Let me begin with a definition. Urbanization is the migration or natural influx of a segment of population from rural areas to urban centers. Simply put, urbanization is urban migration. In the wake of this migration is the vast area of arable lands in the countryside that remain idle and uncultivated, such as the one that we have in our picture.
In the Philippines, this migration pattern has been going on for the past four centuries. Rural populations migrate to urban areas primarily in search of better economic opportunities. In this sense that migration is seen as an endowed human and natural tendency.
In the year 2010, more than 60 percent of the total population live in urban centers around the country-- a burgeoning population that is constantly growing with urbanization, increasing urban poverty, burdening problems along urban health and sanitation, and, on top of these, worsening economic inequity. Urban management and ecological systems as well the institutions that are primarily responsible are almost incapable to answer for the unabated growth in urban population that has already exerted environmental, economic and political pressure on governance. Present concerns related to urbanization include but are not limited to the following: better education, improved health and sanitation, higher income levels, housing and transportation, environmental pollution, and social and economic infrastructure requirements.
The Philippines has more than 1,608 towns and cities with a significant number of conversion of municipalities into cities. In the year 2000, 16 new cities were created and 15 more were converted in the first half of 2001, bringing the total number of cities to 115. Just this year, more cities were proposed to be created. By the year 2020, it is estimated that the country will have more or less 600 cities and urban centers. This natural tendency is best illustrated in the virtual farms of Farmville, just in case you have the opportunity to visit.
Urbanization of rural and agrarian sectors entail a lot of issues to be resolved, topmost of which is mitigating the costs of urbanization via good urban governance. In the light of urban trend and projections, the following current issues have become very important: poverty reduction, a wider people participation in urban governance, a more rigid line-item budget for development projects (no Congressional lump sums in the form of Priority Development Assistance Funds or "pork barrels"), stronger relationships between public-private sector partnerships, economic development-centered legislation, and an ethics-based judicial system.
One issue that we often sidestep is the intensity of rural-urban relations. For instance, the conversion of agricultural land into industrial, residential and commercial uses underly political processes that reflect particular developmental priorities and political power relations that quite often tend to circumvent bureaucratic regulations at three separate but intertwined levels: policy formulation, local implementation and regulation, and personal relations in rural areas. Policy formulation, for instance, is easier than having those policies implemented down to the grassroots level.
On September 10, 1971, former Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Republic Act 6389, otherwise known as the Code of Agrarain Reform of the Philippines, thereby turning the entire Philippine archipelago into a land reform area. The ramifications of this Act were overwhelming and sweeping and raised questions about its efficacy relative to objectives and implementation. Even so, the agrarian reform is yet to be finished with no clear accomplishments so far with its infirmities still affluent.
A classic illustration is the 220-hectare Hacienda Tinang in Concepcion, Tarlac. The hacienda which was once owned by Benigno Aquino, Sr. was sold to the wealthy De Leon family of Pampanga. The De Leon heirs circumvented land reform by faking a voluntary offer of sale under which the land, in parcels, was sold to "farmer-beneficiaries" who were actually members of the De Leon clan composed of the country's wealthiest bankers and businessmen who were able to protect their landed interests.
I cite this case to relate it to the fact that a truthful and determined agrarian reform program is a sure fire avenue towards encouraging agricultural farmers to produce, which is the basic solution to the unrelenting urbanization of the Philippine islands. Where presently we are importing most of our rice from Vietnam, the country might as well dip its fingers deeper into rice and agricultural production by way of agrarian reform. As of September 2010, the Philippines remains Vietnam's largest rice importer which accounts for nearly 41% of the country's total export value.
If the Philippine government can turn the trend from labor-exportation to domestic employment and change import-dependency to local agricultural production and industrial manufacturing, the country can begin to have a glimpse of economic development in the horizon.
No comments:
Post a Comment