centers, our strategic development areas, our transport gateways, and economic corridors. The objective is a more connected, competitive, resilient, and inclusive Western Visayas,” he added.

He cited major infrastructure investments supporting the region’s development strategy, including the Jalaur River Multipurpose Project Stage II in Calinog, Iloilo; the Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridges Project; and the Panay River Basin Integrated Development Project.

“Together, these investments underscore the importance of water security and climate resilience as foundations for sustained economic growth,” he said.

To translate these opportunities into economic gains, Abad Santos said Western Visayas must strengthen infrastructure and connectivity, secure reliable and cleaner energy, link agricultural and fisheries production to processing industries, develop a skilled workforce, and improve climate resilience and food security.

“Western Visayas has the momentum. Panay and Guimaras have the base. Now, we need to build the middle. We need to process more, manufacture more, and add more value within the region, so that a greater share of the value we create stays here,” he said.

“The opportunities are already here. What matters now is how effectively we connect our assets, our people, our infrastructures, and our investments. That is how we make future industries happen in Western Visayas,” he added.