Negros Oriental

Overview
Negros Oriental Province is an hour’s ride by plane from Manila, the country’s capital, and 2.5 hours by fast ferry from Cebu City, the regional center.

The province which is “boot shaped” on the map is on the eastern side of Negros Island, thus the name Negros Oriental which means East of Negros Island.

It is composed of the mainland province and Apo Island which is a favorite of local and foreign divers. It has 3 congressional districts, 3 cities and 22 municipalities.

Negros Oriental has 1,336.7 kilometers of scenic, clean and unspoiled beaches on one side, with beauiful mountains nd rustic scenery on the other side.

Dumaguete City, the capital of Negros Oriental, is basically a “University Town”. It has several colleges and universities and is home of Silliman University. Founded by American missionaries in 1901, Silliman is one of the oldest universities in the Philippines.

Tourism is a fast growing industry sector in the province. Over the last five years, major invesments in this sector have been registered. Notable new investments include a world-class golf course and beach resorts, hotel and pension houses.

Basic Facts
Capital: Dumaguete City
Cities: Dumguete, Bais, Canlaon
Municipalities: 22
Land Area: 540,230 hectares
Population: 1.045 (1996)
Language/ Dialects: Cebuano, Illongo, Tagalog, English
Literacy Rate: 91.43%

Land Classification
Certified Alienable & Disposable 258,868 has.
Classified Forest Land: 201,080 has
Unclassified Forest Land: 80,282 has.
Total Land Area: 540,230 has.
Arable Area: 258.868 has.

Exports: Copra, Sugar, Mollasses, Dehydrated fruis,Ammonium Nitrate Agricultural Products: sugarcane, corn, coconut, rice, fruits, root crops, legumes, vegeables, other industrial crops

Water Supply: 0.18-M cu.m. monhly (ave.)
Road Network: 3,321.626 kms.

Seaports: (Domestic)
Primary - Dumaguete Port
Tertiary - Tandayag (Amlan), Guihulngan, Bayawan, Ducomi Comml. Port
Airport: Dumaguete- Sibulan Airport

Communication
Post Office (Government) : 32
Telephone Firms : 4
Radio Stations : 7
TV / Cable Sations : 5
Telegraph/ Telex Stations : 32
Messengerial/ Courier Stations : 5
Local Publications/ Newspapers : 4
Internet Service Providers : 4

Financial Systems
Commercial banks : 19
Government banks : 7
Savings banks : 29
Rural banks : 22
Lending firms : 17
Pawnshops : 29
Licensed Foreign Dealers : 24

Tourist Attractions
Dolphin and whale watching, underwater marine parks for scub diving, mountains, caves and wildlife for eco-tourism enthusiasts, and beach resorts.

Literacy Rate
Negros Oriental has an English speaking populace. Literacy rate province-wide is 91.34%. Dumaguete City which is the center of education has a higher literacy rate of 97% in 1996.

Power
Negros Oriental has geothermal fields with power potential of up to 436MW. Developed geothermal power capacity is 1925 MW. This supplies the power needs of the entire Negros Island, and is connected via submarine cables to neighboring Panay and Cebu islands.

Communication
Dumaguete City has a robust high-capacity network already in place. This network consists of microwave links and a fiber-optic backbone that connect the city not only to Manila and Cebu City, but to Mindanao and other islands, as well.

The fiber optic links going into Dumaguete are among the best for a city outside of Metro Manila. The total capacity of these fiber links is a whopping 320 Gbps which translates to 4.5 million high quality data and voice lines – a capacity which can accommodate five million call center agents.

Bandwidth-hungry outsourcing businesses such as call centers, transcription services, and digital post-production will find ample room for growth for their telecommunication needs. Redundancy is another key feature of Dumaguete’s telco infrastructure.

Dumaguete is a landing site for the fiber optic backbone networks of Globe Telecommunications, as well as Telecphil – the national consortium of telco providers. In addition, microwave communications supplement the links, assuring that service businesses need not fear outages caused by a downed cable.

Currently, infrastructure requirements are serviced by PLDT, Globe and Bayantel. There are more than US$85 million worth of Fiber Optic Connectivity encircling Negros Island with a quadruple redundant system in Dumaguete City. Silliman University in Dumaguete City is one of few universities in the world that owns a fiber optic network with 12 routers.

Territory
Negros Oriental's territory comprise the mainland, Apo Island and Daco Island.

Airport
Dumaguete-Sibulan Airport. Services daily flights to and from Manila and Cebu.

Seaport
The primary port is the Dumaguete City port. Tertiary ports are located in Bais City and in the municipalities of Amlan, Guihulngan and Ducomi Port, a privately owned, commercially operated port in Bacong. The Dumaguete Port berths both passenger and cargo ships. Passenger ships have regular schedules for Manila, Cebu and some points in Mindanao. Fastcrafts ferries are available for several daily trips to and from Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Dipolog.

Land Transportation
The province has a network of asphalted coastal roads. These roads span the entire Negros Island. Interior and mountain barangays are also accessible through a network of sphalted and all weather roads.

Banking Services
Major banks in the country have branches in Dumaguete City. Province-wide there are 21 commercial banks, 7 governments banks, 2 savings banks and 25 rural banks.

Schools and Universities
The major universities, colleges and training institutions in the province are located in Dumaguete City. The leading university in the province is Silliman University which is one of the oldest in the country. The Central Visayas Polytechnic State College has the largest student population.
Province-wide there are 10 private universities and colleges, 1 state college and 20 training institutions. The public school system has 611 elementry aand 74 high schools located at the city and municipal levels.

Tourism and Convention Facilities
Accomodation facilities include 13 beach resorts, 10 hotels and 13 pension houses wih a total of 627 rooms. Convention facilities include 21 hotel function rooms, 13 auditoriums, and 4 gymnasiums with a total service capcity of 22,000 persons..

The province also has two golf courses; one an 18-hole course located in Pamplona, and the other a 9-hole course in Sibulan. The former is just an hour’s drive, while the latter is a 15-minute drive from Dumaguete City.

Other related services available are 11 travel and tour agencies, 4 rent a car firms, 22 first-class restaurants and 3 Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) accredited diveshops. Investment

Opportunities
Investments are preferred in two geographical areas-the Metro Dumaguete area which includes the towns around Dumaguete City and the areas further north and south of the city.

Dumaguete is being developed as the foremost University or College Town in the country and plans are afoot to promote it as a professional, scientific and academic convention city. In order to attain that vision, investments in the following areas are being encouraged.

New Commercial District - There is a need to open a new commercial district in the suburbs to decongest the center of the present downtown area.

Retirement Villages - The placid ambience of Dumaguete will attract retired foreign professors and scientists. This can be mutually reinforcing to existing colleges and universities

Research and Technology Parks - Local universities have expanded with the presence of Research and Technology Parks in support of industrial or agricultural applications. Outside of Metro Dumaguete, the development of industrial parks is a priority. Two areas have been identified - the Bais City government has identified an area for eco-zone development and is looking for a partner to jointly develop it while a private consortium have already identified the Dauin-Zamboanguita area for its industrial estate.

With its vast fertile land resources, there are a lot of opporunities in agriculture. Opportunities for agricultural ventures include conract farming, orchard and industrial tree farming, aquaculture (prawn and fresh water fish), livesock, cutflowers and ornamental plants and food processing.