Addressing Cordillera Region’s economic ‘growth’ or ‘slowdown’

EDITORIAL

The economy of Cordillera “decelerated” from a 7.1 percent growth in 2007 to 1.8 percent in 2008, the slowest growth among the country’s 17 regions, the National Statistical Coordination Board bared last week. The slowdown was reportedly brought about by the weak performance of the industry sector.

What about the “underground economy?” From illegal logging and gambling like jueteng, prostitution, small scale mining and yes, illegal drugs. According to NSCB regional director Benjamin Navarro, they don’t include these in their data. The Cordillera abounds with these illegal activities and if we were to include these in terms of “growth,” maybe, the Cordillera would actually be “performing well.”

More statistics from the NSCB: The industry sector, which comprised 60.7 percent of the region’s total output, slowed down from 5.0 percent in 2007 to 0.2 percent in 2008. Construction managed to grow at a pace of 7.1 percent in 2008 due to the continuous but slower growth in public infrastructure. Mining and quarrying shrank by 5.3 percent due to the decline in gold production. The electricity and water subsector slowed down by 6.7 percent in 2008 due to the decrease in power sales. Manufacturing, the major contributor to the industry sector, contracted by 1.0 percent in 2008 due to the decline in semi-conductor exports.

The service sector, which accounted for 25.0 percent of the GRDP of Cordillera, continued to grow but at a slower rate of 5.6 percent in 2008 from 5.8 percent in 2007. Due to the robust growth of business process outsourcing, private services maintained its lead to grow fastest among the sevice subsectors at 10.5 percent in 2008. Government services more than doubled its previous growth to 5.5 percent. Ownership of dwelling and real estate (ODRE) and transportation, communication and storage (TCS) posted growth rates of 2.7 and 2.8 percent, respectively, while trade and finance only grew by 1.8 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, which contributed 14.4 percent to Cordillera economy, didn’t sustain its previous double-digit growth to increase by only 2.5 percent in 2008. The positive growth of the sector was largely due to gains in other crops, corn and palay.

The GRPD measures the goods and services produced in each of the geo-political regions to the country. It provides for an analysis of the regional distribution of the country’s GDP, the industries and factors that contribute to the regional economies, and the pace at which these economies are moving on an annual basis. It is compiled by the NSCB.

So what happens after this NSCB study? Would government in the national level take stock, address “weaknesses” and strengthen “advantages?” Studies would just go to naught and a waste of taxpayers’ money if the government doesn’t address these in concrete terms to uplift the lives of people.