LGSP-LED

Population:

151,238

Land Area:

604.57 sq. km.

Cities:

none

Municipalities:

Jordan (capital town), Buenavista, Nueva Valencia, Sibunag, San Lorenzo

Economic Drivers:

Agriculture and tourism

The island of Guimaras is one of the smallest provinces in the country. Formerly a sub-province of Iloilo, it was declared an independent province on May 22, 1992. It is situated in the Panay Gulf, between the islands of Negros and Panay. This gives Guimaras strategic proximity to two major trading centers: Iloilo City and Bacolod City. The island of Cebu, another major trading hub in the Visayas is also accessible by seacraft.

Guimaras Province represents a different LGU Alliance model in that the province (composed of five municipalities) is, in itself, the LED Alliance.  One implication of this, for LGSP-LED, is that much of the Program’s corporate management and leadership capacity development support has been focused on strengthening the LED capacities of Guimaras’ Provincial Economic Development Office (PEDO).

LED STRATEGY

Seeking to attain progress for the province and its residents, the provincial government is embarking on a local economic development program anchored on the island’s natural resources and agricultural production capabilities. The province’s economy is still predominantly agriculture-based with palay, coconut, and mangoes as its main products. Guimaras intends to complement these agricultural products by implementing a community-based rural tourism (CBRT) program that will develop and promote agri-ecotourism products and services in partnership with the private sector and local communities and other stakeholders of the province.

In this line, Guimaras seeks to establish “a world class agritourism destination supported by comprehensive tourism programs where development perspective is anchored on the principles of sustainability and proactive participation of tourism-oriented Guimarasnons.”  The agritourism approach is seen as a viable way of effectively differentiating Guimaras as a tourism destination from other destinations in the country.

A planned agritourism circuit will connect all agri-related attractions in the province into several agritourism circuits. These will, in turn, be linked to and complemented by the island’s beach resort areas as well as the marine conservation areas around the island. Community-based rural tourism (CBRT) projects to be set up in each of the municipalities will create economic opportunities for women and other disadvantaged groups while further enhancing the attractiveness of the agritourism, beach, and marine ecotourism destinations of the Province.