In 1968, a United Nations team studying the Bicol region concluded that it was a "partly stable and partly downward transitional area". Indeed at that time, the region's per capita Net Domestic Product was the lowest in the country; Bicol's share of both total value-added and total employment in large manufacturing establishments was the lowest of all regions. Its annual rate of population growth indicated a sizeable percentage of population out-migration, plus half a dozen other major "symptoms" of an economically depressed area.
To reverse this "downward transitional" trend, the Bicol River Basin Development Program (BRBDP) was initiated. In February 1973 a Bicol River Basin Council was established under Executive Order 412. In 1974, a six-year project was outlined to develop institutional capabilities and initiate the implementation of capital development programs. An evaluation of the Program, conducted jointly by the GOP (Government of the Philippines) and the USAID, in June 1975 indicated the institutional development process to be well underway. On April 28, 1976, President Marcos signed Presidential Decree 926 mandating the BRBDP to accelerate the planning and facilitate inter-agency implementation of and to monitor an "integrated multi-project area development program" in the Bicol region.
Using an integrated area development (lAD) approach, the BRBDP was to increase per capita income, achieve an equitable distribution of wealth and attain self-sufficiency in food in order to improve the quality of life of the people in the area.