MY 10-POINT DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
If I Would Be the Next Philippine President
The democratic nature of the Republic of the Philippines enables each registered voter to have a voice in determining the next leaders of the nation through a ballot vote. And yet the genuine development of the Philippines lies not on the president alone. One person is not enough to enact all economic and political reforms of the country. However, it is the duty of the highest elected official to represent the voice of the people through identifying the most important issues we face and implementing the most important economic and political decisions that are crucial to the common people.
What the country needs is a development agenda with specific, measurable, and time-bound goals. These are the most basic and salient issues that need to be addressed in order for the Philippines to really rise as a country.
10-POINT DEVELOPMENT AGENDA (Medium to Long Term Goals)
1. EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING
Education is the forefront of economic development of the country as it enables to produce generation of intelligent Filipinos that will be capable and skilled. Philippine education is in crisis and we need to be willing to make the hard decisions in order to address what has been failed to be done before.
Increase in Overall Education Spending
The government’s budget must focus on education spending. Currently, we are allocating much below world average compared to our neighbouring countries. It is high time that we devote our resources to educating our succeeding generations for them to be able to fight poverty and hunger. The goal is to be able to be at par or even better compared than other Asian countries within the administration period.
Ensured Primary and Secondary Education
At the core of our children’s non-learning problems is the inability to read properly. By the end of the next administration, every child passing pre-school must be a reader by Grade 1. Primary and secondary must be guaranteed to each child as it is crucial for a nation’s development.
Quality Textbooks, Teachers, and Facilities
To facilitate proper learning, the suitable facilities and equipment must be secured to be able to deliver the basic necessities for students in school, particularly textbooks, libraries, and computers with internet. Proper training for teachers continuously and reasonable salary must be given to them. Standards should be evaluated and set to make sure that students are able to meet the level of learning expected of them.
2. HEALTH REVOLUTION
The Philippine public health system is in a sad state of disrepair. We need not repeat today the litany of causes that have led us to our present conditions who suffer from lack or absence of health services.
Cheaper Medicine and Free Medical Services
All Filipinos will have access to essential health care, medicines and services. We push for cheaper medicine and free medical services to benefit the poor or those who cannot afford it. Maternal support will be given to pregnant women
Access to Better Health through Medical Infrastructures
Our health infrastructure needs a boost given the gaps in health facilities. Beginning at the barangay level we will fund 22,000 more barangay health stations, 3,000 more outpatient Rural Health Units and at least 150 more district hospitals.
Comprehensive Health Care System
Philhealth will be a genuine social health insurance where all Filipinos are covered. Tax incentives will be given to parents following family planning in order to encourage responsible parenthood and reduce population growth rate.
3. POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Minimizing hunger and poverty is done foremost by education and family planning. Then people must be given the most basic of necessities such as access to food and shelter for the extreme poor.
Housing and Job Security
Informal settlers will firstly be relocated and given proper housing in order for them to start right. They will be provided with livelihood programs for them to have secured or alternative sources of income.
Provision of Basic Services to Communities
Basic infrastructures, such as electrical, plumbing, sewage and solid waste disposal systems, will be provided to communities that do not have these or improve the ones that are established.
Access to Cheaper Commodities
Government subsidized convenience stores will be strategically located in communities. The products will be sold at a cheaper price with the help of the government and companies to cater to masses.
4. ANTI-CORRUPTION PROGRAM
Corruption, although proven that it is not directly the cause of poverty, is still detrimental to the Philippines’ development in which it has incurred loss in investors’ confidence and high cost of doing business, and empirically a weak state. That is why there is an urgent need to combat corruption.
Transformational Leadership
To be able to succeed in eliminating corruption, the president must lead by example. Through his leadership, he could influence other officials to do the same. Transformation starts at the executive level for it to effect to the local levels.
Transparency and Accountability
In all financial dealings, there must be transparency and accountability among officials in their lifestyles by which they must not enrich themselves unduly at the expense of the public interest.
Effective Tax Collection
There must be more vigilant and effective modes of tax collection. Smuggling and delinquent tax payers must be more strongly penalized to serve as a strong image in fighting corruption.
5. RAPID ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Economic development can be reflected through high growth rates in the GDP and the factors of the GDP growth must be examined and addressed accordingly.
Job Creation
The government must work hand in hand with the business sector to provide an avenue for people seeking employment. Also, local industries will be empowered. There would be more incentives for foreign and local investors to invest.
Encouraging Entrepreneurship
People must be encouraged to be more business-minded and be entrepreneurial in spirit. Vocational courses will be given to high school students and marginalized communities as support to their livelihood. Massive support in research and development to the development of industries will also be supported.
Microcredit and Microenterprise Support
Since majority of businesses are small scale in nature, assistance programs for start-up businesses will also be given. They must also be taken care of in its most critical period since research also shows that majority of them fail in the first year.
6. INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT
Infrastructure establishes connections and makes it easier and faster for transport and exchange. This is crucial for making development faster among regions. Cementation of roads, highways, bridges, dikes, and transport systems, as well as digital infrastructure like internet and telecommunications to be developed remain to be priority.
Development of Roads, Bridges, and Transport Systems
Proper placing of roads, bridges, and other road infrastructures in the strategic locations and communities will be implemented. Railway systems will link distant areas around the Philippines and must be connecting far provinces to urban centers to facilitate faster and cheaper transfer.
Digital Infrastructures
Digital infrastructures should be developed to hasten the exchange of information. Internet must be more accessible to every Filipino especially the young students. Telecommunication companies must be working side by side with the government to bridge gaps with remote areas through connection and services.
7. DEBT SERVICING REFORMS
This issue has not been addressed and resolved in the current and previous administrations and yet has the largest impact of why the Philippines is not sufficiently progressing. The Aquino administration absorbed all the debt from the Marcos regime in which the Filipino people carry the burden until now.
Reduced Debt Servicing
Debt servicing should be reduced from the government’s budget and the increased government revenue will be allocated to the local development.
Restructuring of Fiscal Policies
Stronger trade policies that will empower the local industries will be adhered. The Philippines must be resistant to foreign exploitation and must be proactive in improving its financial position particularly in the Asian market.
8. PEACE AND SECURITY
Peace and security as a nation has been a struggle in the country which has inevitably affected our image as a country. It is essential to maintain order and stability among the people and in the country as a whole.
Advocating Peace Processes
Peace not just in Mindanao but as a whole country where there are still political wars and injustices must be addressed by empowering the country’s police force to reduce the crime rate in general. We must undergo research on the specific sociological reasons for these crimes and address them at their core.
Mindanao Development
More attention to Mindanao progress must be given through more programs and activities in order for them to be empowered in participating in the nation’s overall development. Also, resolving disputes in Muslim areas is essential to maintain order and stability among the people and in the country as a whole.
9. ENVIRONMENT CONSERVATION
Environment has been also overlooked and has not been prioritized. This is in preparation to the emerging energy crisis and as a country become more vigilant and proactive in solving the issues in our environment which directly affect the living of the population.
Intelligent Use of Natural Resources
We need to utilize the country’s natural resources for our people’s development in a sustainable manner through resource mapping and other means. We shall resolutely address and solve the problem of large scale destruction of the environment and work for the preservation and regeneration of a healthy ecological balance.
Encouraging Alternative Energy Sources
Alternative sources of energy will be studied and implemented to complement the traditional energy sources in the short run and will eventually substitute them in the long run. Investing in this will help in solving the oil crisis and be forward thinking to help sustain the growing population through more cost-effective and cleaner means.
Adequate Disaster Response Mechanisms
We shall set in place comprehensive disaster preparedness and response program and contribute in a meaningful way in the worldwide effort to mitigate and solve the problem of global warming and climate change.
10. CULTURE & TOURISM ADVOCACY
Let us not forget that we are one Filipino people and that we must serve ourselves foremost and not the foreign lands. This has always been the least prioritized and often taken aside and yet plays an important role in our society. Sustainable tourism, heritage conservation, and Filipino culture promotion are the most significant in upholding our rich culture.
Promoting Local Destinations and Products
It is much valued that we prioritize the Philippine’s local destinations and products over imported products. Tourism is an important tool that enables local jobs and appreciates the local cultures of the country. Moreover, it has to be sustainable in order for the natural resources to be preserved and not exploited.
Upholding of a Filipino Culture
We uphold a unified Filipino culture through a promoting the national language and promoting the rich history. The Filipino language must still be propagated and used extensively in mediums of instruction and communications at all times and must not be taken for granted.
Reviving the Love for Country
This is a long-term vision of a better Philippines through having more love for it. Love for country in the long run can be revived through appealing to the common people that we can progress through a collective strength. It is a general battlecry that Filipinos alone can love and help the Philippines and that a collective action must be done, more than just individual action, in order for genuine change can best be realized.
The president must principally uphold a moral integrity that will enable him to enact these agenda. The 10-point development agenda seeks to be the blueprint of nation’s progress that should not be reflected in one term alone. Ideally, it must be passed on to succeeding presidents carrying the unified vision of a strong republic and a progressive Philippines. It is with the unity of each people’s initiatives that we can achieve something greater that our individual selves.
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