Bohol, in the heart of Central Visayas, is the 10th largest
island in the Philippines
(See inset Figure 1 encircled in red). It is comprised of 48 municipalities
with 15, 14, and 19 municipalities composing the first, second and third
congressional districts, respectively (Green, et al 2002). The productive force
of Bohol is almost 58% of the total
population, of which around 89% are engaged in farming and fishing. Agriculture remains the biggest sector in the
province in terms working population and land use (PPDO 2006).
In
2000, poverty incidence was very high in the province - 50.2% in terms of
population (NSCB 2000), affecting mostly farmers and fisherfolk (PPDO 2001). In
the same year, the province was one of the poorest twenty in the country (18th
out of the 82 provinces) using monetary measures as criteria (NSCB 2000). The alarming thing was that the poverty
incidence increased by 27% as compared to the 1997 base figure (ibid). Also,
the United Nations Development Program ranked Bohol
as 7th in its list of 20 poorest provinces in 2001 (GPF 2006).
Bohol, since then, has become a leading example of how one province can lift itself out from poverty. Bohol is no longer one of the top poorest provinces of the country. Economically, the province relies on tourism, more particularly on its white sandy beaches, rivers, forests, caves for economic growth and development. It has been argued that this significantly altered Bohol's growth trajectory.
Bohol, since then, has become a leading example of how one province can lift itself out from poverty. Bohol is no longer one of the top poorest provinces of the country. Economically, the province relies on tourism, more particularly on its white sandy beaches, rivers, forests, caves for economic growth and development. It has been argued that this significantly altered Bohol's growth trajectory.