When I first heard about it, I thought that the National Economic and Development Authority survey project called AmBisyon 2040 would concern itself with the economic development issues that needed to be decisively addressed by the government if the Philippine economy were to finally get out of its Third World rut and begin moving toward First World status. After all, the purpose for the project was stated by Neda as “to provide succeeding administrations with the basic ingredients (with which) to draw up development plans during their respective terms” and to serve as “a starting-point on which to base (their) discussions and plans.”
To my surprise and disappointment, AmBisyon 2040 did not turn out to be a document that would “provide succeeding administrations with the basic ingredients (with which) to draw up development plans during their respective terms.” Instead, it turned out to be report on the findings of Neda-commissioned surveyors and 42 focused-group discussants regarding the personal visions, aspirations and ambitions of 10,000 Filipinos aged between 15 and 30.
In my view, the survey respondents and the focused-group discussants should have been asked views on what I choose to call the hard economic development stuff: infrastructure planning and financing, capital flows, investment incentives, technology imports, skilled-labor supply and related growth requisites. These things are, after all, the stuff of economic progress. They are the elements that determine production, employment, income, sales and trade.
The 10,000 individuals who were surveyed and the focused-group discussants were, instead, to express their thoughts and feelings about what I regard as the soft stuff: “a single, comfortable life,” “the eradication of poverty,” the creation of adequate employment opportunities in this country, elimination of corruption, peace and security and the provision of social benefits (health, education and housing). They were forthright as to where they stood on these issues.
If the hard-stuff items are adequately and consistently available for this country’s economic development, the soft-stuff items —“a simple comfortable life,” social benefits, elimination of corruption, the creation of employment opportunities and peace and security—will be capable of delivery by a vibrant economy. Without strong economic performance, these soft-stuff items will be difficult to achieve in an adequate and sustained manner.
The salient findings of the AmBisyon 2040 survey were the following:
“A simple, comfortable life is having a medium-sized home, enough earnings to support everyday needs, owning at least one vehicle, having the financial capacity to send kids to college and being able to go on local vacation trips—valued at P120,000 monthly household income.”
“The most important economic goals of Filipinos are the eradication of poverty and hunger and the provision of adequate jobs. The second, third and fourth most important goals are housing, education and health.”
“Filipinos believe that eliminating corruption is important for achieving a better future.”
“77 percent of Filipinos consider peace and security as necessary to national development, and 75.2 percent feel that peace and security are necessary for improving one’s standard of living.”
“The dominant sentiment is that jobs should be located in the Philippines. Eighty-eight percent of Filipinos feel that it will be better for this country if citizens stayed at home instead of going abroad to work. More than 69 percent would choose a job here instead of abroad if they had a choice. The majority—around 60 percent—of the respondents prefer to live and work in their home towns or home provinces rather than move to big cities. The respondents like living in cities but not in megacities.”
“Corruption includes the lack of efficiency in government transactions and the need for more affordable government services. Filipinos want government employees to be polite, helpful, knowledgeable and – quite importantly—not wasteful of people’s time.”
These survey findings on the aspirations and expectations of Filipinos for the year 2040 make up AmBisyon2040. It is important to know what Filipinos’ concept of a “simple, comfortable life is, their thoughts on jobs and the value they place on security and corruption” and the priority they attach to their aspirations. But, to repeat the point that I made at the outset, comfortable lives, satisfactory jobs and adequate social services must come from somewhere. That ‘somewhere’ is a firmly based and efficiently run economy. I had expected AmBisyon2040 to be concerned with the aspirations of the development planners rather than the aspirations those of citizens.
I suggest that a follow-up project—AmBisyon2040 v2? —be undertaken to ascertain the aspirations and needs of the development planning community. Unless that is done, the likelihood is that for the majority of the projected 130 million Filipinos, life in 2040 will be not much different from life in 2017.
E-mail: romero.business.class@gmail.com
