teresting phenomenon. Metropolitan shadow is taking in population from the crow
ded Metropolitan Manila. The term "metropolitan shadow" is used to refer to reg
ions that are surrounding Metropolitan Manila. I assume this is an indication o
f the fact that peo-ple want to build their houses in residential areas that ar
e a little distant from Metropoli-tan Manila. The same thing is happening in Ja
pan, Because urbanization is occurring so rapidly in Tokyo and Osaka, people ar
e moving out to the suburbs of these cities.
In addition to this metropolitan shadow, there is another region called absorpt
ion control urban area. In other words, it is a region for absorbing the people
who overflowed from the cities. For instance, as these regions promote invitati
on of population and industry, they offer cheaper taxes and advanced social inf
rastructure. Efforts are being made to absorb population from Metropolitan Mani
la and other large cities. Population is also growing rapidly in these regions.
The rural-urban combined region's population is growing at the rate of 5.2%. Th
is is a very high number. And in regions where farm-ing villages are dominant,
i.e. basic rural regions, the growth rate is 5.2%. The Gov-ernment is reallzing
such decentralization through its population decentralization policy. In this s
ense, the Government policy is attaining success. This is a very important poin
t, a very unique example offered by the Philippines.
Japan also has a similar experience. The Government adopted a decentralization
policy in 1962 in response to deterioration of environment and infrastructure c
aused by exces-sive concentration of population and industry in Tokyo, Osaka an
d Nagoya. The most typical of such policy was the New Industrial City Invitatio
n Act established by the Japa-nese Government in 1962 to promote 25 new industr
ial cities. It was an effort to create, for instance, medium-size cities with p
opulation of about 250,000 and build industrial base there. Then the Government
, municipalities and prefectures worked together to create medium-size industri
al cities and invited industry and population. A new law was laid down in 1962
to create these cities between large cities and rural areas. How-ever, the time
was not ripe then--people still wanted to move to Tokyo and Osaka and did not w
ant to live in medium-size cities. So this created a considerable amount of def
icit, not only for the central government but for municipalities and prefecture
s as well. However, 10, 20, 30 years have passed and people are moving to these
medium-size cit-ies in large numbers as the environment of large cities, both e
conomic and physical, dete-riorated further. Considering the amount of time tha
t was required for people to start moving into these cities, the timing is impo
rtant. It would work if the timing is right but otherwise a large amount of inv
estment will be wasted.
So we must have a good understanding of what people are thinking and what they
are trying to do when making a policy. This is the base on which policy of urba
nization must be built. More detailed studies of this sort will be required for
policy-making of the future. In this sense, the Philippines offers an example o
f success. The increase rate has been held down in Metro Manila as well as in m
etropolitan shadow. The fact that population is increasing in other regions is
one of the proofs that decentralization is making progress.
