Next Wave Cities in the Philippines: Challenges and Opportunities

By Louise Ann Montañez

Last December 1, 2021, I attended the first day of the Arangkada Philippines Forum, which included a midday breakout session entitled “Next Wave Cities in the Philippines”. The speakers for this session were Rick Santos — Chairman and CEO, Santos Knight Frank and Sergio Andal Jr. — Chief of Party, USAID SURGE Project.

Next Wave Cities are cities considered to be alternate investment destinations, which will help in promoting country-wide development by creating more jobs and related economic opportunities.

Rick Santos started the discussion by explaining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to cities in Metro Manila. With the closure of workplaces, travel restrictions, and employees having to go back to their homes in provinces to work from home, micro-economies and businesses around offices and schools have been affected. However, it also had a positive effect — and our current situation will most likely continue to accelerate the growth of Next Wave Cities due to employees working from home.

There were several growth drivers for the growth of Next Wave Cities. There was diversification of people in the workplace due to foreigners who came to the country to work or invest, growth of outsourcing, infrastructure, rise in inter-connectivity and digitalization, and lastly, the so-called “brain gain”, where talents have been known to grow and adjust with the times as well.

Mr. Santos then showed which cities have potential so far:

Cebu happens to be the perfect example of a Next Wave City that became a Key City, leveling itself with Metro Manila. Some of the Next Wave Cities include Davao, Iloilo, Dumaguete, Metro Clark, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, and Bacolod. Cities to look out for — those on the verge of becoming a Next Wave City — include Zamboanga, Lipa, Legazpi, Laoag, Cabanatuan, Dagupan, Puerto Princesa, Tagbilaran, Roxas, Zamboanga, General Santos, Tagum, and Butuan.

The second speaker, Mr. Sergio Andal Jr., discussed how the SURGE (Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity) Project has come along so far. It’s their flagship project, aimed at elevating the roles of primary, secondary, and tertiary cities in spreading economic development. At present, they were able to launch a Stakeholder’s Forum, a platform for engagement among the various city actors in each partner city of the Cities Development Initiative. Each forum enables critical government and non-government stakeholders to have regular dialogues to discuss issues related to urban planning, local economic development, and urban-rural linkages, and identify and implement priority actions for each city.

The project has already moved to far-flung areas and Mr. Andal sees good growth to come from these cities soon. And as I see it, we’ll probably be able to see an improvement in the economy if investors would be able to see these cities’ potential. Soon, Filipinos living in remote provinces will no longer have to go to Manila, far from their families, just to work.

All in time, I guess.

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About the author:

LA is an anime and k-drama fan, considering herself to be somewhat an otaku to both. She enjoys watching anime and k-dramas when she has the time, but is also a self-proclaimed frustrated writer, having written stories whenever she feels like it. Mostly due to her love for anime, she can speak a bit of Nihongo, and can understand a bit of Korean as well. This woman’s dream is to be able to visit other countries, and first on her itinerary would be — you guessed right — Japan and Korea.