Читать книгу Making A Difference in Mindanao - Joel Mangahas - Страница 5

Mindanao is one of the three island groups of the Philippines, occupying 102,043 square kilometers or 30% of the country’s total area. Although Mindanao is the main source of agricultural produce in the country, the sole producer of rubber, and the repository of an enviable amount of mineral wealth, it has yet to capitalize on its development potential. Many parts of this island group continue to grapple with abject poverty, glaring disparities, and numerous impediments to sustainable growth.

The island group, comprising Mindanao island and the Sulu archipelago in the southwest, has six administrative regions that are further subdivided into 26 provinces, 33 cities, and 423 municipalities.

By island grouping, Mindanao has the highest poverty incidence with a rate of 39%, accounting for 33% of the country’s total poor families in 2006. By region, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has the highest rate at 55%, followed by Caraga with 45% (Table 1). Many provinces in this island group also rank poorly in the Human Development Index (HDI). In 2006, 7 out of the 10 provinces at the bottom of the HDI ranking were in Mindanao (Table 2).¹ Three provinces in Mindanao, however, bucked the trend to land among the top 20 provinces of HDI ranking.²

Table 1 : Poverty Incidence among Families (%)

... = no data available; ( ) = negative; ARMM = Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao; SOCCSKSARGEN = South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos.

Source: Mindanao Development Authority. 2009.

Table 2 : Human Development Index Ranking, Bottom 10 Provinces, 2003 and 2006

HDI = Human Development Index.

Source: Philippine Human Development Network. 2005, 2009. Philippine Human Development Report, 2005, 2009.

Rapid population growth is another challenge for Mindanao, the eighth most populous island of the world. From 2000 to 2007, its population grew at an annual average of 2.4%, compared with the national average of 2.0%. Most of this growth came from ARMM, which grew at the rate of 2.4%; and South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, and General Santos (SOCCSKSARGEN), which grew at 5.5%. ARMM is the most populous region in Mindanao.

The high population growth is accompanied by poor life expectancy. Those born in four ARMM provinces in 2006 can only expect a life span of between 53 and 58 years, the lowest in the country.

The island group also fares poorly on the basic education enrollment rate, with 7 Mindanao provinces among the bottom 10 in the ranking of provinces in 2004. The provinces of Misamis Occidental and Surigao del Sur, however, were among the top 10 performers nationwide.

The unceasing peace and order concerns confronting Mindanao have also taken a heavy toll on Mindanaoans. From 1970 to 2010, the conflict has resulted in at least 120,000 deaths (civilians and combatants) with an undetermined number of wounded and disabled.³ The number of people displaced by conflict in Mindanao reached 1 million in 2000, which decreased to about 400,000 in 2003 and then to 220,000 in 2009.⁴ Most of them are in the southern region of Mindanao, where the government has been fighting secessionist Muslim rebel groups.

In 2006, subsistence poverty rates among the population are highest in the conflict-affected areas of Caraga (30.3%), Zamboanga Peninsula (29.2%), and ARMM (27.5%).⁵ Five ARMM provinces remain the poorest and they belong to the bottom 10 of the national human development indicators ranking of the 2008/2009 Philippine Human Development Report.

Despite these drawbacks, Mindanao’s share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was 18% in 2008. Metro Manila, also the National Capital Region, and Luzon contributed 33% each, while the Visayas accounted for 16% of GDP. Figure 1 shows a profile of the economic sectors of Mindanao.

Figure 1: Mindanao’s Economy, 2007 (%)

Source: Mindanao Development Authority.

The Mindanao island group has bountiful natural wealth. As of 2008, Mindanao’s agricultural land represents 38% of the country’s total farm area, but yields 43% of the country’s total farm produce. Mindanao accounts for 87% of the national harvest of pineapples, 78% of the bananas, and 75% of the cassava. The country’s total production of rubber comes from Mindanao. For livestock, Mindanao contributes 41% of the country’s total production of goats and 36% of its cattle. More than 60% of the country’s coconut and copra export products also come from Mindanao, which houses most of the country’s coconut oil mills.

Mindanao supplies 40% of the country’s food requirements and 30% of the national food trade.⁶ It also grows commercial and export crops such as coffee, abaca, and tobacco on 51% of its arable land. This island group further accounts for 32% of the country’s total fisheries products, and more than half of the country’s commercial fish catch. In the cities of General Santos and Zamboanga, 13 fishing firms export 80% of the country’s tuna.

Mindanao also has lush forest cover, amounting to 41% of the country’s green cover and 56% of the country’s commercial forestland. More than half of the timber licenses issued in the country are granted to Mindanao operations. Over 90% of the country’s total production of wood products such as plywood, veneer, and lumber also come from Mindanao.

The island group also holds the world’s largest nickel reserves in its northeastern and southern regions, in addition to mineral deposits of gold, copper, chromite, coal, and silver. Early in 2010, its mineral wealth attracted the biggest foreign investment in the country’s mining sector to date when Sumitomo Metal Mining Company announced plans to devote $2.1 billion to its operations in Surigao del Norte.⁷

Mindanao accounts for 25% of the country’s total exports. Most of the country’s banana and pineapple exports come from this region. Almost 43% of the country’s coconut product exports and 60% of its wood product exports also come from Mindanao.

Mindanao has great tourism potential, with spectacular landscapes marked by the country’s highest waterfall, tallest mountain, and, its most awe-inspiring feature, the Mindanao or Philippine Deep, an ocean trench 10,540 meters deep at its deepest point, one of the greatest depths known on the earth’s surface. Mindanao also has at least three active volcano peaks. One of these is Mount Apo; at 2,954 meters it is the highest point in the Philippines.

Mindanao also has beautiful canyons and roaring waterfalls crisscrossing the Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur provinces. Limunsudan Falls in Iligan is the highest waterfall in the Philippines, dropping approximately 250 meters.

Mindanao’s scenic waterfalls are used for generating power. While the rest of the country may still be moving toward clean power, Mindanao has been drawing about 52% of its power from water (Figure 2). Mindanao has nonetheless been recently experiencing acute power outages due to a supply shortfall.

Figure 2 : Power Capacity Mix in Mindanao

Source: Basic data from the Department of Energy. 2007.

Given its natural bounty, Mindanao has immense development opportunities despite myriad challenges—social, economic, and political.