Villafuerte is No. 1 in Bicol
Says RPMD Survey of top job performers in Congress
CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has topped the list of top legislators from Bicol in the 19th Congress with an “impressive” performance score of 89.6%, according to the latest quarterly opinion poll by the RPMD Foundation Inc.
Based on its “Boses ng Bayan” job performance assessment survey of members of the House of Representatives in the region, Villafuerte—who represents the province’s second district—was in the No. 1 spot as top-performing Bicolano congressperson based on the critical parameters of “district representation, legislative performance and quality of constituent service.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda (of the second district) is in a statistical tie at first place with Villafuerte, with a score of 89.5%.
RPMD said that Villafuerte and Salceda “are recognized as the top-performing representatives in the region.”
Two more CamSur representatives were on the “Top 5” list, namely, Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata (first district) at No. 4 with a score of 85.4%; and Miguel Luis Villafuerte (fifth district) at No. 5, with a score of 84.2%.
Based on the RPMD survey, Sorsogon Rep. Maria Bernadette Escudero came in No. 2, with a score of 88.3%; and Albay Reps. Fernando Cabredo (third district) and Edcel Lagman (first district) were tied at No. 3, with respective scores of 87.1% and 86.9%.
Villafuerte, who was a three-term CamSur governor before he was first elected to the House in 2016, “leads with an impressive 89.6% performance score,” according to the RPMD in a post on its FaceBook page about this job performance assessment poll.
It said the evaluation of the Bicolano legislators were “based on three critical parameters—district representation, legislative performance, and quality of constituent service.”
In the FB post, Dr. Paul Martinez—the executive director and global affairs analyst RPMD—underscored the significant role voters and political analysts played in the “Boses ng Bayan” job performance survey.
“He (Martinez) highlighted the importance of these quarterly evaluations of House members in promoting transparency and accountability, offering real-time insights into their performance in district representation, legislative efforts, and constituent services,” RPMD said.
“These assessments not only spotlight areas for growth but also ensure that elected officials remain aligned with the priorities of their constituents. By empowering voters with up-to-date information on their Representatives’ work, the surveys enable more informed decisions during elections,” it added.
Martinez congratulated the solons from Bicol who excelled in the latest RPMD survey, and “commended their dedication to serving their constituents and urged them to strive for excellence.”
The RPMD said its “Boses ng Bayan” survey was part of its broader nationwide second-quarter study, which surveyed 10,000 respondents.
With a margin of error of ±1% and a confidence level of 95%, the survey provides a reliable snapshot of public sentiment within each district, it said.
Villafuerte is in his third and final term as lawmaker and has filed his candidacy for governor in CamSur.
When he was still governor over the 2004-2013 period, the provincial government embarked on a mission to develop CamSur’s tourism industry, and by 2010, the province emerged—according to the Department of Tourism (DOT)—as the number one province in tourist arrivals in the country, surpassing traditional frontrunners Metro Manila and Cebu.
Villafuerte, as governor, had managed to transform CamSur into the Philippines’ top tourist destination by promoting the Caramoan Islands as an adventure destination and the CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC) as one of the world’s best wake parks.
The CWC was the site of world-renowned sports events such as the Ironman Triathlon, which was held there for three consecutive years.
Caramoan Island, meanwhile, has grown popular abroad as a “green” destination, having been the location of the various versions of the international reality TV hit “Survivor” for 15 years running, thereby boosting the local economy and providing jobs to thousands of CamSur folk.
Also, on Villafuerte’s watch as three-term governor, CamSur—according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS)—became the country’s 12th biggest rice producer in 2008 and a higher No. 8 in 2011.
CamSur went up to No. 4 rice producer in 2016.
At the House, Villafuerte had pursued advocacies on national concerns as well as initiatives meant to boost the local economy in CamSur and the rest of the Bicol region.
Villafuerte had authored, among others, House Bill (HB) 3681 that seeks to create the CamSur Free Trade Zone, which, he said, will energize the Bicol region and help President Marcos meet his vital goal of creating a Philippine environment much more conducive to generating investments and creating quality jobs, especially in the countryside.
HB 3681 seeks the establishment of an SEZ at the Provincial Capitol Complex in Pili and in Milaor, to “not only boost the region’s growth and development, but to likewise encourage Bicolanos to stay put in their respective homeprovinces instead of flocking to Metro Manila,” he said.
This will help ease urban migration and congestion, he said, “thereby helping the national government attain its twin goals of decongesting Metro Manila and stimulating rapid growth in the countryside.”
Villafuerte pointed out that CamSur has been recognized as the country’s most business-friendly province for three consecutive years, and is considered one of its top economic performers—thus promising to be the “center of development” in Bicol once an SEZ is put up there.
At last year’s public hearing of the House ways and means committee chaired by Salceda, Villafuerte stressed that the proposed SEZ site has all that it takes to become a major investment hub, given that its ideal features meet the PEZA standards for ecozones, including existing infrastructure in broadband connectivity, road network, water supply facilities, standby electricity supply and available workforce.
The proposed SEZ is also strategically located, he said. “Economic growth is rapidly developing outside Metro Manila and moving towards the South. As CamSur is at the Southern tip of Luzon, the proposed CamSur Free Trade Zone would logically be the next economic center of the country.”
This is because, he said, “a majority of our ecozones that are successful are located within Calabarzon. So, the natural direction and growth of ecozone is further South—and that is Bicol.”