Category 1: Macroeconomic Management The macroeconomic management chapter deals with the growing regional development output and employment which are the preconditions for socio-economic progress. This chapter focuses on the GRDP, labor and employment and poverty incidence. Moreover, it highlight the major challenges, opportunities for growth and strategies to combat chronic socioeconomic stagnation. A major requirement for an improved human development is the increasing productivity in the different sectors. Increased productivity results to improved capacity of the government to provide basic services to the growing population. Growing output and employment are the preconditions for progress in almost all social and economic aspects of development. Productive employment and rising incomes for the vast majority over a long period can do more to combat poverty decisively than any direct assistance government can ever provide. It is private actors – from the smallest self-employed entrepreneurs to the largest conglomerates – that create productive jobs and incomes. Government’s responsibility however – through fiscal and monetary policies – is to create an environment for vigorous economic activity, as well as to ensure that enough gains from growth are set aside for larger social purposes or channeled into social investments that facilitate future growth. These objectives are achieved by government decisions regarding the size and direction of public spending and taxation (fiscal policy) and by decisions regarding the control of the nation’s money supply (monetary policy). Category 2: Competitive Industry & Services Sectors The chapter focuses on three medium term goals: (a) improved business environment, (b) increased productivity and efficiency; and (c) enhanced consumer welfare. Strategies shall therefore be pursued to help raise the competitiveness of industries by improving the business environment; raising productivity and efficiency and inculcating quality consciousness among manufacturers and producers to offer quality goods and services comparable with global brands. Among the major discussions of this chapter focus on the following: Mining and quarrying, manufacturing, trade and investments, tourism, and financial services. Several measures of competitiveness reveal fundamental weaknesses in major development aspects compared to the rest of the world. Compared with its neighbors, the country’s economic performance in terms of investments, exports and competitiveness is unsatisfactory and need to be reversed. The Philippine economy over the past years has been characterized by a reduced share of manufacturing sector in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and declining gross domestic investment rate. Enabling the industry and services sectors to contribute significantly to economic growth and employment requires addressing a number of constraints to their development. Strategies shall therefore be pursued to help raise the competitiveness of industries by improving the business environment; raising productivity and efficiency and inculcating quality consciousness among manufacturers and producers to offer quality goods and services comparable with global brands. Business competitiveness will be enhanced by improving governance, strengthening economic zones, and strengthening national brand identity/awareness. To increase productivity and efficiency, government shall focus interventions on key priority areas, provide firm level support to MSMEs,

increase market access, expand industry cluster development and intensify the culture of competitiveness. Proactive measures to empower consumers, promote competition and enforce trade regulations shall also be pursued. By addressing the country’s problem of low competitiveness, this Plan aims to promote higher growth in per capita GDP and boost employment. The focus shall be to enable the industry and services sectors to contribute to massive job generation, provide opportunities for Filipinos to rise above poverty, and ultimately offer a meaningful choice for Filipinos to pursue gainful employment here or abroad. The Plan shall adopt a deliberate, focused approach that addresses the country’s business environment, anchored on investments in human capital and implementation characterized by a “back to basics” approach coupled with innovation and “whole of government” as underlying principles. Category 3: Competitive & Sustainable Agriculture & Fisheries Sector The agriculture and fisheries sector provides food and vital raw materials for the rest of the economy. It is itself a significant market for the products and services of the nonagricultural economy. Rising productivity and efficiency in the sector are critical in maintaining the affordability of food and purchasing power, especially among the poor. The sector’s development is therefore vital in achieving inclusive growth and poverty reduction as well as attaining the targets under the MDGs. As the sector grows and modernizes, it releases surplus labor to the industry and services sectors. The country, however, exhibits a slower structural transformation than other East Asian countries. The shares of agriculture in GDP and total employment have continued to decline, but the transfer of the labor released from this sector to higher-productivity jobs in industry and services has lagged owing to low skill levels among agricultural workers and distortions in other economic sectors. Increasing demands on the sector’s output have also put pressure on its natural resource base. Unsustainable practices employed to improve yields have resulted in land degradation and problems of water availability. Climate change has exacerbated the inherent vulnerabilities of the sector. Development efforts need to focus on transforming the sector into one that is not only highly productive but also climate resilient, environment-friendly, and sustainable. Category 5 Good Governance and the Rule of Law Chapter Good governance sets the normative standards of development. It fosters participation, ensures transparency, demands accountability, promotes efficiency, and upholds the rule of law in economic, political and administrative institutions and processes. It is a hallmark of political maturity but also a requisite for growth and poverty reduction, for there are irreducible minimum levels of governance needed for large-scale investment to occur and for social programs to be supported. A cornerstone of good governance is adherence to the rule of law, that is, the impersonal and impartial application of stable and predictable laws, statutes, rules, and regulations, without regard for social status or political considerations. This chapter assesses the quality of governance in the Region and identifies key governance challenges that constrain development. It then lays down corresponding strategies to achieve good

governance anchored on the rule of law, and provide an enabling environment for national development: Category 6 Social Development To improve the quality of life of the Caraganons is another concern indicated in the revised Regional Development Plan. Thus, the social welfare aspect of the plan is of equal importance to economic development. The region has earlier realized some of its targets in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) particularly in health and nutrition by surpassing its 2015 targets in 2011 with lower rates of malnutrition among 0-5 years old at 8.7 percent, malaria and tuberculosis morbidity rates of only 1.65 percent and 13.23 percent, respectively. On the proportion of families with access to safe drinking water and proportion of households with sanitary toilet facilities, the region surpassed the 2015 targets of 87 percent and 84 percent and achieved 91.2 percent and 84.45 percent performance for both indicators. Further, there is a great probability of achieving the targets on elementary participation rate, under-five mortality and the infant mortality rates. The region has covered 81 percent of the population or more than 2 million Caraganons with social health insurance through PhilHealth in 2012. With the advent of K to 12 and the Philippine Qualifications Framework implementation, the development of human resources with skills responsive to the industry needs of the region remains one of the challenges of the social sector to achieve the end of improving human development status especially among the poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged sectors. The region will prioritize the development of human capacities especially that of the poor, vulnerable, and disadvantaged by improving access to relevant and quality education and technical skills development; improving access to quality social protection, improving access to quality health and nutrition services, and providing access to shelter. Category 7: Peace and Security Chapter Peace and security shall be achieved in support to national development. The government shall exert all efforts to win peace and ensure security. The peace process shall center on the pursuit of settlement of armed conflicts and the implementation of complementary development tracks to address its causes. This shall be anchored on conflict prevention and peace-building on conflictaffected areas. The chapter outcome is “Safe and stable environment for regional development created and sustained” Category 8: Conservation, Protection & Rehabilitation of the Environment & Natural Resources The goal to establish resilient communities is dependent on the region's efforts in upholding the integrity of our environment. The degraded state of the country's environment and natural resources is felt most intensely by the poor, especially the rural communities given that they depend on these resources for their primary source of living. On the other hand, poverty frequently aggravates environmental stress as the

marginalized population presses upon limited resources, such as unregulated activities and upland cultivation. Further, the presence of illegal activities impinge on the ecological balance and sovereignty of our natural assets that, aside from providing for livelihood, income and productivity at the community, regional and national level, are the foundation for sustaining the provision of ecological services. The goal to establish resilient communities is dependent on the region's efforts in upholding the integrity of our environment.