DAVAO CITY, Oct. 28 (PIA) ---  President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. believes that Davao Region can well rebound from the economic setbacks it has suffered due to the pandemic.

Addressing the ceremonial declaration of Davao Region as Insurgency Free, and as Tourism and Investment-Ready Destination on October 27,  Marcos noted reports that Davao Region  experienced a 61 percent decline in registered investments and as much as 74 percent drop in tourist arrivals in the past two years.

“But with this declaration, and with the convergence of all the efforts of the stakeholders, I am confident that we can reverse that trend. And upon hearing the briefings you have today, I think you already have begun to reverse the trend and usher in a new era of growth and opp for our people,” he said.

On the same day, the President presided a situation  briefing with  regional directors of five national line agencies in Panacan, Davao City before he distributed some national government assistance to marginalized individuals and then went on to attend the ceremonial declaration at the Headquarters of Eastern Mindanao Command.

The agencies which presented their accomplishments  to the national executive were the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), while the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)  presented the economic performance and development outlook for the Region.

In her speech during  the relaunch of Davao Region as Tourism and Investment-ready Destination, Regional Development Council (RDC) Chairperson Corazon N. Malanyaon, Davao Oriental governor, said that “Davao Region is on the road to recovery.”

She cited the 5.9 percent growth in  the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) in 2021, sustaining its position as Mindanao’s largest economy.  Davao Region also registered a 1.047 million influx of tourists in 1st semester of 2022, she said.

“With this, it is indeed an opportune time to re-launch our Region as a Tourism and Investment-ready Destination,” she said citing such relaunch as complementary to the Declaration of the Davao Region as Insurgency Free through the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) Resolution No. 07, series of 2022 dated October 12, 2022.

RDC XI passed Executive Committee (ExCom) Resolution No. 43, s. 2022, manifesting Davao Region’s preparedness as a “Tourism and Investment-Ready Destination”, she said.

President Marcos cited such relaunch of Davao Region as a way of commemorating “the eradication of insurgency in Davao.”  (PIA XI, Jean Duron Abangan)