DILG proposes unified Region 4 with Quezon-Marinduque-Romblon cluster

By Nimfa L. Estrellado-Laurino Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla discusses the proposed Region 4 ...

By Nimfa L. Estrellado-Laurino

Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla discusses the proposed Region 4 restructuring during a Senate budget hearing. (PNA)

LUCENA CITY, Quezon - More than two decades after Southern Tagalog was split into CALABARZON and MIMAROPA, the Department of the Interior and Local Government is proposing to bring the two regions back under a single Region 4 with several command centers. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla unveiled the proposed restructuring during the Senate Finance Subcommittee J hearing on the DILG’s proposed 2027 budget on September 10.

Quezon would be grouped with Marinduque and Romblon under one proposed command center, placing it in a cluster separate from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Rizal, its current partners in CALABARZON. The DILG has not announced where the Quezon-Marinduque-Romblon command center would be located, while Quezon remains part of Region IV-A under the existing structure.

The proposal would reorganize national government operations across the 10 provinces now divided between CALABARZON and MIMAROPA rather than simply transfer individual provinces from one existing region to another. Remulla said the DILG wants the command centers arranged according to location and accessibility so agencies can respond more directly within their assigned areas.

The issue emerged after Sen. Erwin Tulfo raised the difficulty faced by the Philippine National Police regional leadership in traveling among MIMAROPA’s widely separated island provinces. Tulfo cited travel between Mindoro and Palawan, where officials may have to pass through Manila instead of moving directly between provinces within the same region.

PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. told the committee that transportation requirements are among the matters considered in the police procurement program. He said vehicles and watercraft, including the corresponding maintenance requirements, form part of those procurement considerations.

Remulla said the problem extends to the location of regional government offices serving MIMAROPA, many of which are not based in Calapan City despite its designation as the regional center. The DILG Region IV-B office operates from Quezon City, while Remulla told senators that the PNP is among the government agencies actually based in Calapan.

Remulla described the existing Region IV-B arrangement as difficult for regional officials whose responsibilities cover provinces separated by large stretches of sea. He told the committee that the DILG prefers structural reorganization rather than relying solely on additional transportation for government officials.

“If it were part of our wish list, we would like to reform the concept of Region 4B and revise the entire system as it is,” Remulla said. “As of now, sir, it’s almost impossible to be regional director of any agency to be in 4B, and no one is in Calapan except for the PNP,” he added.

Under the configuration discussed during the hearing, the proposed Region 4 would be divided into four command-center groupings. Cavite would be paired with Palawan, Batangas with Mindoro, Laguna with Rizal, and Quezon with Marinduque and Romblon.

The present regional boundaries date to Executive Order No. 103 issued on May 17, 2002, which divided the former Region IV into Region IV-A and Region IV-B and transferred Aurora to Central Luzon. The order placed Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon and Rizal under CALABARZON, while Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan and Romblon formed MIMAROPA.

Calamba City was designated as the regional center of CALABARZON through Executive Order No. 246 in 2003, while Calapan City was designated as the MIMAROPA regional center through Executive Order No. 682 in 2007. The 2007 order directed Region IV-B offices to establish satellite offices in Calapan within six months and complete their transfer within 18 months.

MIMAROPA later gained a separate statutory basis through Republic Act No. 10879, or the MIMAROPA Act, approved on July 17, 2016. The law formally established the Southwestern Tagalog Region composed of Marinduque, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan and Romblon, together with Calapan City and Puerto Princesa City.

No bill or final implementing framework for the proposed unified Region 4 has yet been publicly presented as part of Remulla’s announcement. Remulla told senators that the DILG intends to submit the proposed reorganization to the Senate and seek legislative support for the plan.

“What we propose is that we bring it back to Region 4, into one region, but divide it into different command centers,” Remulla said. “In that way, sir, the government functions will be more rationalized,” he added.

The Philippine Statistics Authority valued CALABARZON’s economy at ₱3.44 trillion in 2025, when the region accounted for 14.8 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and remained the Philippines’ only predominantly industrial region. MIMAROPA’s economy was valued at ₱447.47 billion in the same year, with services accounting for 52.2 percent of its regional output and agriculture, forestry and fishing contributing 17.2 percent.

References circulating to the proposed Quezon-Marinduque-Romblon grouping as “QUEMARO” have not been established as an official government designation for the proposed command center. Remulla used the provincial groupings during the Senate discussion but did not announce QUEMARO as the formal name of the Quezon, Marinduque and Romblon cluster.

Quezon remains part of CALABARZON, while Marinduque and Romblon remain under MIMAROPA as the DILG prepares its proposed restructuring for further government consideration. The department has not announced an implementation date, command-center locations, agency transfers, budget arrangements or transition rules for the proposed unified Region 4.