FEDERAL MINDANAO; Land of Promise - Land of Jobs

(1st of 2 parts)
The Promise of Mindanao

Mindanao is rich in natural resources. A third of our land is planted with the country’s major crops – 100%of national production of cacao, 91%of pineapples, 90% of cacao and over 50% of coconut , coffee and corn. And of course – the pomelos, mangosteen , rambutans , lanzones plus our own salad bar of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflowers, cabbages,etc. And our fruit basket of bananas accounting to US79.5 million of our exports; fresh pineapples at US 33.5 million and the tuna that we eat as sashimi at US 22.3 million.
So its no wonder that we contribute over 40 percent of the Philippines' food requirements and more than 30 percent to the national food trade.

Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines. With a land area of 102,043 square kilometers, it occupies one-third of the Philippines' total land area and is larger than a number of Asian countries like Taiwan or Singapore.

We have rich mineral resources and one will find nearly half of the national gold reserves in the island. Our metallic deposits includes lead, zinc, ore, iron, copper, chromite, magnetite and gold and non-metallic mineral resources include marble, salt, sand, gravel, silica, clay, and limestone

Cultural diversity and the island's natural beauty make Mindanao one of Asia's favored tourist destinations. Recently, we had weekly flights from Davao to the territory of Palau. The white sand beaches, scenic volcanoes, vast orchid gardens, and various ethnic festivals are only some of our unique tourist attractions. Our tourism arrival was at 2 million from January-July 2005; hovering from 25%-25% increase in arrivals
Businesses and Investments

The investments Phividec Industrial Authority in Cagayan de Oro City reached P1.07 billion in the first four months of the year, up by 142%, from P0.44 billion in the same period last year. Twelve projects had been approved by both the Board of Investments and PIA and is expected to result to 1,094 jobs and that’s a 45% increase from the 754 opportunities last year.

Foreign investors equity infusion reached a 50-fold increase to P 667 million from P 13 million , while Filipino businessmen rose 11% to P 406 million from P 365.

Most of the approved investments came from various sectors such livestock/poultry & feeds; processed foods & beverages; refrigeration/storage services; motor vehicle parts & components manufacturing; and, iron ore manufacturing.

The iron ore manufacturing sector got the biggest share of approved projects this year with 49% share or P520 million-worth of investments from the Japanese-owned Philippine Sinter Corporation located at Phividec in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental. This sector likewise, got the bulk of foreign equity-investments this year.
Investments in processed foods & beverages’ sector remained strong as it grew by 20% to P256 million-worth of investments from January to April this year from almost P213 million-worth of investments on the same period last year.

The livestock, poultry & feeds sector has P203 million-worth of investments from last year’s P69 million-worth of investments. Refrigeration services sector accounts for 5% and motor vehicle parts accounts for 3% share from the total investments this year.

Jobs and Employment in the Island Region

We have a total labor force of 8.2 million; 95% are working or gainfully employed while the remaining 5% or 430,000 are unemployed. This are the seasonal workers in the farms and the plantations . Due to our robust agriculture based economy, our employment rate is higher by two (2) percentage points compared to the country’s 92.7% . Majority of our workers are in the agriculture sector ; followed by services and manufacturing. This is mainly due to the bright and upbeat economic performance of the economy despite the hikes in oil and energy. As to be expected , the resiliency of Mindanao withstood the pressures of the environment

to be continued... (2nd part – The Promise of Federalism)