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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Allocate more funds for Mindanao, Rodriguez urges Marcos admin

Allocate more funds for Mindanao, Rodriguez urges Marcos admin

Published Apr 23, 2025 06:15 am

At A Glance

  • President Marcos must allocate more funds to Mindanao so it can catch up with Luzon and Visayas in terms of economic progress, Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.

President Marcos must allocate more funds to Mindanao so it can catch up with Luzon and Visayas in terms of economic progress.

Thus, said Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez in a statement Wednesday, April 23, in reaction to the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report, which showed that two Mindanao regions—the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) and the Zamboanga Peninsula—lagged behind the rest of the country when it comes to economic expansion.

"This early, I am appealing to President BBM and Congress to apportion more funds for Mindanao in this year’s budget and in the 2026 national spending program so that Mindanao can catch up with Visayas and Luzon in economic progress," Rodriguez said.

The lawmaker urged the President to make such a move as he said Mindanao had always received a small portion of national resources compared to Luzon, which includes Mega Manila, as well as Visayas.

He said Mindanao feels that "it is being neglected despite contributing a significant portion to national economic output, particularly in terms of agricultural products."

What the President can do, he said, is allocate to Mindanao part of this year’s budgetary savings and appropriations that he is authorized to realign.

“It’s not too late for the national government to empower us, our leaders and our people, to catch up with the rest of the country. It is important for the government to pour more funds into our island because public investments are the principal driver of economic growth," he said.

The PSA 2024 regional economic performance report showed that BARMM grew by just 2.7 percent, while Zamboanga Peninsula expanded by 4.2 percent. They were the two regions with the lowest growth as the national average was at 5.7 percent.

The other Mindanao regions’ growth rates were 6.9 percent for CARAGA, the second fastest-growing region; 6.3 percent for the Davao area (fourth fastest), 6 percent for Northern Mindanao (sixth fastest), and 5.5 percent for Socsargen.

“We are happy for Northern Mindanao, which includes Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, and the other faster-growing regions, but we can do better if given more funds,” Rodriguez said.

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