PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued Executive Order No. 14 on January 27, which approves and adopts the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
The President gushed with optimism about the country’s future as the government implements the PDP which he said “will serve as our guide in building a more prosperous, inclusive, and resilient society; it will set the Philippines towards becoming an upper-middle-income country by the year 2025.”
Mentioning some specifics, Marcos said the PDP focuses on economic development and social development and protection, disaster resilience, digital transformation, and many other things.
“The plan represents not only our aspirations as a people but also our resolve to build a nation that we can all be truly proud of,” he said.
Unknown to many, the PDP is just a continuation of the “AmBisyon Natin 2040” program, a 25-year development program covering at least four administrations, with the avowed objective of attaining for Filipinos a “strongly rooted, comfortable and secure life” by year 2040. It was conceived by the administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and saw its initial implementation during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
‘Let us all monitor how the Marcos administration will implement the plan, an important document which will affect our future, in the short and long terms.’
At a forum held at the PICC by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the President expressed hope the plan would set the Philippines toward becoming an upper-middle-income country in two years.
It is good to have a long-range plan that serves as a road map for the nation as the years and various administrations come and go, tweaking only here and there as the need arises, such as the unexpected onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The assurance by NEDA chief Arsenio Balisacan that the Monday forum was just the first in a series of meetings to discuss the plan is most welcome, for the people, the private sector, and the local and national government agencies must work in concert for the PDP to work.
NEDA envisions the development plan would enable the economy to maintain a 6 to 7 percent growth this year and reach up to 8 percent growth by next year until 2028.
We hope these projections took into consideration geopolitical realities in Asia and Europe, particularly the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war which is going into its second year and is getting deeper in the quagmire with Germany and Poland joining in with Leopard 2 tanks and mercenary fighters, respectively. Also, distortions in the global supply chain and the unstable prices of oil will continue to put pressure on our economic recovery efforts.
Left-leaning economists such as those from Ibon Foundation, and critics like Solita Monsod, have their say too on the PDP. Ibon said it is a rehash of the same road map since the martial law regime of the first President Marcos, and is “underpinned by an out-of-date free market globalization framework which is the very same approach that kept the Philippine economy persistently underdeveloped for the past decades.” Meanwhile, Monsod noted that the PDP did not mention the Maharlika Investment Fund, which is a relatively new concept adopted by PBBM long after the PDP was written.
Let us all monitor how the Marcos administration will implement the plan, an important document which will affect our future, in the short and long terms.
