Occidental Mindoro’s economic expansion from 2.1 percent to a nation-leading 11.2 percent demonstrates how infrastructure and basic services can reduce poverty and weaken insurgency, Representative Leody “Odie” Tarriela said on Friday.

The lawmaker for the province’s lone district stressed that bringing roads, electricity and livelihoods to previously isolated areas supports the government’s development-driven approach to lasting peace.

“Insurgency ends where the road begins,” Tarriela said, citing recent Philippine Statistics Authority economic data. “With improved power supply, investors came, bringing more jobs and opportunities. Poverty and hunger fell.”

Long hampered by severe power outages lasting up to 18 hours daily and active communist insurgencies, the province has seen infrastructure improvements and stabilized energy access.

Power disruptions have dropped substantially, and seven of its 11 municipalities were declared insurgency-free by 2024.

Tarriela cited Magsaysay as a key example, noting it became the first municipality in the country to finish a project under the fiscal year 2026 Local Government Support Fund–Support to the Barangay Development Program.