By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Former Negros Occidental congressman Alfredo Benitez presented a five-area economic recovery plan for Western Visayas when it shifts to the “new normal” after June 15, 2020 during a meeting of Region 6 local chief executives on June 10.
Benitez, the economic affairs consultant for Negros Occidental, presented the Partnership for Region VI Recovery and Development (PRRD) to Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas and Governors Florencio Miraflores of Aklan, Rhodora Cadiao of Antique, Esteban Evan Contreras of Capiz, Arthur Defensor Jr. of Iloilo, Samuel Gumarin of Guimaras, and Eugenio Jose Lacson of Negros Occidental.
Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia was represented by former congressman John Orola while former Guimaras congressman JC Rahman Nava represented his wife Rep. Lucille Nava.
Senator Franklin Drilon also participated in the meeting through online streaming.
According to Benitez, the region lost an estimated P20 billion in its Gross Regional Domestic Product, not including losses from remittances and jobs of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW), at the height of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The five areas of coordination under the PRRD are:
-Strengthening intra-regional supply market linkages and supply chains of local producers through preferential trade or local purchasing
-Scale production of high-demand products such as masks
-Facilitate free movement of people to enable labor mobility and promote domestic tourism
-Improve health system capacity, primarily in testing and contact tracing
-Invest in backbone ICT infrastructure to support online government transactions (E-governance)
Benitez said the main priority of the five areas he presented was the free movement of persons, due to the low rate of local transmission of COVID-19 in the region.
“This is the meat of our presentation and the reason why we are here. We feel that Region 6 has really no local transmission, to which that movement of people is relatively, and it is just our external borders or our borders that allow external people to come in, particularly OFWs and [Locally-Stranded Individuals], are probably the ones that we could create a health protocol for to ensure that they are not infected when they come here,” he added.
He also said that facilitating free movement within the region will help boost domestic tourism and create economic development within the region.
“This proposal, if accepted by all the governors [and mayors], suggests that if you are [from] Region 6, there will be no restriction of movement. It will allow local tourism to flourish; maybe those from Bacolod can go to Boracay to enjoy. It will allow domestic demand and mobility to create economic development within the provinces [and cities] of Region 6,” he said.
ENHANCED TESTING
Benitez said enhanced testing for COVID-19 is also vital to the economic recovery of the region.
The region currently has two laboratories which are fully-accredited by the Department of Health, the Western Visayas Medical Center in Iloilo City and the Teresita L. Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City Negros Occidental.
“The only way to really prevent and to ensure that there are no infections happening is to test, and there is no substitute. The faster we can test, the safer we will be,” he said.
FINANCING
Benitez told Drilon that the plan needs financing by the national and local governments. He also proposed the creation of a Technical Working Group to implement the plans.
“The only way to pump prime the economy is to spend, and if we are not to rely on the national government to do our spending, we have to do it ourselves. My suggestion is for every provincial [and city] government to assess their borrowing capacity and apply through the Development Bank of the Philippines or Landbank. Without spending, our economy will not be moving,” Benitez said.
He said that in case of shortage of the borrowing capacity, he has an alternative proposal through government bonds.
“I’ve talked to [Acting] Secretary [Karl] Chua of the [National Economic and Development Authority], and there may be some liquidity issues with the DBP and Landbank, so our next proposal, should there be a shortage of the borrowing capacities’ loanable amount to be given to the region, we do an alternative fundraising through issuing of bonds, which is available under the Local Government Code,” he said.
He said that the local governments need to be quick in securing spending for economic recovery before “it might be too late”.
“This is one of the more important aspects for us to really counter the unemployment coming in. There will be a lot of jobs that will be lost. If we wait for the national government, if we wait for the business sector, to get in line to provide relief with these unemployment and job losses, it might be too late,” he said.
