Panay's Comeback
Aside from its traditional crops, Panay is now attracting investments in agro-industrial and tourism areas

Pan hay en esta isla" (There is bread on this island). According to legend, this was what Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and his men uttered in the 16th century upon setting foot on what is now known as Panay Island. Four centuries later, Panay - which consists of the of provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, and Guimaras - has much more to offer: a startling array of business opportunities as well as pleasurable getaways.

Panay, which makes up close to 4.2 percent of the country's territory, is situated geographically at the heart of the Philippines. It is bounded on its southwest point by the wide expanse of the Sulu Sea, far to the west by Palawan, and Negros Island and Cebu to the southeast. The combined population of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, and Guimaras comes to about 3.5 million.

Life After Sugar
Panay, together with Negros, was once the sugar capital of the country. When in the early 1980s the price of sugar in the world market nose-dived, Panay was severely affected. And yet, slowly but surely, her economy is now on the road to recovery. These days, aside from exporting the so-called old reliables - sugar, copper concentrates, and prawns, Panay is gearing to be a more diversified agro-industrial center.

In 1989, Western Visayas - which includes not only the Panay Island provinces, but also the province of Negros Occidental - was cited as one of the growth areas in the country. The other two areas are now success stories: Subic and Calabarzon. Although Panay's growth is not as dramatic as the Luzon powerhouses, the booming economic environment is evident everywhere on the island. In Iloilo City, once dubbed the Queen City of the South, one can see business parks and huge shopping malls - evidence of its robust consumer market. Among these are Shoemart, Atrium, and Gaisano while SM City-Iloilo, Sta. Lucia's Metropolis, and Uniwide will soon rise. The commercial port of Iloilo, a transshipment point for domestic and international cargo services an average of 6.9 million tons of inbound and outbound cargo and 5.5 million passengers annually. It is considered the most important port next to Manila and Cebu.

Most of the important names in business are now established in Panay. Among them are telecommunication firms PLDT, Islacom, Globe Telecom, Smart, and Piltel; banks such as Allied Bank, BPI, Far East, PNB, RCBC, and Metrobank and food franchises Jollibee, McDonalds, and Shakeys. More significantly, each of the five provinces has several business opportunities.

Aklan. Famous for the Mardi Gras-like Ati-Atihan Festival and Boracay Island, Aklan welcomes investments in loomweaving of top-notch piña cloth and sinamay cloth, both sought in the fashion industry. The province's huge agricultural yield includes bananas, melons, and pineapples. The surplus of these is brought to Manila. Around 45,000 metric tons of banana harvest are processed into banana chips and crackers.

Antique. In Antique, funds are needed to upgrade the mills that produce muscovado sugar. The province accounts for 85 percent of the region's supply of this vitamin-rich sugar that is favored by health-conscious consumers. Antique also has one of the biggest marble deposits in the country. The municipalities of Libertad and Pandan alone have reserves of over four billion metric tons. Other promising areas for enterprise include brick and pottery production, seaweed culture and processing, fish processing, and gifts, toys, and houseware. The latter is not capital-intensive and directly taps the skills of Antique craftsmen. These products are exported to the U.S., Japan, and Europe.

Capiz. Capiz has one of the richest fishing grounds in the country that has earned for itself the title Seafood Capital of the Philippines. There is an abundance of blue marlin, tuna, milkfish (bangus), prawns and shrimps, seawe-eds, crabs, eel, shellfish, and squid. The major industry is prawn growing which has spun off support business activities such as prawn feed manufacture, cassava processing for animal feed, and lime processing. About 10,000 metric tons of lime is used by the prawn industry while the cutflower industry, another potential major-earner, needs lime soil.

Guimaras. Guimaras, off the coast of Panay Island, was formerly a sub-province of Iloilo until only six years ago. Among its rich agricultural yield, its mangoes are acknowledged as one the best Philippine exports, the only mango variety that is allowed entry into the U.S. market. This island of white beaches, unpolluted waters and splendid underwater flora and fauna also can benefit from tourism-related enterprises. Other promising industries in the island, like the rest of Panay, include gifts and houseware, food processing, lime processing, and cutflowers.

Strategies for Growth
The Countryside Agri-Industrial Development (CAID) plan guides the growth of Panay and Guimaras. This strategy encourages the five provinces not only to continue to specialize in traditional crops such as sugar, rice, and corn but also to diversify into export-oriented crops that will have potential for the development of support industries.

Two growth centers, both in Iloilo, have been designated to contain major investment efforts: the Regional Agro-Industrial Center (RAIC) in the town of Pavia and the Iloilo Fishing Port and Processing Complex. Established during the Aquino administration, Pavia is a 1,109-hectare estate that was envisioned to be like Subic and Calabarzon. Preferred industries in Pavia include agri-based industries, garments, toys, houseware, packaging, electronics and parts, and chemical products. Among the firms located in Pavia are Coca-Cola, Vitarich, and San Miguel. Locators in Pavia are exempt from business and other local taxes during the first two years of operation and get a 50 percent discount on tax on the third year and a 25 percent discount on the fourth year.

Stiff competition from other industrial sites in the Visayas, especially those in Cebu, has prompted planners to shift the development strategy of RAIC from an estate-type growth strategy towards a "corridor-type" of development. Today various processing sites called People's Industrial Estates (PIEs) are being promoted all over Panay and Guimaras. The PIEs will act as intermediate processing centers of local materials and products that will be transshipped to Pavia.

Another prime business location is the Iloilo Fishing Port and Processing Complex. Here, investors in food processing ventures can start operations immediately. The port has modern refrigeration facilities that can produce 25 tons of ice per day as well as storage facilities that can accommodate 300 tons in gross weight, contact freezers, and a modern sewerage plant. Some eight to 10 hectares are still available for factory sites.

In addition, The Philippine Economic Zone Authority has named two more industrial sites in the Panay area: the 177-hectare Leganes Industrial Growth Center in Leganes, Iloilo and the 216-hectare Guimaras Special Economic Zone.

Convenience and Easy Access
Four airports link Panay to the rest of the country. These are in Roxas City (Capiz), Kalibo (Aklan), Iloilo City (Iloilo), and Caticlan (Aklan). Philippine Airlines, Air Philippines, and Cebu Pacific service these routes . Major shipping lines such as Negros Navigation and WG&A service passengers from Metro Manila and other points in the Philippines to Aklan, Capiz, and Iloilo. Regular ferry services connect Iloilo to Guimaras. Also, travel between Iloilo City and nearby Bacolod City in Negros is but a brief one-hour trip via the ultra modern, luxury Superjet. For those headed for Boracay, there's a 20-minute ferry service from Caticlan, Aklan.

All the modern telecommunication facilities are present in Panay: IDD, call forwarding, and teleconferencing. PLDT and Islacom continue to install landlines on the island while virtually all telecom firms (Globe Telecom, Islacom, Piltel, and Smart Communications) offer cellular phone services. As of December 1997, Western Visayas had a total of 258,200 telephone lines or around four telephones per 100 people.

Electricity, up 11 percent in consumption annually, is sourced from Napocor's Panay and Negros power grids and from a 72-megawatt power plant consortium of independent power producers composed of First Philippine Holdings, Panay Electric Co. and First Private Corporation.

Panay has a network of 8,350-kilometer of roads, of which almost 30 percent are classified national roads. Among the major road networks are Estancia-Ajuy in Iloilo, Malay-Nabas in Aklan and Sibalom-Igbaras in Antique and Iloilo. The old Panay Railways used for transporting sugar and which run through Iloilo and Capiz has seen some rehabilitation efforts lately.