Exponential growth, equitable progress: Lofty goals require hard work, great enthusiasm

Significant gaps in healthcare, infrastructure, education, and agriculture need to be addressed for the Philippines to attain upper middle-income status within the current administration’s term – and move ahead toward attaining the national vision of $11,000 income per capita. This was declared last week by Ayala Corporation chairman and CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala before members of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).

A review of the government’s 2024 budget priorities shows that the highest amounts have been allocated to education, infrastructure, and healthcare, in that order.

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerable areas of the healthcare system. Enhanced community quarantine measures – including frequent lockdowns especially in the big, metropolitan areas  – were resorted to in order to contain the large numbers of infected persons. The Marcos administration has prioritized the establishment of specialty centers in key regions so that citizen access to high quality critical health care may be assured.

The shift away from private-public partnerships in infrastructure projects slowed the initial momentum gained previously. It is timely that more such partnerships are now being promoted, if only to enable the country to level-up significantly from the modest $9.3 billion in foreign direct investments in the country, based on 2022 figures. Among leading ASEAN countries, Indonesia and Vietnam account for $22 billion and $18 billion, respectively, while Singapore is perched on the top spot with $141 billion.

As pointed out by the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd), there is a need to fast-track interventions that would enable young Filipino learners to close the five- to seven-year gap in reading, science, and mathematics proficiency that separates them from their peers. While the Department of Education (DepEd) has launched fresh initiatives, it is also hobbled by the lack of teacher training and the perennial classroom shortage. Meanwhile, it is determinedly pursuing the fine-tuning of the curriculum and teaching materials.

Agriculture has lagged significantly over the past years; the appointment of a new Department of Agriculture secretary who has achieved success in large-scale fishing has injected broad optimism. Farmers and fisherfolk need comprehensive support in terms of equipment and logistics. There is a need to promote farming as a vocation and livelihood, considering the current aging profile of Filipino farmers.

Indeed, so much needs to be done for the Philippine economy to grow at a scale and a pace that would elevate the quality of life of Filipinos as expressed in AmBisyon Natin: “By 2040, the Philippines will be a prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no one is poor, our people will live long and healthy lives, be smart and innovative, and will live in a high-trust society.”

For such a lofty goal to be achieved, a nation of dreamers must be spawned, empowered and mobilized.