the metro naga development council: treading new grounds

THE VERY HEART AND SOUL OF THE MNDC IS

TO PROMOTE THE SPIRIT OF SHARING WITHIN ITS MEMBER LGUS

Introduction

The experience of Naga City proves that although size and geographical location are factors that influence growth and development, they are not the end-all and be-all to successful governance.

Naga, as the only member city of Metro Naga is not a big city, population - or territory-wise. Of the 68 Phiippines cities, it is the 45th biggest in terms of land area and 39th in terms of population, making it a medium-sized Philippine city.

It is geographically landlocked and peripheral in terms of distance to the country’s cash-rich metro power centers and port cities such as Manila, Cebu, Davao, Puerto Princesa and General Santos. Even then, the city has risen beyond these limiting factors to fashion a number of innovations that are relevant to strengthening the city and its neighbors. One of these is the Metro Naga Development Council.

In the past, the Naga City government resorted to short-term, inward-looking programs to attain immediate growth. Development efforts were concentrated on attracting investments into Naga alone without factoring in its effects to its neighboring municipalities. It was very successful in these attempts.

Significant economic growth signaled an increase in employment and business opportunities attracting residents from nearby municipalities to try their luck to earn income in the city. In time, they chose to abandon their homes to stay for good in the city, squatting on land that was still available to lessen their daily cost of living. The lure of progress brought with it the accompanying social problems created by rapid urban migration. More and more the negative effects in the delivery of the basic services to both the natives and the migrants in the city were felt as a threat.

The already limited resources of the city began to experience strain as demand for basic necessities like water and housing reached critical peaks. Land was no longer anticipated to grow thus making congestion inevitable. Immediate solutions were made but provided only for short-term relief and tended to either aggravate or multiply the problems as it postponed real and long-term solutions.

As more people flocked to Naga, the towns they left suffered even more with the loss of would-be investors, human resource and other essential factors for social and economic security. Serious questions on the sustainability of the city government’s inward-looking development strategies were raised louder.

Spurred by this widening gap between Naga and its neighbors, the city government was forced to re-evaluate its direction and search for better alternatives in the process to address the disparity in the level of development between Naga and its neighboring municipalities.

The Beginnings

THE SEED The idea for a “Metro Naga” has long been felt by Naga City overwhelmed by a growing population of migrants and squatters. How to organize and make “Metro Naga” operational without offending the sensibilities of the fiercely independent municipalities was the main challenge. The answer was a string of seemingly unconnected events that paved the way for closer interactions between the city and municipal mayors.

The Council begun innocuously enough with the Gulf War in 1991 providing the first avenue. The resulting world oil crisis necessitated the rationing of petroleum products all over the country. Inasmuch as almost all of the gasoline stations in Metro Naga are located in Naga City, our then city mayor convened the mayors of the adjacent municipalities wherein their needs and priorities considered in setting the systems and procedures for rationing available fuel supply. The resulting scheme kept our vital services running and its success paved the way for other cooperative efforts and undertakings.

Another answer came when the new Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991 mandated the absorption of devolved personnel, creating chaos in the budgets of many LGUs. Again, the mayors of Naga and its neighboring municipalities held informal meetings to share experiences and formulate common strategies to overcome the initial difficulties that accompanied the implementation of the LGC.

Then the senior citizens of the neighboring municipalities clamored that they also be granted the same benefits enjoyed by their colleagues in Naga City. As early as 1989, Naga has in place a senior citizens program that granted the elderly various discounts from public institutions and private establishments. The mayors again met, “Metro Naga” was coined, and the Metro Naga Senior Citizens League was subsequently formed to facilitate the grant of discount privileges to Metro Naga elderly. This was the third event.

Soon after, requests for the use of the city’s heavy equipment came from the municipal mayors bringing to the fore the need for a mechanism to facilitate such sharing of resources between the city and its neighbors. The new LGC gave the answer with its grant of expanded powers and prerogatives to LGUs allowing them to pool their efforts and resources for commonly beneficial projects and activities. A task force was formed to study the mechanics for the exercise of such powers. The rest, as they say, is history.

These joint initiatives could not have come at a more opportune time. In 1991, the Philippine Local Government Code was signed into law and one of its salient features was the grant of power to LGUs to group themselves, and pool their efforts and resources together for commonly beneficial programs, projects and activities. This fitted nicely with the ad hoc arrangements entered into by Naga City and its neighboring LGUs.

What was left was to forge a memorandum of agreement (MOA) formally detailing the covenants of roles and responsibilities of the different LGUs and have the MOA approved by their respective legislative councils. This MOA was signed on April 23, 1993 in Naga City with then Secretary Rafael Alunan III of the Department of Interior and Local Government as principal witness.

Thus was born the Metro Naga Development Council, a cooperative effort necessitated by the backlash of the Gulf War that later evolved into a partnership for the joint development of 15 LGUs. This local initiative was affirmed by then President Ramos himself through Executive Order No. 102 issued on June 18, 1993.

Today, the MNDC pools the efforts and resources of 15 local government units, the private sector and national government agencies in Camarines Sur focusing them on projects and activities which address the immediate needs of the Metro Naga constituency and lay the groundwork for the longterm growth of the area.

As a service equalizer, MNDC helps make the quality of services equal among the different LGUs thru the following cooperative programs:

  • Metro Naga Equipment Pool– Only three of the 15 local governments belonging to Metro Naga own heavy equipment. Through the Metro Naga Equipment Pool, these equipment are pooled by agreement (though not necessarily gathered in one place) and made available to any member-LGU without charge. The cost of operating the equipment will be borne by the borrower-LGU but their repair and maintenance will be subsidized by everyone through a common fund. Result: even the poorest municipality has at its disposal heavy equipment for local infrastructure projects.
  • Metro Naga Senior Citizens Program– Senior citizens in the Philippines enjoy legally mandated privileges such as discounts in the purchase of medicines. However, observance of these privileges is erratic in the municipalities. To ensure uniform benefits for all the elderly, they where organized into the Metro Naga Senior Citizens League and issued a single ID which is honored throughout Metro Naga. Thus, an elderly coming from a municipality enjoys the same privileges as one coming from Naga City. Emboldened by their number, the senior citizens have formed a cooperative that is now running their own drugstore.
  • Metro Naga Emergency Rescue Service– At the time the MNDC was organized, there were only four LGUs with their own ambulances depriving the residents in the 11 other municipalities with the services of an ambulance. During emergencies, the result was disastrous. In response, the Council set up the Metro Naga Emergency Rescue Service. Radio communications equipment were installed in all the LGUs (cell phones were not as widespread then as now) and in the four ambulances allowing their immediate deployment anywhere among the 15 LGUs. Since then, a resident in need of help can be assured that help is on its way even if his municipality has no ambulance of its own. The radio network and institutional arrangement have come in handy during disasters and extreme emergencies.
  • Metro Naga Livelihood Program – In support of its economic development program, the MNDC set up the Metro Naga Livelihood Program to equalize access to credit by rural and urban entrepreneurs alike. This has since made loans to handicap workers, rural women, farmer’s organizations, the urban poor and municipal employees for various projects.
  • Metro Naga Project Assistance Fund –Naga City may have the funds to implement local priorities but this is not always the case with its neighboring municipalities. The disparity in resources prompted the Council to establish the Metro Naga Project Assistance Fund out of a portion of its common fund. The Project Assistance Fund allots an equal amount to each member for locally identified projects.
  • Metro Naga Water Supply Enhancement Project – The disparity in resources among the 15 LGUs is likewise reflected in the disparity in water supply services. To mitigate this situation, the MNDC installed Level I water systems in villages outside Naga City and assisted the local water utilities company expand Level III service to distant areas.
  • Project Feasibility Studies on various social projects to propel the development of Metro Naga constituents.
  • Common Fund. The Metro Naga common fund is made up of the pro rata contributions of each member-LGU. The amount is determined by their income: the higher it is, the higher is the contribution. Each of the 15 member-LGUs, including its carrier LGU, Naga City, of the MNDC contribute two percent (2%) of their individual Economic Development Fund which is 20% of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) given to local government units from the Annual National Budget. This means that this is not fixed or equal contribution from each of the LGU since IRA is based on population, land area and equal sharing. For a municipality, 90% of its annual budget comes from the IRA while a city relies 70% of its annual budget while the remaining 30% comes from locally generated revenues.

Taking this into account, a municipality with a small population and land area gets a smaller IRA while one with a larger population and land area gets a bigger IRA. But both are very financially dependent on the IRA for its developmental activities and are also in danger when the IRA amount cannot even provide basic services for its constituents.

Naga City contributes more than half of the common fund owing to its large income while the remaining balance comes from the 14 municipalities in varying amounts.

Presently, the Council is 15% dependent on the annual contributions of its member-LGUs pooled together as the Metro Naga Common Fund. The 85% of its annual operating expenses comes from the General Appropriations Act of the National Government as provided for in Executive Order No. 102 that created it.

The creation of MNDC was seen as an effective partnership of “bigger/richer brothers helping out the smaller/poorer ones, ” not using the amount of contribution as a basis for the extent of services and assistance to be given but on per need of the member-LGU and priority of the Council.

As a rule, allotments from the common fund are equally distributed among the 15 LGUs. The effect is a net transfer of resources from the relatively well-off LGUs to their less endowed neighbors. The common fund therefore serves as a transfer mechanism to, in a way, rationalize the allocation of resources within the Metro Naga area.

Given this situation, MNDC gets most of its funds for its programs, projects and activities from other sources that may grant financial assistance requests based on determined areas of concerns.

The Nature of the Metro Naga Development Council

The Metro Naga Development Council (MNDC) is a governmental organization and a partnership of fifteen (15) local government units in the province of Camarines Sur formed through the expanded powers of local governments under the 1991 LGC. It was formally established with the issuance of Executive Order 102 on June 18, 1993 by then President Fidel V. Ramos.

It was engineered to serve as a conduit of resources from Naga City to its adjacent municipalities and as a mechanism in accessing external resources coming from local or foreign funding institutions to benefit its member-LGUs. From 1993 to 1998, it had contributed about P6.735 million for the development projects of these LGUs.

Owing to its pioneering work evolving from the LGC and bold initiative to assume responsibility in addressing local development concerns involving the grassroots and exemplary performance in local governance, it was awarded the “Galing-Pook“ Award in 1994 by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), a non-government and international academic institution.

MNDC’s major functions include:

Planning and coordinating area-wide programs, projects and activities;

Facilitating the sharing of resources, personnel and technical expertise;

Project Packaging and sourcing of funds and resources from national government agencies, financial institutions, non-government organizations and foreign donors for local development programs and projects;

Clearing house for problems that may arise among the component LGUs

Lobby group to channel national government programs, projects and resources to local development concerns

The Metro Naga Development Program adopted by MNDC seeks to:

Attain an effective complementation of economic activities within Metro Naga

Improve household income by increasing net returns from agriculture through integration of farm operations and crop diversification

Generate off-farm employment through the promotion of a processing/small-scale manufacturing sector

Improve the LGUs capability to deliver basic social services (e.g. health, education, water and sanitation, and communication and transportation facilities) to their respective constituency

The MNDC currently focuses on such areas as infrastructure development (e.g. repair and maintenance of farm-to-market roads, opening new roads), livelihood projects, sustainable agriculture, water system development (Level I, II, & III), environment projects and health programs designed to provide primary health care to its constituents.

Its future thrusts include sustaining its present cooperative programs and looking for other partnership endeavors to both local and foreign government and non-government organizations that would ensure the continuing commitment of all members and the granting of privileges to them that redound to their communities and people.

General Information

The Metro Naga Development Council is composed of the 14 municipalities of Bombon, Bula, Calabanga, Canaman, Camaligan, Gainza, Magarao, Milaor, Minalabac, Pamplona, Pasacao, Pili (provincial capital town), Ocampo and San Fernando and the lone City of Naga all part of the province of Camarines Sur. (See Attachment A for Metro Naga map).

Metro Naga’s combined land area totals 124,256 hectares that have urban and rural areas that reflect 23% of the province’s land area and is home to 560,322 residents, representing 42% of Camarines Sur’s population in 1995. With an average population growth rate of 2.07%, its total population today is estimated at 622,400, a third (155,600) of which is concentrated in Naga City. (See Attachment B for Metro Naga Comparative Profile and Metro Naga Physical Profile)

It has a predominantly agriculture-dependent economy so most of its land area is devoted to rice, corn, coconut, sugar and other cash crops while urban and built-up areas only make up about 10% of the total or 12,425.60 hectares.

The Bicol River traverses most of the LGUs of Metro Naga hence most of its area is located within the Bicol River Basin. Its main river, the Bicol River flows out of Lake Bato and meanders through a wide flat floodplain to its mouth at San Miguel Bay. Lake Bato is likewise fed by a number of rivers that originate on the slopes of Mt. Masaraga, Mt. Mayon and the Ragay Hills. The Libmanan River (found in Libmanan a neighboring town of Pamplona) drains the northern part of the catchments and joins the Bicol River near its mouth.