Barriers to Development of Selected Municipalities of Sulu Province

This study was conducted to determine the barrier to the development of selected municipalities of Sulu province. It aimed to find out the Suluanos’ concept of development in terms of political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and ecological aspects, including how these perceived barriers affect the development of Sulu. This research utilized the descriptive method where the Quantitative aspect gathered the data from 400 adults of ten big municipalities using a checklist questionnaire. The respondents were selected through systematic sampling. For the qualitative part, the collected data were from 90 participants through focus group discussions. The statistical tools used were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and group means. The finding revealed that the Suluanos’ concept of development upheld the development policies which are participatory, equitable, appropriateness, concertizing, and environment friendly and the corresponding functions of development such as the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and ecological aspects. Of the five development functions, the economic aspect (2.95) was the main barrier to development. It is followed by the technological aspect (2.91), the political (2.79), and ecological (2.42) as the fourth rank. On the other hand, the socio-cultural part (2.21) was the least encountered barrier. The perceived barriers that affected the development of Sulu were related to lack of high ethical standards, transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and lack of respect for and commitment to social justice, human rights, environmental life protection, and people's empowerment. Based on the data gathered, the findings made the researcher conclude that the political, economic, technological, socio-cultural, and ecological aspects in Sulu were considered barriers to development. They were not within the bounds of good governance. Bureaucracy was weak due to the leaders' personalities, who were neither transactional nor transformational. At the same time, they were not within the context of the alternative model of development. To minimize if not eliminate the barriers to development, the government's efforts should be geared towards accountability to improve the quality of governance and dispensation of justice. Further studies are recommended to determine other predictors that can similarly evaluate the development conditions of Sulu Province.


Raja Baginda established the Sulu Central
Government in 1390 at Busa, one of the progressive settlements of the time. It served as the seat of Sultanate founded by Sayid Abubakar, the Paduka Mahasari Al Shariful Hashim in 1460 (Cabel, 1993). Trade with the Chinese junks was extensive until the Spanish achieved naval superiority after 1840.
Several official trading missions were sent to the Celestial Throne in the 15 th and the 18thy centuries.
Sulu had trade links with the neighboring states of Sabah, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia.
Islam also spread through these routes. The missionaries boarded the merchant vessels to reach the southern parts of the Philippines. Sulu also had a prominent and influential form of government known as the Sultanate of Sulu.
The pollical, economic, and social situations in the areas were severely affected by the coming of the colonizers, the Spaniards, and the Americans (Esmula, 1997). The Sultanate began to decline during the Spanish colonial period, and it suffered heavy setbacks due to inferior arms and the Divide and Rule policies adopted by the foreign aggressors. Bruno (1973) pointed out that the Tausug men were predominantly farmers, fishermen, and traders.
The rich soil and mild climate and favorable location of the island where the Tausugs lived, and evenly distributed rainfall allowed the farmers to raise a variety of crops, thus enabling them to make farming a rewarding means of livelihood. The natural love of Tausugs for the sea and of adventures had extended trade to parts of neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia, which trade, even centuries ago, was a profitable enterprise.
According to Cabel (1988), Sulu Sea-borne activities such as trade and commerce, international politics, diplomacy, and defense against imperialism have earned a niche in the history of a great nation.
Viewed from any angle, it stands out as a reminder of glorious and steadfast resistance against all forms of oppression.
Tausugs had proven their industry and resourcefulness in making Sulu the axis of the hub of the growing international trade that was sweeping Europe and China (Capital Gazette: Vol. 1, No. 1: 11/2000).
Before the creation of the province of Tawi Sulu has a total area of 160,040 hectares and a population of 619,668 (National Statistics, 2000). Its climate is moderate and is outside the typhoon belt.
Presently, Sulu is different from before, and the real essence of the governance deviates from that was founded in 1390. It has been about six decades now that Sulu is still beset by various problems like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and innumerable crimes. The difference can be observed in the current political, cultural, economic status of Sulu.
Historically, Sulu was one of the most progressive and developed in the South; however, recent facts and statistics show that Sulu is one of the poorest provinces in the country (Statistic 2000).
With the mention situation, the study seeks to identify, describe, and analyze the barrier to the development of the selected municipalities of the province of Sulu in terms of political, economic, sociocultural, technological, and ecological.

Literature Review
Several literature and studies have a direct and indirect relationship with the topic investigated, and they provided keen insights into the nature of the subject under investigation.

Clarifying the development situations
As a consequence of man's awareness, the structure of society is being formed, including the political, economic, and socio-cultural aspects, to improve the living conditions in the community.
Boutros-Ghali (1994) described the formulation of society's structure related to the development dimension as the essential measured direction of development that functions together in an interlocking and mutually reinforcing way in the context of peace, economy, environment, society, and democracy.
"The experience of Singapore, Fajardo (1990), indicated that the development of the private sector will not come out of its own but will have to be promoted and supported by the State through macro and micro-economic policies." Korten (1990) synthesized the definition of development from numerous dialogues as the process by which the members of society increased their personal and institutional capacities to mobilize and manage resources to produce sustainable and justly distributed improvements in their quality of life consistent with their aspiration.
The Holy Qur'an revealed that: "God will not change the condition of the community unless the people in the community change their conditions."

Political situation
The issue centers on the position of individuals and groups holding power and authority. According to Best et al. (1986), authority is the legitimate exercise of power emanating from the position.
People who possess power will obtain wealth, and those who have wealth will acquire power. In this respect, Maciver commented, as the consequence of 'power as the source of wealth and wealth as a source of power, the society has to face the effect such as political instability, chaos, and undisciplined people.
With this development cannot be reached.
Politicians today are greedy for power and wealth.
They are vying for posts in the government, exhausting all their efforts and resources to grab them and hold on to them. Public life is purely for the pursuit of profit and power.

Technological situation
The development and growth of industry play an essential part in the economic prosperity of the country. And no country can permanently maintain its wealth without industrial progress (Afzal-urrahman, 1980). To Hank's belief, Smith (1989) pointed out that the invention of better machines and equipment increased productivity.
Lack of skills, capability, and experiences to manage their affairs is a hindrance to development.
An indication that the Sulu is base on the agricultural economy. Aquino (1994) observed that Suluanos still practice traditional agriculture. It is a sign that technological advances are still not accessible to the people. The stumbling block to increased production is the farmer's indifference to modern methods (Sarahadil).

Ecological situation
The World Bank Report (1992)

Study design
Deals with a brief description of the procedures involved in carrying out this research work. This research study used a descriptive research design to determine the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and ecological barriers to development.
It employed qualitative and quantitative research approaches. The quantitative data were from the checklist questionnaire, while gathered qualitative data from the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informants (KI).

Respondents
The study was composed of ten big municipalities of Sulu Province, which have a total population of 488,815.

Sampling design
The sample size for the random selection of respondents base on Slovin's formula (1960) Table 1 shows the proportionate distributions of samples. and, for five head coins, the starting point was from the center to any direction. For the municipality of Jolo, all barangays were proportionately represented based on the number of populations.

Demographic profile of respondents
The gender of the respondents indicated that 65% (260) were male while 35% (140)  to 20,999.00. The data disclosed on the occupation of the respondents, 65% were government employees, 18% were in fishing, 15% were in farming, 5% were in business, and 2% were private employees.
Regarding the number of Years in Service/Job, the mean year in service or business was 12 years. The lowest was one (1) year, and the highest was 35 years.

Profile of the selected municipalities
The profile of the selected municipalities (Provincial Information Office, 2000) is shown in Table 2 and described below.

Conditions of focus group discussion
A focus group discussion (FGD) interview (query) with at least six to ten participants. It is conducted simultaneously with a moderator leading the discussion of a specific topic. It is open and Flexible.
It allows intensive exploration of opinion, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors not possible through the quantitative method (Sarihani, 2000).

FGD participants
The FGD participants were selected based on the following: the expected respondents have the information sought; Issues were within the respondents' experiences, and the respondents would provide the information.
The barangay officials and other local leaders supplied the prospective respondents who accepted the invitation and attended focus group discussions.

Research instruments
The FGD was composed of four items. The

Validity of instrument
The three professors of the Mindanao State University-Sulu validated the submitted instrument.
Requesting them to pass judgment by rating each item using a three-point scale: 1 -was poor, 2 -was good, and 3 -was excellent. The analyzed rating was through an analysis of variance. Results (CV was .061 and TV was 3.00) showed no significant difference in the rater's rating who generally rated the items as good.
Before collecting data, the questionnaires were pre-tested among the residence of Panglima Tahil

Statistical treatment of data
The statistical tools utilized in the analysis and interpretation of data were as follows: (1) frequency and percentage to describe and compare magnitude.
(2) weighted average (mean) to analyze the assigned points in the Likert Scales.
(3) score to convey the distance from the mean, and (4) ranks to describe the positional importance of the item with other items.
The data was acquired through the questionnaire and tabulated correctly and analyzed-the concept of development utilized frequency count and percentage Interpreting range interval of 1-2.5 as Agree and 2.5

Results
The perceived barrier to development The focus group discussion (FGD) participants felt that Sulu was going backward. They mainly mentioned that political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, and ecological aspects affected the development of Sulu.

Political aspect
The political factors reexamined in this research were governance, leadership, and peace and order.
The governance includes the bureaucracy, public accountability, and administration of social justice.
Establishing the bureaucracy to attain specific goals. The goals centered on six statements stated in   Category: Below 2.5 -Agree; Above 2.5 -Disagree

Economic aspect
The economic aspect examines through the accessibility of capital and the basic needs and infrastructures. Basic Services refers to two essential services such as clean water and electric power. Table 5C shows the average responses on basic needs, which fell under the category of disagreeing, where the average mean score of 2.92 and standard deviation of 1.00. It indicated the respondents perceived that 453 clear water and electric power were inadequate for every community. Category: Below 2.5 -Agree; Above 2.5 -Disagree

Socio-cultural aspect
The socio-cultural aspect expresses in terms of attitude, mentality, and literacy. Attitude showed in

2.34
.80 The educational curriculum orients toward a white-collar job. 2.06 .51 Education does change the values of Tausugs from adat-centric to secularcentric.

2.34
.49 Education does change the value of Tausugs from close family ties to individualism.

.64
Educational standard in Sulu is a problem.  Modern methods of coffee processing are available in Sulu.

Ecological aspect
The ecological aspect examines in terms of coastal management and forest protection. As shown in Table   8A, the average mean score and standard deviation on coastal management were 2.91 and .75,

Perceived barriers of development of Sulu (political aspect)
Among the political factors reexamined in this research were governance, leadership, and peace and order. The governance includes the bureaucracy, public accountability, and administration of social justice.
"Politics refers to the operation of the government." The key instrument in attaining the objective of development is the State Institution that will be at the disposal of the leadership; the executivelegislative and judicial branches whose structure, human resources expertise, and logistics should be utilized wisely for the collective endeavor (Constantino et al., 1991: 22-23). Marcos (1981) cited the definition of social justice by Chief Justice Laurel: "It means the promotion of the welfare of the people, through the maintenance of proper economic and social equilibrium in the inter-relations of the community members." Table 3 implies that there was no generation of good governance. An indication was that the administrative policy was pro-rich, and the centralization of finances caused Red Tapes Espiritu (1990) cited that the officials handling requests may pass them on to the next in authority, make time before acting on them, or delay the action by requiring a lot of information or more paperwork.
According to Eliasi (1994), real peace and order depend mainly on the sense of security developed by firm justice administration, guided by time evidence.  The bureaucratic position was an indicator of one's personal achievement and not something that implied a more significant challenge to one's dedication and abilities.
The notion that public office was the public trust replaced the self-serving idea that public office was the source of wealth and wealth was a source of power. Thus, money became the way to political office, and political office became more money. As a consequence of 'power as a source of wealth and wealth as a source of power,' Sulu had to face the effects such as political immaturity, chaos, and undisciplined people.
Sulu had not produced a leader as a protector and defender of freedom who was just committed to the well-being of his people. It had shown that elected leaders usually served those interest groups to which they owed loyalty and those groups had enough political power in the community. Blood relationships still prevailed over reasons.
Peace and order were detrimental to development-military approaches to resolve conflicts provided adverse effects on the residents' social and economic well-being.
On the economic aspect, the concern for people and how best to provide them with materials means to help them realize their full potential were not the government's priority. The stringent requirements of the government banks were the manifestation that the government was not concerned about granting financial assistance to small business units and poor people of the community. Essential services, like portable water and electricity, were inadequate and inaccessible to the community.
Lack of capital and investors, low access to credit, market, and technology, and the lack of access to essential social and economic services were obstacles to development.

Acknowledgement
This research work is motivated by the situation that affects the development of Sulu. With deep appreciation, the researchers are grateful to those who, in one way or another, had led them in the right direction and full realization to finish the work. They sincerely expresses their thanks and profound gratitude to all of them.