TAGUIG CITY (MindaNews / 02 August 2026) — Every President delivers six State of the Nation Addresses.
Only one usually matters most.
The fifth.
It is the last opportunity to launch major reforms before politics overtakes governance and the next presidential campaign dominates the national conversation.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s fifth SONA was understandably viewed through the lenses of corruption, inflation, and political succession. Those issues deserve attention. Public trust, after all, is the foundation of both democracy and economic growth.
But from south of the Eighth Parallel, another question matters just as much.
Where is Mindanao in the country’s economic future?
Not as a recipient of projects.
Not as an election battleground.
Not as a region periodically remembered after natural disasters.
But as the Philippines’ most important long-term economic opportunity.
The Philippines cannot grow without Mindanao
For decades, national development has revolved around Metro Manila, CALABARZON and Central Luzon. These remain the country’s industrial and financial heartland.
Yet much of the country’s future comparative advantage lies farther south.
Mindanao grows much of the nation’s bananas, pineapples, coconuts, cacao, coffee and rubber. It supplies tuna to global markets. It possesses vast renewable-energy resources, strategic mineral deposits, expanding tourism destinations and one of the country’s youngest populations.
Yet too much of this wealth leaves the island with little value added.
Raw products leave.
Jobs leave.
Investment leaves.
The foreign exchange that could strengthen the peso leaves with them.
That is not simply a Mindanao problem.
It is a Philippine problem.
Export more than commodities
Every discussion about the weak peso eventually arrives at the same conclusion.
The country needs more dollars.
The most sustainable way to earn them is not through borrowing but through exports.
Mindanao is uniquely positioned to help.
Instead of exporting primarily fresh bananas, why not export more processed food?
Instead of shipping raw coconuts, why not expand high-value coconut products for food, health care and manufacturing?
Instead of exporting cacao beans, why not build globally recognized chocolate industries?
Instead of merely catching tuna, why not process, package and brand more seafood within Mindanao?
Every additional step in the value chain creates jobs, raises incomes and earns more foreign exchange.
Export-led development begins not at the port but in the factory.
Reliable electricity is economic policy
Businesses rarely describe electricity as exciting.
They describe it as essential.
Affordable and dependable power influences almost every investment decision.
Manufacturers compare electricity prices before deciding where to build.
Food processors calculate refrigeration costs.
Digital industries need uninterrupted power.
Cold-storage operators depend upon reliability.
This is why the rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangi hydropower complex deserves national attention.
It is not merely an energy project.
It is industrial policy.
Reliable electricity lowers production costs, improves competitiveness and encourages new investment throughout Northern and Central Mindanao.
Executed transparently and according to international technical standards, Agus-Pulangi could become one of the country’s most consequential economic investments.
Agriculture should become manufacturing
Mindanao’s farmers do not simply need better prices.
They need stronger industries around them.
Every new processing facility creates demand for higher-quality crops.
Every cold-storage warehouse reduces waste.
Every logistics improvement shortens travel time.
Every packaging plant increases export value.
Agriculture should no longer be viewed only as food production.
It should become manufacturing.
That requires irrigation, mechanization, research, financing, processing, certification and market access working together rather than as disconnected government programs.
Logistics remain Mindanao’s hidden tax
Mindanao’s entrepreneurs compete not only against businesses in Manila but also against companies across Southeast Asia.
Many begin at a disadvantage.
Shipping costs remain high.
Inter-island transport remains fragmented.
Some ports require modernization.
Cold-chain capacity remains uneven.
Roads have improved, yet connecting farms to processing facilities and ports continues to increase costs.
Reducing logistics costs may be the fastest way to increase the competitiveness of Mindanao exports.
Every peso saved moving goods becomes another peso available for wages, expansion and innovation.
Peace is economic infrastructure
No serious discussion of Mindanao’s future can ignore the Bangsamoro peace process.
Peace is often discussed as a political achievement.
It is also one of the region’s most important economic assets.
Investors seek predictability.
Banks lend where risk is manageable.
Tourists travel where they feel secure.
Young professionals remain where opportunities exist.
Completing the peace process is therefore not separate from economic policy.
It is economic policy.
Governance determines competitiveness
The flood-control scandal has reminded the nation that corruption carries enormous economic costs.
Every questionable contract diverts resources from productive investment.
Every delayed infrastructure project raises business costs.
Every controversy weakens investor confidence.
Mindanao has seen enough unfinished projects to understand this lesson well.
The final two years of the administration should therefore focus not simply on prosecuting individuals but on building institutions.
Transparent procurement.
Open contracting.
Professional project management.
Independent engineering review.
Public disclosure of infrastructure spending.
These reforms matter as much in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Cotabato, Zamboanga and Butuan as they do in Manila.
The next Philippine growth story could begin here
For decades, economists have asked how to bring development to Mindanao.
Perhaps we should begin asking the opposite question.
How can Mindanao bring the next stage of development to the Philippines?
An island that exports more processed food.
Generates more renewable energy.
Builds stronger logistics corridors.
Develops globally competitive halal industries.
Expands digital services.
Modernizes agriculture.
Protects its watersheds.
Strengthens its ports.
And attracts investment because governance has become more transparent.
That is not regional development.
That is national development.
Looking beyond 2028
Political terms end.
Infrastructure remains.
Institutions remain longer.
If the administration wants to leave a lasting economic legacy, it should resist measuring success by the number of projects announced.
Instead, it should ask harder questions.
Did Mindanao become more competitive?
Did exports increase?
Did electricity become more reliable?
Did logistics become cheaper?
Did investors stay?
Did corruption become harder?
Did young Mindanawons find opportunities at home instead of elsewhere?
These are the questions history remembers.
The fifth SONA marked the beginning of the administration’s final governing chapter.
For Mindanao, the next two years should not simply be about receiving a larger share of the national budget.
They should be about claiming a larger role in shaping the Philippine economy.
The country’s next growth story does not have to begin in Metro Manila.
It may well begin south of the Eighth Parallel.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. South of the 8th Parallel is a reflective civic column written from the vantage point of a Mindanao-born senior who has lived the arc from Ozamiz to Cotabato, Davao, Manila, Cagayan de Oro, and now Taguig. The 8th Parallel North is the line of latitude eight degrees above the Equator that runs across Mindanao, placing the island firmly in the tropical belt and slightly removed from the country’s political center. Rooted in memory yet attentive to policy, the column examines Mindanao’s concerns—governance, development, peace, inequality, migration, faith, and aging—with the steadiness of lived experience. This is not a view from the capital looking south, but a life shaped by the South looking outward, seeking perspective over noise and endurance over spectacle.)
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