Campaign to lessen Manila role

Campaign to lessen Manila role

MANILA (AFP): President Fidel Ramos yesterday said his administration was actively working to diminish the dominance that the Philippine capital and a few other cities had over the country.

At the opening of a low-income housing project, Ramos said: "My administration has been working hard to lessen the dominance in our country's economic life of Metro Manila and other cities."

He candidly admitted that the cities were "diminishing the prospects of other areas while adding to their problems," noting that they had also become a magnet, attracting migrants from rural areas, further compounding housing problems in the cities.

Ramos said this was the motive behind the development of "growth centers," in other parts of the country such as the former U.S. Subic Naval Base north of Manila and various other areas in different parts of the country.