As new RDC chair
TACLOBAN CITY- Inviting investors not only for the city but in other parts of the region, notably in the three provinces of Samar, will be among her agenda for the next three years as the new chair of the Regional Development Council (RDC).
Thus said Mayor Cristina Romualdez who will formally assumed the RDC chairmanship on March 22, succeeding Leyte Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla.
Romualdez said that while Tacloban is getting its fair share in attracting investors, it could not be said to the three Samar provinces, among the most depressed provinces in the country.
“Tacloban is now doing quite well economically as we are attracting investors. However, same could not be said to the Samar provinces where poverty incidences are high,” the city mayor said.
“Our poverty incidence is being addressed and it is the Samar provinces that are pulling the region and Tacloban down in terms of poverty incidence,” Romualdez added.
“So I will also give focus to (the) Samar (provinces,” stressed.
Based on records of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), as of 2015, poverty incidence in Northern Samar is the highest in the region at 52.4 percent followed by Samar at 41.8 percent and Eastern Samar at 40.1 percent.
Meantime, the poverty incidence of Tacloban is at 9.8 percent, the lowest in the region.
For Tacloban, Romualdez said that she is focused in developing the 13.8 hectares agri-tourism economic zone located in the northern part of the city.
By developing the area, it would create additional employment with the coming in of potential investors. (JOEY A. GABIETA)
