EASTERN VISAYAS REGION
2002 Regional Social & Economic Trends
Sectoral Highlights
 

POPULATION AND HOUSING

q    The region’s total population reached 3.6 million in May 2000, from 3.4 million registered in September 1995. Average annual growth rate was placed at 1.51 percent. Southern Leyte posted the highest growth rate among the provinces at 2.73 percent, while Calbayog City had the highest growth rate among the cities at 2.83 percent.

q    The region’s population density rose from 157.1 persons per square kilometer in 1995 to 168.5 in 2000. Tacloban City posted the highest population density at 1,770.5.

q    Age dependency ratio continued to exhibit a downward trend. From 86.0 percent in 1995, it declined to 83.8 percent in 2000.

q    Average household size of the region was placed at 5.0 in 2000. Among the provinces, Northern Samar registered the biggest household size at 5.3, followed by Samar and Eastern Samar at 5.2 and 5.1, respectively. Tacloban City and Calbayog City had the biggest household size among the cities at 5.1.   

 INCOME AND PRICES

q    The region’s average family income was estimated at 91,520 pesos in 2000, up by 35.0% from the 1997 level of 67,772 pesos. Leyte posted the highest average family income at 93,251 pesos while Eastern Samar posted the lowest income at 71,527 pesos. 

q  Incidence of poor families in the region decreased to 37.8% in 2000 from 39.9% in 1997. This comprised around 278,486 poor families. Eastern Samar registered the highest poverty incidence at 47.3% while Southern Leyte posted the lowest at 28.5%.

q    Average inflation rate rose from 3.9% in 2000 to 6.2% in 2001. The highest increase in inflation rate was in Food, Beverages and Tobacco, from 2.0% in 2000 to 5.6% in 2001. Purchasing power of the peso weakened from 0.64 pesos in 2000 to 0.59 pesos in 2001.

ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS

q      The economy of Eastern Visayas posted an accelerated growth of 2.5% in 2001 from 1.6% the previous year. The region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached P22.6 billion pesos.

q       The Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry sector fueled the growth. Accounting for 32.1% of the GDP with a production value of P7.3 billion pesos, the sector sustained its growth at 5.5% in 2001. The figure is 0.4 percentage points higher than the 5.1% posted in 2000.

q       The Industry Sector recovered from its negative 2.6% growth in 2000 to a positive 0.1% in 2001. This came despite continued decline in the construction subsector. The manufacturing subsector, which accounted for 20.3% of the GDP, rebounded from a negative 3.8% growth in 2000 to 3.2% in 2001. The sector grossed a total production of P7.6 billion pesos.

q       The Services sector decelerated from 2.8% in 2000 to 2.2% in 2001 . The slowdown is attributed to negative growths in ownership of dwellings and real estate (1.1%) and government services (1.8%) subsectors. Other subsectors, however, did well. The transportation, communication and storage subsector registered the highest growth at 8.4% from 5.7% a year ago. Trade also grew from 5.7% to 6.7% due to improved retail trading.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

q    Log production in the region dropped by 13.9%, from 654 cubic meters in 2000 to 563 cubic meters in 2001.

q    There were 9 major proclaimed watershed areas in the region in 2001 covering a total area of 35,150.46 hectares. The province of Eastern Samar which had 2 watershed areas accounted for 32.5% of the total watershed area. Meanwhile, Samar had 3 watershed areas contributing 29.9% to the total.      

AGRICULTURE AND AGRARIAN REFORM

q       Palay production in the region increased significantly by 9.3%, from 517, 558 metric tons in 2000 to 565,895 metric tons in 2001. Southern Leyte posted the biggest increase at 21.2%, followed by Northern Samar at 19.7 percent. The rest of the provinces also registered increases in production.

q       Coconut production increased by 7.3%, from 1,544,851 metric tons in 2000 to 1,657,442 metric tons in 2001. Leyte accounted for the bulk or 41.8% of the region’s coconut production. Other major crops like sugarcane and banana grew by 6.9% and 1.2%, respectively.

q       Hog production declined by 7.5%, from 738,450 in 2000 to 682,780 in 2001. All provinces in the region exhibited a decline except for Northern Samar which registered a 12.2% increase.

q       Chicken production likewise declined in 2001 by 6.2%, bringing the total production to 5,158,128. Only Biliran and Southern Leyte showed increases in production at 6.2% and 13.7%, respectively.

q       Fish production increased significantly by 16.0% in 2001 or a total of 91,318 metric tons. Aquaculture posted the biggest increase at 54.9 percent.

ESTABLISHMENT CHARACTERISTICS: INDUSTRIAL SECTOR

q       The number of establishments in the region decreased by 246 in 2001, bringing the total to 21,153. The province of Leyte accounted for 45.2% of these establishments. 

q       The majority or 55.8% of the establishments were engaged in wholesale and retail trade. This was followed by manufacturing establishments at 17.2%.

q      The number of private building construction also declined by 2.4% in 2001. This could be accounted by the 28.9% decline in additions, alterations and repairs.

TRADE

q       The region’s total exports amounted to 347.4 million US dollars in 2001, a 4.0% decrease compared to the 361.9 million US dollars earned the previous year. Manufactured goods classified chiefly by materials comprised almost three-fourths or 73.9% of the total exports earnings.

q      The region’s total imports was up by 73.8% in 2001 amounting to 385.6 million US dollars. It’s volume increased by more than half or 53.7% in 2001. Crude materials, indelible, except fuels accounted for most or 85.0% of the total import expense.

TOURISM

q       Visitor arrivals to the region rose significantly by 19.3% in 2001, bringing the total to 176,149. Domestic visitor arrivals, which accounted for most or 93.9% of the region’s total visitors, grew by 22.1%.

q     From a 4.6% decline in 2000, foreign visitor arrivals to the region continued to drop by 11.8% in 2001. The United States accounted for 29.7% of the region’s foreign tourists, followed by Japan at 19.8%. This continued drop could be attributed to the unstable peace and order situation in the country brought about by terroristic activities, bombings, kidnappings, and the like.

q   The region was able to maintain its 14 accredited hotels and managed to increase the number of hotel rooms by 30.0% or a total of 763.

VITAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION STATISTICS

q       Cardiovascular diseases remained the top killer disease in the region in 2001 with a rate of 111.21 per 100,000 population. Pneumonia came second with a rate of 72.27 per 100,000 population.

q       Acute respiratory infection is the leading cause of morbidity in the region with a ratio of 3,876.54 per 100,000 population, followed by diarrhea with a rate of 1,314.03 per 100,000 population.

q   Eastern Samar and Southern Leyte had better hospital bed to population ratio than the rest of the provinces in the region at 1 bed per 948 population and 1 bed per 973 population, respectively.

q   The nutritional status of children aged 0-7 years old improved in 2001. The biggest reduction was in the number of overweight children, from 60,280 in 2000 to 22,433 in 2001.

EDUCATION

q       The number of government elementary schools in the region increased by 12 in SY 2001-2002 bringing the total to 3,451. Private elementary schools also increased by 5 in the same period or a total of 111.

q       A total of 81 tertiary schools were reported in SY 2000-2001, 48 were government and 33 were private schools.

q      Enrolment in elementary schools in Region 8 reached 651,596 in SY 2001-2002, an increase of about 1.4% from the previous year’s figure of 642,403. This increase was accounted by government school at 1.5%. Enrolment in private elementary schools dropped by 4.0%.

q      Enrolment in secondary schools increased by 10.4%, from 212,474 in SY 2000-2001 to 234,575 in SY 2001-2002. The increase was again accounted by government schools at 12.4%. There was a slight decline in enrolment in secondary private schools at 0.2%.

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT

q       Employed persons in the region reached 1,510 thousand in 2001. This is an increase of 9.5% or around 131 thousand persons from the previous year’s figure of 1,379 thousand.

q       Employment rate for men was higher than for women in 2001 (92.9% vs. 90.6%). These figures are slightly lower than that of the previous year by 0.8 and 0.7 percentage points, respectively. 

q      Among the six provinces in the region, Samar registered the highest employment rate at 95.5%. On the other hand, Southern Leyte registered the lowest employment rate at 88.2%.

q      The number of unpaid family workers increased significantly by 19.2%, from 250 thousand in 2000 to 298 thousand in 2001. There were more women unpaid family workers (157 thousand) than men (141 thousand).

q     The number of labor standard cases handled by the DOLE more than doubled in 2001. The disposition rate of the 629 cases was 95.0%.

SOCIAL SERVICES

q       Socially disadvantaged families in the region served by DSWD significantly declined by 20.5%, from 73,814 in 2000 to 58,675 in 2001. The biggest decline was among the elderly group at 76.5%. The province of Leyte accounted for 68.2% of the decrease in the total number of socially disadvantaged families.

q       Outreach servicecount in all programs totalled 172,366 in 2001, lower by 35.1% compared to that of last year. Services on Care, Protection and Rehabilitation of Children and Youth comprised the bulk at 31.6%, followed by Rehabilitation of Victims of Calamities and Social Disorganization at 29.8%.

TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION

q      The number of motor vehicles registered in 2001 increased by 5.3%, bringing the total to 72,609. Private vehicles, which comprised 78.7% of the total vehicles, increased by 10.2%. On the other hand, government and for hire vehicles declined by 26.1% and 5.9%, respectively.

q       Motorcycles and tricylces accounted for 39,623 or 54.6% of the registered vehicles in the region in 2001, followed by utility vehicles at 21,660 or 29.8%.

q       The volume of sea cargoes incrased by 18.4%, from 6.76 million kilograms in 2000 to 8.01 million kilograms in 2001. The majority or 65.8% of these sea cargoes were domestic.   

ENERGY AND WATER RESOURCES

q      An additional of 122 barangays were energized in 2001, bringing the region’s level of energization to 69.3 percent.

q       Power service connections reached 306,359 in 2001, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year’s figure. Most or 85.1% of the service conncetions were residential.

q       Power rates in the region were maintained in 2001. BILECO remained to have the highest power rate at 4.74 pesos while LEYECO V had the lowest rate at 3.22 pesos.

q       Communal and private irrigation systems in the region increased to 377 in 2001, with a total service area of 33,714 hectares. The province of Leyte accounted for 54.1% of the total service area.

PUBLIC FINANCE

q      From a huge 48.0% increase in 2000, total revenue collection in the region went down by 5.8% in 2001or a total of 1.9 billion pesos, from 2.0 billion pesos the previous year.

q       Income tax, which contributes almost two-thirds or 66.3% of the total revenue, decreased by 2.6% or around 34.0 million pesos in 2001. Business taxes, which accounts for 26.5% of total tax collection, also went down by 16.1% or around 96.2 million pesos.

q       Among the provinces, only Southern Leyte posted a growth in total revenue collection at 13.9%. The biggest decline in tax collection was registered in Biliran at 17.6%.

q       Total financial resources of the region sustained its growth at 5.3% or around 170.1 million pesos in 2001. Total expenditures, on the other hand, grew by 3.4% or around 126.8 million pesos.

MONEY AND BANKING

q       Total assets of banking institutions in the region increased significantly by 11.3%, from 16.3 billion pesos in 2000 to 18.2 billion pesos in 2001. Thrift banks registered the highest increase in total assets at 14.6%, followed by commercial banks at 13.7%.     

q       Net loan portfolio increased by 10.8%, from 4.1 billion pesos in 2000 to 4.5 billion pesos in 2001. Rural banks posted the biggest increase which was five times or 445.1% higher than that of the previous year. Commercial banks and specialized government banks, however, showed a decline of 7.5% and 1.9%, respectively.

q      Total deposits in the region increased by 14.7%, from 14.0 billion pesos in 2000 to 16.1 billion pesos in 2001. The province of Leyte accounted for the bulk of the deposits at 66.4%.

PUBLIC ORDER, SAFETY AND JUSTICE

q       Crime rate in the region dropped by 19.1% from 95.3 per 100,000 population in 2000 to 77.1 in 2001. Non-index crimes, which accounts for 40.8% of the total crimes, recorded a significant decline of 36.6% from 49.7 per 100,000 population in 2000 to 31.5 in 2001.

q       Among the provinces, Southern Leyte registered the lowest crime rate at 43.2 per 100,000 population. Meanwhile, Tacloban City had the lowest crime rate among the cities at 85.9 per 100,000 population.         

q       The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) handled a total of 9,720 cases in 2001. Cases terminated reached 4,982 and the remaining 48.7% or 4,738 cases were still pending. Tacloban had the biggest number of cases handled at 2,214, followed by Leyte at 2,189.   

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

q       There were 234 research projects conducted in the region in 2000.  Around 65 or 27.8% were completed during the period.  Visayas State College of Agriculture (ViSCA), now known as Leyte State University (LSU), conducted most or 60.0% of the projects. 

q       The DOST VIII commercialized a total of 20 technologies in 2000.  Only 9 were diffused.  In addition, 47 technology adoptors were introduced. 

q       EVISNet (Eastern Visayas Information Sharing Network), a government Internet service provider that started operation in 1999, had a total of 103 subscribers in 2000.     It generated a total income of 693,893.25 pesos during the period. 

q       The number of DOST VIII scholars increased from 33 in 1999 to 57 in 2000 or an addition of 24 scholars.

Home | Statwatch | Facts and Figures | Archives

For your comments, suggestions and data inquiries, 
please mail to rd8@nscb.bayandsl.ph