The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas inaugurated its new office building in Legazpi City yesterday, August 11, 2010. The BSP Legazpi building located along Rizal St. in Cabangan is the third branch constructed in the new genre of BSP buildings. BSP Legazpi branch services rural, thrift and commercial banks in the cities of Legazpi, Tabaco, Ligao and Sorsogon as well as the provinces of Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate and Catanduanes.

Albay is emerging as the economic hub in the region as it continuously leads and surpasses its internal revenue collection goal among the six Bicol provinces, the local Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) office said. The BIR report revealed that of the P2.4-billion tax collected for the first semester of this year, P901 million or 37 percent came from Albay, followed by Camarines Sur with P787 million; Camarines Norte – P257 million; Masbate – P197 million; Sorsogon – P180 million and Catanduanes with P103 million.

The city of Legazpi, strengthening its position as a haven for business and investments, was recently cited for honesty and transparency. Legazpi took home the Entrepreneurs’ Award for Most Honest and Transparent in its Dealings at the 2009 Philippine Cities Competitiveness Ranking Project (PCCRP) held last July 19, 2010 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. The city was also cited as one of the most competitive emergent cities in the Philippines.

Gov. Joey Salceda is pushing Legazpi and the neighboring town of Daraga to become Metro Albay, a grand project that will make the metropolis a corridor of massive development in the region even before the completion of Daraga International Airport in 2013. “The Metro Albay, which is the twin cities of Legazpi and Daraga, will be the new urban center and economic capital of Bicol in the countryside,” Salceda declared. “This is the biggest project in the Bicol region which will be set up here, wherein Albay is expected to be the booming borough under the Aquino administration,” he added.

The Regional Development Council (RDC) has officially endorsed the Albay’s Guinobatan-Camalig-Daraga-Legazpi (GUICADALE) platform project during the full council meeting held here, Wednesday. Albay governor and RDC chairman Joey Salceda explained that the project consists of circumferential road and new arterial roads cascading from the urban center of Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga, Legazpi City and Jovellar.

The Legazpi Domestic Airport is the 13th busiest airport in the Philippines in 2009 according to data on passenger traffic volume released by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP). For 2009, Legazpi Airport (IATA: LGP) registered 412,875 passenger traffic up from 282,431 in 2008 or equivalent to 46.2 increase. Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines increased their passenger traffic volume by 44.50% and 30% respectively. The entry of ZestAir also helped boost passenger arrivals.

Albay province leads in the production of metallic minerals while Camarines Norte in non-metallic minerals in Bicol for the year 2009 valued at P2,424,934,601.34 and P21,728,191.25, respectively, records at the Bicol Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) showed.In metallic production, Albay is followed by Masbate with P2,197,935,207.43 and Camarines Norte with P31,948,615.54.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) here is fast tracking the completion of its new office building along Rizal St. in Old Albay District to have a bigger Economic and Financial Learning Center (EFLC), an official of the agency reported. The new facility is expected to open this year.

The Center for Initiative Research for Climate Change Adaptation (CIRCA) in Albay calls on Albayanos to switch off their lights from 8:30 until 9:30 in the evening in response to the global observance of Earth Hour 2010 on March 27.

The Bicol International Airport project in Barangay Alobo in Daraga received an additional P23 million to complete its right-of-way acquisition which has so far attained close to a 75 percent mark of accomplishment. The amount is on top of the P82 million earlier released by Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) to compensate the land owners whose property the new airport will occupy.

A special environmental task force aptly named Guardians of Nature, and dedicated to the protection and enhancement of Albay’s healthful environment, was launched here recently. Chaired by Albay Gov. Joey S. Salceda, the Task Force includes as officers and members the top officers in Albay of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Army, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and all schools in the province led by the Bicol University.