Bicol’s Medium-Term Regional Development Plan (MTRDP) is a dynamic blueprint for development that is meant to achieve change and must itself be also open to change when circumstances require. And so, this updated MTRDP 2008-2010 improves in some respects from the former version.
After just three years, the original MTRDP 2004-2010 has taken root in communities across Region 5 and has helped change the way Bicolanos see their future, and their idea of what they need to do to make a better future. But, the plan has to be revised to take account of Bicol’s rehabilitation efforts after the series of super typhoons in 2006, just as the province of Albay spearheads a pro-active stance on how best to prepare for and adapt to the drastic implications of climate change on the environment and economic activities of the Bicolanos.
The plan was also updated because, in many areas, we have to address new and greater challenges following the creation of the super regions where the Bicol Region is part of Central Philippines as a major tourism hub. Under the Super Region concept of development, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo envisions Regions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 4B as the Central Philippines, the country’s Tourism Center and the Center of a New Green Philippines.
The plan was likewise re-written where we believed the targets could be made clearer, strategies could be more workable and outputs could be easily measurable. In many ways, we regarded the guiding thread of the plan to be the “8 by 08” key areas for action by the national government, which are still consistent with the 10-Point development agenda.
Innovation and respect for human dignity must be at the center of everything we do. That is why the updated plan places such emphasis on good governance, institutionalization of disaster management initiatives, sustainable development, productivity improvement, knowledge transfer through science and technology, peace and order, and gender and development, among others.
With all these anchored on individual and core values, the plan gives all Bicolanos a positive focus on the future.
In behalf of the Regional Development Council 5, I thank all those who had their say on our shared future by participating in this Updated Bicol Development Plan 2008-2010. The goal for us all now is to use the plan to make Bicol an even better region.
