As the country prepares for the assumption of a new president by the end of June, the new administration faces several challenges ahead — from post-COVID-19 economic recovery, international relations amid the changing geopolitical landscape, and even the effects of climate change.
Recognizing the complexity of addressing these concerns, the Stratbase ADR Institute, a Philippines-based international research institute published its book, “Beyond the Crisis: A Strategic Agenda for the Next President”. The book provides policy recommendations written by 16 scholars which takes into consideration the lessons learned from previous administration to highlight points of action and intervention that the new government may opt to take in order to address current issues and to prepare for potential, future threats.
Stratbase ADR Institute president Prof. Victor Andres Manhit authored a paper tackling the possible actions for foreign relations. He noted that the country needs to implement a clear, cohesive and consistent foreign policy direction prioritizing the country’s national interests. This can be done by strengthening the country’s role in international politics and its inherent state power by developing its military, economic, scientific, and cultural capabilities and strengthening alliances and strategic partnerships.
This goes in line with Dr. Renato Cruz De Castro’s paper on national security. Dr. De Castro said that a new National Security Strategy must be formulated based on the 2016 Arbitral Ruling, as the ruling legitimacy has been accepted by the international community. The paper also calls for the continued efforts to the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program and increase the Philippine defense budget to implement these reforms.
Meanwhile, Dr. Toby Monsod tackled how the Philippines can improve on its fight against climate change. Her paper called for a shift away from a greenhouse gas inventory-centric approach towards a climate change adaptation and resilience-anchored and sustainable development-contextualized approach for power and energy, transportation, among others.
Dr. Carlos Primo David had some recommendations on improving the Philippine agriculture sector by establishing food production areas. These included promoting crop overproduction and food processing with a guaranteed purchase agreement with the private sector and/or government, and encouraging the creation of social enterprise farms which will be the main training ground for our next generation of farmers.
Dr. Francisco Magno tackled the challenges in governance such as inefficiency and corruption. In his paper, he recommended building a comprehensive approach on corruption prevention which includes institutional capacity building and higher transparency and accountability in integrity development programs for all levels of the career service. He also called for identifying areas of convergence for different levels of government in development planning, investment programming and budgeting and enabling the interoperability of government in the delivery of service through e-governance to manage the interdependencies across areas of government.
Stratbase ADR Institute is hoping that the policy book could help spark discourse on the issues and challenges that needs to addressed by the incoming administration. “Today, more than ever, we need to think beyond politics. We need disruptive leadership and innovative thinking from the incoming presidential appointees that would put game-changing reforms in place, and we offer this book as part of that discourse,” Prof. Manhit shared.
