The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) registered the highest population growth rate among the country’s 17 regions, according to the latest census, and the government attributes this to evacuees who are returning because of “better economic opportunities and [a] relatively peaceful situation.”

Results of the 2007 National Census showed that the ARMM registered the highest annual growth rate of 5.46 percent among the regions. This is more than two times the national annual growth rate of 2.04 percent.

Tomas Osias, executive director of the Commission on Population (POPCOM), said that the high annual population growth rate in ARMM pushed the national growth rate to 2.04 percent.

“If ARMM’s growth is not that high, the national annual population growth rate could have reached 1. 9 percent only,” Osias told Newsbreak.

Population in the ARMM increased by 1.3 million during the last seven years—from 2.803 million in May 2000 to 4.12 million in August 1, 2007. ARMM is composed of six provinces: Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Shariff Kabunsuan, and Basilan (excluding Isabela City) and Marawi City. It has been a hotbed of Muslim secessionist movements.

Returnees and deportees

Commando Pilimpinas, National Statistics Office Regional Director for ARMM, told Newsbreak that in-migration and the return of evacuees, who had left the region to avoid armed conflicts between the government troops and the Muslim rebels, triggered the high population growth in the region.

“Thousand and thousands of those who left the region during the past decades return to ARMM because of better economic opportunities and [a] relatively peaceful situation,” Pilimpinas said.

The increase in the number of returnees, Pilimpinas said, started during the time of ARMM Regional Governor Parouk Hussin, from 2001 to 2005. He said that Malaysia’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, particularly in Sabah, also contributed to the increase in population because “most deportees return to ARMM.”

ARMM is among the five regions whose annual population growth rate is higher than the national growth rate. Other regions that posted rates higher than the national figure are CALABARZON (3.21 percent), SOCCSKSARGEN (2.41 percent), Central Luzon (2.36 percent) and National Capital Region (2.11 percent).

Low registration rate

Pilimpinas, who conducted a research on civil registration in ARMM as part of his thesis, said that natural increase in population could not be solely blamed for the high population growth.

He said it is hard to determine the actual number of inhabitants in the region because of the high level of under-registration. Pilimpinas estimates that the level of birth registration in the region stands at 23 percent only.

Pilimpinas said the data collection in the region had improved compared to the last census in 2000, when census enumerators had a hard time collecting data because of the Estrada administration’s all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“The government offensive started before the census so some enumerators had to collect data at the evacuation centers,” Pilimpinas said.

Poorest region, too

Aside from posting the highest annual population growth rate, ARMM also topped the list of poorest regions in 2006. (Click here to read “Muslim Mindanao regains top spot in the poorest regions list”)

More than half of the families in the region are classified as poor; poverty incidence among the families in the region reached 55.3 percent.

Three of the ARMM provinces—Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, and Lanao del Sur—were also among the 10 poorest provinces in the Philippines. (Click here to see the “Top Ten Poorest Provinces in the Philippines (2006)”) 

Meanwhile, four ARMM provinces—Sulu, Maguindanao, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan—landed on the top four spots of the 2003 Human Development Index Report of the United Nations Development Programme. (Click here to view the “Top Ten Provinces With Lowest HDI (2003)”)

This story is part of Newsbreak’s Online Reporting on Mindanao, a project supported by the Australian Embassy.

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