KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 8 October) — Mindanao’s investment climate has significantly improved since the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2014 and the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in 2019 and was given a boost with the recent visit of 25 ambassadors from the country’s diplomatic corps.
The Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) invited the diplomats to a Mindanao investment, tourism and socio-cultural exposure in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) on September 26 to 29, to help bring in investors to further spur its economy and provide more jobs for the people.
The visit was historic as it was the largest delegation of diplomats to have come to the region comprising the provinces of South Cotabato, (North) Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, and General Santos City.
Twenty-five diplomats set foot in General Santos City, the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines,” in late September and were treated to a feast of tuna. The tuna industry has been one of the backbones of the city’s economy, with the six canneries, fishing companies and processors, and other downstream industries providing thousands of jobs.
The delegation was composed of diplomats from Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, the European Union Delegation to the Philippines, France, Germany, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
They were accompanied by their spouses to Mindanao, a destination that in the past was off limits to citizens in travel advisories issued by some embassies.
Since the signing of the peace agreement between government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2014, no major armed conflict has occurred in Mindanao.
Both domestic and foreign investors shied away from pouring in their money with the perception that the entire Mindanao — comprising six regions, 28 provinces, 33 cities and 430 towns — was on fire with the war that raged on in central and western parts of the island since the 1970s.
Cost of war
According to the “Did You Know: Cost of War in Mindanao” published on the website of the Cotabato City-based Institute for Autonomy and Governance in April 2015, the county incurred economic losses amounting to a staggering P640 billion or P20 billion per year from 1970 to 2001 in terms of damages to businesses and properties, potential investments and businesses in the region.
According to the report, the war in Mindanao cost the government a staggering P2.013 trillion from 1970 to 2001, an amount nearly equivalent to the P2.606-trillion 2015 national budget, citing data collated by the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (now Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace, Reconciliation and Unity), including data from the World Bank.
The report came out a year after the GPH and the MILF signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) on March 27, 2014 after 17 years of peace negotiations. The peace agreement in 2014 with the MILF and the earlier peace agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front in 1976 and 1996, ended a bloody armed conflict that claimed, as of the signing of the 1996 Final Peace Agreement with the MNLF, at least 120,000 persons – combatants and civilians.
More deaths and displacements and economic losses happened from 1996 to 2014, including the repeated displacement of thousands of residents in the little and big wars, including the “all-out war” against the MILF in 2000 and 2003, and in 2008 after the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain.
With the establishment of the BARMM, investors’ confidence in Mindanao gradually increased. The negative perceptions on the island slowly changed as media reports on images of war gave way to stories of peace and progress.
The CAB paved the way for the establishment of the BARMM in 2019, a development that favorably enhanced the investment potentials of Mindanao in general.
Investments
From 2019 to 2023, the Board of Investments-approved projects totaled P271.6 billion in the five regions of Mindanao, except BARMM which has its own Bangsamoro Board of Investments (BBOI), according to the “Mindanao in Figures 2024,” a database published by the MinDA.
Investors’ confidence in Mindanao was particularly in the uptrend in the last three years – at P24.2 billion in 2021, P68.7 billion in 2022 and P97.9 billion in 2023, MinDA data showed.
Region 11 (Davao region) was the top investment destination in Mindanao with projects worth P120 billion, followed by Region 12 (Soccsksargen) at P68.8 billion, Region 10 (Northern Mindanao) at P67.3 billion, Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) at P8.6 billion, and Region 13 (Caraga) at P6.8 billion, it added.
In the BARMM, the BBOI approved investments worth at least P4 billion in 2025, surpassing its target of P3 billion for this year.
In a statement, interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua cited “good governance and the stable peace and order condition” for the increased investors’ confidence in the region, stressing that “this is a strong sign that the Bangsamoro region is now being seen as a viable and trusted investment destination.”
“With moral governance as our foundation, we are proving that peace and development can go hand in hand. This milestone is part of our economic jihad—a peaceful struggle to uplift the lives of our people through honest governance and sustainable progress,” Macacua said.
MinDA and DFA
With the growing investors’ nod in Mindanao in the past several years, the government, through MinDA and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), invited members of the diplomatic corps to visit the Soccsksargen, the region sharing boundaries with the Bangsamoro region, not just for investments but for tourism potentials.
Mayor Lorelie Pacquiao welcomed the diplomats to General Santos City on September 26. She highlighted the tuna industry’s contribution to the city and its people in her bid to push the area as a destination for investors and tourists.
“Just recently, our fish port recorded a notable increase in the volume of fish landings of more than 56,000 metric tons, showing how strong and growing our industry is,” she said.
In promoting the city as an investment destination, Pacquiao cited their inclusion as a finalist in the 2025 Most Business-Friendly Local Government Unit Award, which is administered by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“It is a recognition that reflects not only our potential but also the trust and confidence of the business community,” she said.
GenSan is the economic hub of Region 12, serving as the gateway to the region with its long existing sea and air ports. There are daily flights to and from Manila, and regular schedules to Cebu and Iloilo in the Visayas.
Pacquiao revealed that more opportunities could open for the city with the opening of an undisclosed international flight.
She expressed hopes the exposure of the diplomats in the city would lead to stronger connections and greater cooperation with their respective countries.
“Blessed to be here”
South Africa Ambassador Bartinah Ntombizodwa Radebe-Netshitenzhe responded positively as she commended the DFA and MinDA for organizing the tour and extending warm hospitality to the group.
“Indeed, words cannot fully express our gratitude. As we traveled around General Santos City, we witnessed its great potential. Some of us have never feasted on so much fresh tuna before,” she said in a report issued by MinDA.
“We feel truly blessed to be here, and we know that your effort in inviting us will lead to something significant,” she added.
Miguel Rene Dominguez, president of the General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., also dangled the city’s investment opportunities to the ambassadors.
The former three-term governor of Sarangani province fielded questions from the ambassadors involving the city’s economic landscape.
Dominguez cited the potential of the city as an export hub with its well-established fish port, seaport and airport, and well-connected regional road network.
Boxing icon
A special treat for the ambassadors was the chance to rub elbows with Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, brother-in-law of the city mayor. The former senator signed autographs on boxing gloves and gamely posed with the apparently star-struck foreign dignitaries, who toured the boxer’s mansion.
The envoys also toured the fish port complex where they saw freshly-caught large mature tuna bound for foreign and domestic markets.
The delegation also visited Mt. Sabrina Panoramic View Resort, MBX Vineyard and Don Ricardo’s Chocolate Factory in this city, and the Kalsangi Clubhouse of pineapple giant Dole Philippines, Inc. in nearby Polomolok, South Cotabato.
Organizers also brought the diplomats to Lake Sebu, the summer capital of South Cotabato. There they toured the town’s eco- and cultural-tourism circuit, visited the famous Seven Falls, had lunch on a cruise around the lake and had an enriching cultural experience at the Lang Dulay Weaving Center, where they saw the meticulous weaving of the Tnalak fabric.
In Koronadal City, South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr. welcomed the ambassadors and their spouses, urging them to invite investors from their respective countries to locate in the province.
“We are insurgency-free. More importantly, when you invest in South Cotabato, we have enough manpower (for your needs),” he said.
Tamayo stressed that the provincial government has been aligning its infrastructure projects “to fit in” to the needs of existing and potential investors.
In the last five years, Tamayo said the provincial government has completed at least 200 kilometers of roads to enhance the investment and tourism potentials of South Cotabato.
According to him, the provincial government has been working to establish South Cotabato as the economic center of Region 12 or Soccsksargen, a distinction held by GenSan for a long time.
Koronadal City, the capital and component city of South Cotabato, is the seat of government of Region 12.
“I am inviting you to please invite your constituents to invest here, and we can assure them that we will give them the best governance,” Tamayo said.
“True essence of diplomacy”
The familiarization tour in Mindanao is part of DFA’s initiative to expose the ambassadors to investment, tourism and socio-cultural cooperation opportunities outside the capital, in collaboration with MinDA, an agency tasked to harness and promote Mindanao’s investment and other potentials for the island’s development, and the security sector.
DFA Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Arvin de Leon, who led the DFA delegation in the tour, emphasized that visiting Mindanao reflects the “true essence of diplomacy.”
“We conceived this familiarization tour because, in our own travels abroad, we realized how important it is to truly know a place. In the same way, we want the ambassadors to experience Mindanao firsthand, to move past perceptions, and to see its real opportunities in business, tourism, trade, and culture. Through this, we hope to inspire deeper cooperation and partnerships,” De Leon said. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
