President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday approved the adoption of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) for the period 2023-2028, which sets the Philippines roadmap for economic recovery and towards becoming an upper middle income country by the year 2025.
At the launch of the PDP yesterday, heads of government agencies presented programs that would achieve the economic goals of the plan.
The President, on January 27, signed Executive Order No. 14, that adopted the second medium-term plan anchored on “AmBisyon Natin 2040” which aims to “bring back the country to a high-growth trajectory and more importantly, enable economic and social transformation for a prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society.”
AmBisyon Natin 2040 was launched under the Duterte administration and serves as a guide for development planning from 2016-2040 to enable Filipinos to attain a “matatag, maginhawa at panatag na buhay.”
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board, on Dec. 16, 2022, approved PDP 2023-2028 which is anchored on President’s 8-Point Socioeconomic Agenda that aims to “reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction while addressing the issues brought by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Under EO No. 14, all national government agencies, government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs), government financial institutions (GFIs), other national government offices and instrumentalities, government corporate entities (GCEs), state universities and colleges (SUCs), and local government units (LGUs) are directed to adopt and disseminate the PDP 2023-2028. They are also directed to align their budgetary and department/corporate programs with the strategies and activities identified in the PDP 2023-2028.
Bold plans
The PDP includes bold plans that aim to reinvigorate job creation and accelerate poverty reduction in the country which will be possible through the joint efforts of the government and the private sector.
NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said stakeholder ownership is necessary to ensure the success of the PDP such that efforts remain “aligned and united toward achieving shared aspirations.”
“While the pandemic exposed the frailties and weaknesses within our system in the past few years, we were able to draw from those lessons and can now move forward with a better sense of what our priorities and urgent needs are. Last week, we happily reported that the full-year growth of our gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022 was at 7.6 percent, exceeding forecasts and the official target of 6.5 percnt to 7.5 percnt,” Balisacan said.
“The trajectory of our post-pandemic recovery is undoubtedly promising. Still, we cannot rest easy, knowing that we have much work ahead of us as we strive to sustain and improve our performance,” he added.
Digitalization
The President said the government is also set to go full blast on its digitalization programs which aim to build better data systems that will create better government programs.
He said Pilipinas GoDigital Movement, which will be launched soon, advocates digitalization initiatives and nationwide digital upskilling of marginalized Filipinos in collaboration with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and the Inter-Agency Council on Philippine Digital Workforce.
Ivan Uy, secretary of the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) said it will continue to connect to digital the marginalized sector in the country after it had activated about 4,000 sites all over the country.
“Once we connect them (the marginalized sector, they) tbecome part of the economy… many of these are unbanked…about 50 percent of the population of the Philippines is unbanked so by connecting them and providing that digital connectivity to them, we are able to eventually provides digital payments and digital banking services,” Uy said.
DICT is expected to complete the construction of the first phase of the National Broadband Plan this year.
The first phase of NBP involves the rollout of a fiber backbone network from Laoag to Quezon City through accessing of dark fiber provided by the National Grid Corp of the Philippines which will improve broadband capacity to 2 terabits per second.
The NBP Phase 1, also involves activating 28 nodes of the national fiber backbone located in 12 provinces in Luzon.
President Marcos also said connectivity among the islands and with the rest of the world is also important as it enhances and facilitates greater movement of goods and people to keep the economy thriving.
Connectivity
Secretary Manuel Bonoan of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said the agency will continue the construction of major expressway projects to address traffic congestion and improve connectivity.
Bonoan said the key strategic infrastructure program of the DPWH is in line with the PDP and consistent with the President’s eight-point economic agenda which is to reduce transport and logistic costs and ensure food security in the country.
Bonoan said the DPWH targets to increase the country’s High Standard Highways / Expressway from 510 kilometers (kms) to 1,816 kms based on the Master Plan on High Standard Highway (HSH) Network Development, Phases I and II.
DPWH will continue to implement the Luzon Spine Expressway Network ( program. It involves the construction of 1,213 kilometers of Expressways/High Standard Highways in Luzon. Once these projects are completed, the travel time from Ilocos to Bicol will be reduced from 20 hours to 9 hours.
This is in line with the current administration’s major thrust, which is to Build Better program. Part of the medium-term fiscal framework is spending 5 to 6 percent of the GDP on infrastructure.
Price cap
Secretary Raphael Lotilla of the Department of Energy (DOE) said the implementation of the secondary price cap is among the policies that must be revisited in order to renew the private sector’s interest to invest in additional power plant capacities.
The secondary price cap is being implemented to protect consumers from sustained high power rates with the wholesale electricity spot market’s inherent volatile market movements and lowers the clearing price of electricity to P6.245 per kilowatt hour (kWh) when average prices breach the threshold of P9 per kWh over a 72-hour period.
Lotilla added local government units’ full cooperation is also needed as some localities block the progress of projects meant to improve the country’s power lines.
The DOE said crucial are diversification of power sources including the exploration of more indigenous fuel as well as tapping of unconventional technologies including nuclear energy.
“The tragedy of the past is we tend to ban technologies. Now we want to open up but make sure they live up to the standards. It is the government that sets the policies but it is the private sector that drives investments,” Lotilla added.
Fighting chance
Secretary Christina Frasco of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said the agency has lined up seven programs that would give the Philippines the fighting chance to reclaim pre-pandemic position and transforming the country into a tourism powerhouse.
Frasco identified some of these programs, mostly addressing infrastructure, as accessibility in terms of connectivity in transport and in telecommunication in 94 key destinations, digitalization, establishment of tourist rest areas, aggressive promotional campaign including the launch during the quarter of a new tagline, among others.
Industry 4.0
Secretary Alfredo Pascual of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for his part said his agency will focus on job creation through an industrialization strategy using science, technology and innovation.
Pascual said a major thrust of this strategy is to help industries including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) into embracing Industry 4.0 technologies of Industrial Revolution while upgrading and reselling workers to be ready for the next-generation of jobs.
DTI is organizing now artificial research and development centers for MSMEs and an Industry 4.0 pilot factory to support the segment.
Marcos said the government also aims to pursue “servicification” as a strategy and foster dynamic innovation ecosystems that will attract more investments and generate more jobs.
“We will continue to strengthen the cooperation between local and national governments as well as further boost the partnership between government and the private sector,” the President said as he asked everybody to employ a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to effectively implement the PDP. (Ruelle Castro, Myla Iglesias, Jed Macapagal and Irma Isip
