Nation-building in an archipelago: An area management perspective

I read Mr. Michael Ubac’s recent column, “The unfinished work of nation-building,” with great resonance. His reflection on our archipelagic reality—integrating 7,641 islands with diverse subgroups into one cohesive society—highlights the persistent challenge of geographical fragmentation.

When he pointed out that the foundational sins of greed, elite dominance, and resource exploitation continue to stall national progress, it struck a deep chord. The traditional, hyper-centralized approach to governance and economics has failed to address this reality. To finish nation-building begun by Jose Rizal and our martyrs, we must shift from purely top-down state mechanics to areaism—the lens of area management and area economics.

The late Filipino economist Dr. Sixto K. Roxas proposed viewing the concrete geographic community and its local ecosystem as the primary unit of development, rather than treating it a region as a passive site for resource extraction. This framework aligns with the principles of consensual governance and collective intelligence championed by Elinor Ostrom, whose Nobel Prize-winning work proved that local communities can manage their shared resources with equity and justice.

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By organizing the archipelago around self-sustaining ecological and economic boundaries (area management) rather than arbitrary political subdivisions, we can address the exact bottlenecks he raised: national direction. Bridge the archipelagic divide: Turn geographical separation from a developmental barrier into an asset by enabling contiguous regions to leverage local collective intelligence.

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Foster consensual governance: Shift from elite-driven, divisive politics to a collaborative model where household clusters and communities share genuine stakes in managing their ecosystems.

Heal environmental and social injustices: Treat the environment not as a zero-value externality to exploit, but as the foundational home of the community asset base, reversing the structural abuses noted in the article.

True nation-building in an archipelago cannot wait for a centralized apparatus to fix itself. It must be woven from the ground up—community by community, area by area.

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Thank you for continuing to provoke such vital discourse on our national direction. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how area economics and consensual governance can offer a concrete blueprint for the “unfinished work” Mr. Ubac so eloquently described.

Philip G. Camara, Founder, Institute of Area Management a division of St. Augustine Sambali Fund, Inc. Iba, Zambales, Philippines

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