Local government and development in a regional city: The case of Iloilo City, Philippines
| Author | Tomas A. Sajo,Juergen Rüland |
| Published date | 01 July 1988 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230080303 |
| Date | 01 July 1988 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 8, 261-287 (1988)
Local government and development in
a
regional city: the
case
of
Iloilo City, Philippines
JUERGEN RULAND
Arnold
Bergstraesser Institute
TOMAS A. SAJO
University
of
the Philippines
SUMMARY
The development
of
urban hinterland centres, known as the Regional Cities Development
Project (RCDP),
is
a key strategy applied by the Philippine government to rectify the
country’s grave regional imbalances. Yet RCDP has not markedly altered the distorted
demographic, spatial and economic growth patterns
of
the Philippines. Unlike the sizeable
body
of
literature which mainly explains failures
of
the ‘growth centre approach’ by
economic factors emanating from the metropolis-periphery relationship, this study places
greater emphasis on politico-administrative factors that affect regional city development.
The article demonstrates that regional city development in Iloilo City-one of four
Philippine secondary centres selected as RCDP sites-is impeded by an elitist, conservative
local oligarchy, excessive patronage politics, severe financial constraints, limited managerial
capabilities, a low degree
of
local autonomy, over-politicization and the impact
of
an adverse
economic environment. Following an in-depth analysis
of
the politico-administrative culture
of
Iloilo City, the authors present suggestions that in the long run may positively affect the
city’s developmental path.
IN
T
R
0
DUCT
I0
N
Like most Southeast Asian countries, the urban settlement structure
of
the
Philippines is dominated by a primate city. According to
1980
census data, Metro
Manila is more than four times larger than the combined size of the three next
ranking cities. Manila contributes
26
per cent to the Philippine GNP, gobbles up
more than
90
per cent
of
private investments, concentrates
60
per cent
of
the large
manufacturing establishments and contributes
63
per cent
of
the value-added in the
manufacturing sector,
60
per cent in commerce and
54
per cent in services.
40
per
cent
of
the country’s financial institutions are located here, controlling
68
per cent
of total deposits. Also in terms
of
transport and communication Manila has the
most developed infrastructure in the country.
These few indicators highlight the extent of regional imbalances in the
Philippines. Against this background it becomes evident that other regions and
,their settlement systems have long been neglected. It was only in the mid-1970s that
Dr Riiland is a Senior staff member
of
the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, Windausstr. 16,7800 Freiburg
i.Br., West Germany,
Tomas
A. Sajo
is
Associate Professor
of
Public Administration, University
of
the Philippines, Iloilo City, Philippines.
0271-2075/88/03026 1-27$13.50
0
1988
by
John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
262
J.
Riifand and
T.A.
Sajo
the following regional development strategies were formulated by the Philippine
government:
(a) a ban on the location
of
new companies inside a 50-kilometre radius around
(b) the integrated area development programmes;
(c) the creation of industrial estates and export processing zones
(EPZs);
and
(d) the Regional Cities Development Project (RCDP).
Metro Manila;
Policy-makers and planners assigned strategic importance to the Regional Cities
Development Project (RCDP) as a major instrument to rectify the country’s grave
regional imbalances. Launched in the late
1970s,
RCDP aims at improving urban
economies through infra-structure and socio-economic project packages with the
ultimate goal
of
dispersing industrial development, spreading economic growth
from the urban centres to the surrounding rural hinterlands and eliminating urban
poverty. The four cities selected for the project are: Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de
Oro and Davao.
Despite these attempts to upgrade the economic potential
of
regional cities and
their hinterlands, not much headway has been made. This paper undertakes to
investigate why regional. cities in the Philippines were, compared to the metropoli-
tan centre, subjected
to
the ‘iron law
of
disportionate economic growth’. But unlike
the literature which mainly explained failures
of
the ‘growth centre approach’ by
the economic factors emanating from the metropolis-periphery relationship, this
study places greater emphasis on politico-administrative factors that affect regional
city development.
A
review
of
the literature-and particularly the feasibility studies for regional
development projects with their technocratic bias-shows that most studies fail to
address the political culture of the target cities. Yet the political culture prevalent in
a city is an important determinant
of
a development project’s success, as it
influences the way the project’s resource inputs are absorbed and allocated. By a
close scrutiny
of
the internal political structure
of
regional cities the authors hope to
add a facet to the regional development literature that
so
far has often been
overlooked,
It is hypothesized here that regional cities in the Philippines do not have the
managerial capacities to gainfully absorb large-scale resource inputs such as the
RCDP package. It is further argued that, apart from an unfavourable overall
economic climate, the elite-dominated and centralist political culture
of
Philippine
cities is not conducive to broad-based socio-economic development.
Iloilo was chosen as a case because, until the middle
of
this century, the ‘queen
city
of
the south’ (as Iloilo was once known throughout the Philippines) was the
infrastructurally most advanced and wealthiest city outside Manila. It was assumed
that, despite the economic stagnation
of
the city’s economy since
1950,
there were
better foundations for the successful implementation
of
RCDP than in other cities.
In order
to
approach the above-stated objectives
of
the study we first investigate
the politico-administrative structure as well as the managerial resources
of
Iloilo,
assuming that both have a great impact on the direction and dynamics
of
the city’s
developmental path. Secondly, a brief review
of
developmental processes in the
city is undertaken, examining the economic forces that shape them and including an
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