Economic Development

Economic growth usually centers around cities. Business set up their offices there because it is near their customers, it has better roads and communication infrastructures, near universities and colleges that provides them skilled employees. Proof of this is the large population of Metro Manila with around 11 Million people spread over 636 square kilometers or around 17,300 people per square kilometer whereas Palawan has 900,000 people spread over 14,900 square kilometers or around 60 people per square kilometer. It is so ironic that the provinces with rich natural resources are some of the poorest like Zamboanga del Norte and Surigao del Norte.

Too much development is centered around urban centers resulting in overpopulation while rural areas are neglected. Unfortunately, the rich natural resources of the Philippines are in the rural areas. The image below proposed our alternative economic development plan:


The move towards countryside development is not just altruistic in nature, us helping the poor. After all, the goal of the Technopreneurial Revolution is not poverty alleviation but wealth creation. We are spousing countryside development because that is where the 'unfair' sustainable advantage of the Philippines is -- our rich natural resources. Unless there is a massive influx of money, semiconductor manufacturing and information technology would find it very difficult to develop an 'unfair' advantage over competitors from more developed countries. However, if development efforts in Information and Communication Technology(ICT) would be used to develop our natural resources, economic development in the Philippines will greatly accellerate while making resourceful ICT engineers and scientists very rich. This growth in rural areas will then provide business opportunities in urban areas.