Consistent with national thrusts and priorities, the Updated Bicol Development Plan's primary objective is poverty reduction. This can be achieved through the delivery of basic social services, promotion of economic growth, and provision of infrastructure support facilities.
Providing the engine for economic growth are the region's production sectors that include agriculture, fishery, forestry, mining and quarrying, trade and industry, and tourism.
Basic social services include health, nutrition, population management, education, skills development, housing and community development, welfare, and labor services that are biased towards the poor and marginalized groups.
The provision of infrastructure support facilities shall serve as the vehicle to prop up the engines for economic growth, as well as the delivery of basic social services.
These three major strategies shall be accelerated through the aggressive promotion of investments, productivity improvement in all sectors, and knowledge transfer through science and technology.
In order to overcome obstacles in propelling the region forward, good governance and disaster management initiatives shall be institutionalized, and peace and order throughout the region shall be maintained. There will be more conscious efforts for disaster risk management among stakeholders during this three-year plan period.
All these strategies shall adhere to the underlying principles of sustainable development and gender and development. The mechanisms for plan implementation, financing, monitoring, and evaluation shall ensure that all programs, projects, and activities are carried out. These mechanisms shall guarantee the participation of all stakeholders in the development process, i.e., the public and private sectors, as well as the civil society.
Core values formation shall be the foundation of all development efforts. In this context, core values are salient cultural values that promote and enhance the development process. The successful implementation of all programs and projects depends not only on the undertakings of concerned agencies but on the participation, cooperation, and appropriate response of the society. Hence, this framework identifies positive values that must be developed or strengthened among project implementers and beneficiaries. Such core values may be broadly categorized as individual values and corporate values.
Generally, all Bicolanos must be encouraged to form and strengthen the values of integrity, hard work, self-determination and self-reliance, nationalism and cooperation (bayanihan), discipline, punctuality, vigilance, as well as adaptability and creativity. These values are expected to promote productivity, innovation, entrepreneurship, equanimity and survival among Bicolanos, thus enabling them to participate in and contribute to poverty alleviation, economic recovery, and disaster risk
management.
The public sector and other institutional stakeholders must adopt corporate values such as transparency and accountability, credibility, social justice, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability. These values are expected to result in just and equitable distribution of goods and services among the populace.
Integrating core values in all phases of plan implementation calls for an in-depth adoption of such values on the part of both the implementers and the beneficiaries.
Macroeconomic Targets
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Reduce poverty incidence of population to 26-27 percent by 2015.
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Reduce population growth rate to 1.5 percent.
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Accelerate and sustain economic growth to 5-6.3 percent per year (Table
2.1).
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Create 100,000 jobs per year.
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Maintain inflation rates at single-digit levels.
* Other sectoral targets are presented in the individual chapters.
