The present provincial government of Leyte is making a tremendous effort to change its image as a mainly agricultural area into an upcoming investment hub in the Eastern Visayas region. Its traditional agricultural industry based on abaca-processing and coconut-processing industries will soon be augmented by new industries. These industries alone will not be enough to sustain a rapid population growth in a degraded environment. Although these two main economic activities have a slew of downstream livelihood opportunities, these are all relatively low-value labour-intensive jobs. For abaca, the main sub-industries are “sinamay” making, cordage production and pulp manufacturing. For the coconut industry, the activities under it are coco milk processing, copra cake production, activated carbon, coconut coir production and oleo-chemical processing.

Coir is made from coconut fibre
But the provincial government wants to shift away from these two mainstays of the island’s economy. Other prospects such as tourism-related ventures and ICT services are being vigorously pursued. Leyte has a lot of nature’s allures, rare historical landmarks and a rich diversified culture. Any tourism-related investment is welcomed by the government such as hotels, resorts and other tourism assets. The much-awaited annual festival similar to a mardi gras is the Pintados-Kasadyaan Festival that brings tourists even from abroad but the problem is the lack of suitable accommodations. In other potential areas for business, the government has pushed for the upgrading of its information and communications technology infrastructure by using fibre optics and satellite facilities. These twin developments make Leyte ideal also for BPO services such as content development (animation, transcription services, engineering design and data search services), core IT services (website design, software applications development and computer systems design) and back room operations (finance, accounting and legal services, HR functions, data encoding, recruitment and training services). A ready availability of adequately trained manpower pool of college-educated graduates from its excellent universities and colleges makes all this possible to make Leyte the next outsourcing hub.

one of the good source for Geothermal power in Leyte
Other potential areas for investment are in real estate development, seaport expansion, mall-type buildings, commercial buildings, recreational facilities and economic zone development. Leyte Industrial Development Estate (LIDE) is the sole eco-zone in the whole province that has wide areas of land still undeveloped. This 435-hectare industrial facility in Isabel can still accommodate other industries similar to Clark and Subic. At present, it is felt by many that it is being underutilized. Power generation is another prospect such as expanding the geothermal plant located in Ormoc City. It is the third-largest geothermal facility in the country after Tiwi in Bicol and Mt. Apo in Davao. But sheer consumer demand from the population is not enough to entice business investors. The people of Leyte must have their incomes increased considerably for them to have the purchasing power.

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