Pateros Economy

The primary emphasis of the economic analysis is to identify and evaluate those facets of the Pateros local economy, which have caused economic growth in the past, and to help determine the direction of any future economic change. Important considerations in this analysis include employment trends, labor force characteristics, and recent development activity.

POTENTIAL LABOR FORCE

Pateros in 1995 had a potential labor force of 36, 714, which constitute 66.41% of its population. Of these, 53% actually worked which was slightly lower than the NCR figure. Most of those who worked were males partaking 67% of its potential labor force while those for women only 40% of its potential labor force actually worked. These figures are lower than those of NCR especially among women. This suggests that the town's womenfolk are more domesticated than those of NCR.

According to Ti Sencia (a traditional balut-maker ), the best balut -- also known as "balut sa puti" - is made by allowing the eggs to incubate from 16 to 17 days. Eighteen days is still okay, but go beyond that and the sisiw will be too large for leisurely consumption. Egg shell thickness is also a very important factor in the handling and processing of "balut" and salted eggs.

STRUCTURE OF LOCAL ECONOMY

The structure of the local economy of Pateros can be discerned from the composition of employment in the town. The predominant economic activity is services, which has more than half of the employed labor force (54%) in 1995. Following it is manufacturing with about 1/5 of the total, and trade with about 16%. Agriculture, which used to be the main source of employment many years ago, is no longer a significant contributor as it only partake a mere 1% of total employment. Construction is another significant employer with about 9% of the employed. The major sector with the least employment was mining and quarrying and fishing with less than half percent of the total. The structure more or less follows the general structure of the economy in the NCR. It reveals a local economy, which has been transformed from an agriculture-based to a service-based economy. It also reveals the strong ties and dependence to the regional economy given the similarity in their economic structure.

ECONOMIC BASE ANALSYS USING LOCATION QUOTIENT ANALYSIS

In order to analyze the depth of the local economy we need to analyze its location quotient (LQ). This is to determine the municipality's degree of self-sufficiency in a particular major and minor industry sector. It can also reveal if the town is losing its local money to non-local markets or importing such economic activity. In addition it can determine if a community is producing more than what it needs for its own use and is selling the excess to non-local markets, i.e., export activity.

Pateros has 4 major sectors with an LQ of more than 1 (agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and trade). An LQ of more than 1 means that sector is exporting to localities outside of its boundary and is more than sufficient in those sectoral activities especially those with LQ of 1.25 or more. Those with an LQ of around 0.75 or less can be presumed to be importing the products and services of that sector from outside of Pateros (fishing, mining and quarrying, electricity/gas/water). Those with LQs of 0.75 up to 1.25 are generally considered as self-sufficient in the town as in the case of services.

Looking at the LQ inside the major sectors shows that for agriculture the sub-sectors of palay farming, corn farming, and farming of animals have LQs of more than 1. Considering the rapid conversion of agricultural land in NCR, the present prospect of these sub-sectors continuing as exporting sectors at present and into the future looks dim. Under the manufacturing sector the following have LQs of more than 1 and are probably exporting: (1) food and beverage manufacturing; (2) textiles, wearing apparel, leather; (3) non-metallic mineral products; (4) furniture manufacturing and repair; and (4) machinery. However, only textiles, wearing apparel, leather category shows an LQ of more than 1.25 which means among manufacturing sub-sectors it shows the strongest indicator of being an export of the town and earning outside income. Trade while exhibiting an LQ of more than 1 can be considered as self-sufficient in the town or not really a strong export of Pateros. Among the services sub-sector only the repair of motor vehicles, personal and household goods shows a strong LQ of 2.26 and would to be considered really as an export of the locality and earning outside income. The rest of the sub-sector inside services has LQs between 0.75 and 1.25, which means they are roughly serving the needs only of the people of Pateros.

The LQ analysis reveals that Pateros' economy is basically insular that is largely confined to its boundary especially in the services sector. For it to have a sustainable economy, diversification and ability to export the produce of its industries needs to be strengthened.

SECTORAL ANALYSIS

AGRICULTURE
This sector has declined tremendously owing to the rapid growth in population and increased commercialization within the town. This can be attested by the decrease of the municipality's agricultural land area from 59.31 hectares in 1980 to 1.39 hectares in 2000 or a more than 100% reduction. Another indicator was the decline in number of farms from 1971 to 1991. Food production is very limited and cannot support the demand requirements of the municipality such as palay and livestock. This comes as a no surprise since NCR as a whole has been experiencing rapid transformation from agricultural to urban and commercial uses in its lands as the land value increases on the latter uses. Backyard gardening and hog raising are visible in settlements with available lots for the purpose. What this means is that Pateros is a net importer of foodstuffs from outside its boundaries most probably from other provinces and other neighboring public market.

INDUSTRY

MANUFACTURING
There are 488 registered industries based on the report of the Business Permit and Licensing Office. However, based on the breakdown given by the LGU there were only about 227 establishments in 1998. Garment factories constitute almost 40% of the total industrial establishments, which exist on all barangays of the municipality. Most of these garment factories are located in Barangay San Roque, Sta. Ana, Sto. Rosario-Silangan and Aguho. The slipper manufacturing called "alfombra" slippers comprise 27% -- it is one of the indigenous skills in Pateros. As seen in the LQ analysis, these sectors manifest the strongest LQ among the manufacturing sectors of the locality and thus are exporting its products outside of Pateros and are a strong source of income for Pateros residents.

Most of the Industrial establishments in the municipality are located in Barangay Sto. Rosario-Silangan, while Barangay Tabacalera has the least number of industrial activities.

COMMERCE
The central business district (CBD) of Pateros is in Barangay Poblacion, which has the smallest land area among the barangays with an area of 6.48 hectares. The commercial land use of the municipality represents 5.83% of its total area. It became the center of activities because it is where Saint Roque church, the biggest church ever built in the municipality, is situated. Most of the big business establishments are situated in the Poblacion. The Pateros Catholic School (a private elementary and high school), commercial banks, fast-food centers such as Jollibee and McDonald, and other business and professional offices are also located in this barangay. This is the reason why Barangay Poblacion has the second highest population density.

The area of greatest concentration of the people and vehicles at daytime is in M. Almeda Street and B. Morcilla of Barangay Poblacion. Pateros has registered a total of 1,198 commercial establishments as of 1998. One manifestation of the rapid commercialization of the town was that big fast-food chain such as Jollibee Food Corp and McDonald's Restaurant are already in the Poblacion. Commercial and development banks, and pawnshops in the municipality, which was non-existent in the past years, have increased attesting to the increased need for financial intermediation services.

Barangay Sta. Ana registered the highest number of registered commercial establishments of which majority are sari-sari stores. This can be attributed to the fact that Barangay Sta. Ana has the largest area and population among the 10 barangays, occupying 67.01 hectares or 36% of the total land area of the municipality. The least commercial activity is observed in Barangay Magtanggol which is only a bit bigger than the land area of Barangay Poblacion.

One indication of progress in the town is the presence of big named commercial banks (10 in all) such as Far East Bank and Trust Company, Metrobank, RCBC Planters Development Bank, Equitable Bank, Capitol Bank, and Land Bank in Barangay San Roque. Others are Macro Bank (Poblacion), Security and Westmont Bank (Sto. Rosario-Silangan), and Builders Savings & Loan Assn. (Martirez).

Of these commercial activities, repair service, which is the most numerous of the services firms, per LQ analysis, is the one with great export potentials, perhaps servicing the repair needs of neighboring towns and cities. Retail services may be just enough to service the resident's needs but there are indications (LQ analysis) that some portion of its activities is servicing its neighboring localities. The rest of the commercial establishments are only servicing the internal boundaries of Pateros.

ECONOMIC ISSUES

Lack of public market
Pateros has no public market, which deprives its residents of a convenient location to buy their food and its local government of a significant source of fee revenues. Although commercial establishments are visible along B. Morcilla and M. Almeda streets, residents have to go to the neighboring cities of Pasig and Makati to buy fresh market products. If Pateros would like to enhance its urban character and fiscal potentials, it needs to establish a public market (PM). Usually a PM leads in the diversification of the services sector as it attracts outside investors and retailers and is the center of gravity of all commercial activities in any town.

Need to make commercial areas accessible
Commercial constitutes 5.8% of the land area of the municipality and is more than sufficient to meet the needs of the locality at the moment and in the near future. But if the town envisions itself to be an urban information economy in the next ten years, it needs to make this commercial area accessible to outside customers and thus eventually attract outside investors in commercial activity. When this occurs, it will then be desirable to make additional land increments in designated commercial area. Without easy accessibility, any expansion in commercial area would have less viability because of lack of customers or smallness of the Pateros customer market itself.

Make existing exportable products competitive
Traditional industries in Pateros include garments, alfombra, balut and other food and beverage products. The municipality can still offer room for more economic opportunities if it can attract outside investors, infused with innovations (e.g., better packaging, intensified promotion, more product differentiation, market research) and linkage to an economic network cluster like tourism-international trade. As the saying goes it is better to build on what is there than start from scratch. This will need strong partnership and coordination between the national government, local government, and the local industry associations.

Diversifying economy requires deliberate efforts
If Pateros would like to diversify its economy by creating new industries by attracting new investments from within and outside of the locality, it needs deliberate efforts to make Pateros attractive to capitalist and customers alike. This includes designating a specific area in the locality as an area for new industries with attendant zoning, adequate utilities, tax incentives, incubation measures, accessibility to market destinations, and proper security. The idea is to lower start-up and operating costs to attract would be investors.