He aired his optimism about the future of the province as his office continued to receive proposals for investments from local and foreign investors.

The governor said that some of the investment proposals submitted to his office are now being studied by a trade and investment team, composed of highly respected traders and legal minds of the province.

"I feel that in a few years from now, this province will take off and will be ready to compete with the other provinces in socio-economic development," the governor said.

He admitted, however, that it is not easy to develop the province, noting that at present, it is one of the poorest provinces in the country.

The governor cited the on-going expansion of the sea port at Pulauan, Dapitan City as one of the signs of bright economic prospects for the province.

He said that the port is now servicing every day nine RO-RO vessels which dock in key cities and provinces in the Visayas and Luzon.

This is one of the reasons the traders are now starting to look into the viability of the province as an investment area, he also said.

"The efficient services at the sea port of Pulauan led some of traders in the country to consider establishing a trading center here. And as you know, we have the Provincial Investment Area (PIA) in Roxas town, the governor told reporters.

He said that recently, the province approved a proposal of Home Ventures Inc. (HVI) to invest an additional R20 million in the expansion of its mango fruit-buying capability in the province.

The new capital will be use for the building of an additional warehouse, mango-buying stations, and hiring of additional workers, he said.