With the approval of the endorsement of the Provincial Development Council (PDC) chaired by Governor Daisy P. Avance Fuentes, the municipality of Surallah will soon become the new Provincial Agro-Industrial Center (PAIC) of South Cotabato.
PDC, the province’s highest planning and policy-making body, made the endorsement during its recent council meeting, citing in its resolution that “the geographical character and economic base and potentials of the Municipality of Surallah make it possible to be the Provincial Agro-Industrial Center of South Cotabato.”
Likewise, the council also noted in its resolution the strategic location of the municipality as a progressive center of economic activities in the upper valley area of the province.
Surallah LGU identified barangays Centrala, Naci and Tubi-ala, consisting of 896 hectares, as the agro-industrial zone.
As of the present, large investors have already located in said areas particularly NV Vogt, a company engaged in solar power generation, and which the PDC envisioned as partner in stabilizing the power supply to support agro-industrial development.
The council likewise foresees that this declaration is relevant for sustaining the socio-economic development of the province.
Before this endorsement, the City of Koronadal as component city of the province is the recognized agro-industrial center.
But by virtue of an executive order signed by then President Corazon C. Aquino establishing it as the Administrative Capital of Region 12, the council deemed it appropriate to transfer agro-industrial development to the upper valley of the province.
