Marawi to be revived as higher education hub

MANILA, Philippines — In line with the Duterte administration’s National Spatial Strategy (NSS), war-damaged Marawi City will be restored as a higher education hub in the south, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has said.

“The mention of Marawi may have evoked in you images of the destruction there due to conflict. We will bring back Marawi to its former glory as a higher education hub,” NEDA Undersecretary for Regional Development Adoracion Navarro said.

Even during the armed conflict in Marawi, the city remained on the development plan of the national government as a higher education hub like Dumaguete City in the Visayas.

There were 17 institutions of higher learning in Marawi before the siege started on May 23.

The NEDA is pursuing its NSS, which supports decentralization and regional development.

The NSS aims to decongest Metro Manila by spurring growth to key centers throughout the country. Specifically, Navarro said this entails pulling up the performance of lagging regions by linking them with high-performing ones. This also involves the development of regional and subregional centers for administration, logistics, tourism, agriculture, industry and education.

The NSS is meant to improve linkages among settlements and key production areas by connecting rural areas to growth centers.

“The National Spatial Strategy seeks to address socioeconomic inequalities by linking lagging regions with leading ones rather than forcing a uniform dispersal of development, which can create diseconomies and inefficiencies,” Navarro explained.

Under the plan, the 37 regional and four metropolitan centers will be the nucleus of commercial, financial and administrative activities among the provinces.

The 117 subregional centers, which include Marawi City, will connect services to smaller communities.

With markets large enough to support a range of services and investments, regional centers such as Baguio City, Puerto Princesa City and Tagbilaran City have the most direct linkages to the metropolitan centers.