The

PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

2017-2022
Challenges

✤ sluggish or slow-growing economy

✤ low levels of investment in general and investment in S&T

✤ inadequate job opportunities, leading to strong pressures for overseas employment

and resulting to “brain drain”

✤ rapid population growth and uncontrolled urbanization

✤ depletion of natural resources and degradation of the environment

✤ inadequate infrastructure

✤ a very narrow range of export products and poor export performance in general,

✤ a relatively stagnant manufacturing sector existing side by side with a fast growing
services sector.
 The
PHILIPPINE DEVELOPMENT PLAN
2017 - 2022

✤ is the first medium-term development plan to be anchored

on the national long-term vision - AmBisyon Natin 2040.

✤ The PDP lays down the current administration’s plans,

reforms, policies, and targets to address issues and
concerns of the country.

✤ Through the PDP, the Duterte administration aims to boost

GDP growth to 7-8% and reduce the overall poverty rate to
14% in 6 years.
✤ In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered NEDA to
draft a new PDP and to ensure the participation of all
sectors in its formulation.

✤ Under the Duterte administration, the PDP will

include policies, programs, and activities that are
anchored on the AmBisyon Natin 2040, a 25-year,
long-term vision for development planning and its
8-point socioeconomic agenda.

✤ According to NEDA, this is the first development plan

that has undergone methodical public consultations.
✤ During the third meeting of National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA) Board on February
20, 2017 at Malacanang Palace under the
administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte,
Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 was
approved.
 AmBisyon Natin 2040

✤ Malacañang has issued Executive Order (EO) No. 5

providing for the adoption of “AmBisyon Natin 2040”,
a 25-year, long-term vision for development planning.

✤ The EO was signed Tuesday, October 11, 2016, by the

authority of President Rodrigo Duterte.
 AmBisyon Natin 2040

✤ Represents the collective long-term vision and aspirations of

the Filipino people for themselves and for the country for the
next 25 years.

✤ It describes the kind of life that people want to live, as well

as how the country will look like by 2040. As such, it will
serve as an anchor for development planning across at least
four administrations.

✤ The vision that will be the guide and anchor of the country’s
plans for the future.
 The VISION

✤ The 25-year vision foresees a Philippines that is

“prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no
one is poor.”

✤ It also envisions Filipinos with “long and healthy lives”,

being smart and innovative, and living in a “high-trust
society”.

✤ Under this long-term vision, government will aim to “triple

real per capita incomes and eradicate hunger and poverty
by 2040, if not sooner.”
Why did NEDA start this long-term vision
for the Philippines? Why only now?

✤ Development is a long-term process. It takes many years,

even decades, for a country to reach a higher level of
development so as to significantly raise living standards and,
subsequently, eradicate poverty. But because of the current
political system, government planning has traditionally been
bound by the six-year term of a presidency. This has often led
to discontinuity of even good policies and programs. Thus,
stakeholders have been clamoring for a long-term
development plan that will ensure sustainability and
continuity of good policies, programs, and projects beyond
the term of a political administration.
How did NEDA come up with AmBisyon
Natin 2040? What was the process behind it?

✤ It was a result of a consultative process.

✤ An Advisory Committee composed of representatives from the

government, private sector, the academe, and civil society guided the
overall implementation of the visioning exercise.

✤ Experts from different fields of development were also consulted,

especially on the thematic technical papers.

✤ Guided by the Advisory Committee, NEDA led the development of

the project’s various components, including public consultations
through focus group discussions, national survey, technical studies,
and communication and advocacy.
 The Logo
The logo uses an eye icon to symbolize vision.
It also serves as an eye-opener for Filipinos, reminding them that each citizen plays an equally
important role in achieving the long-term vision.
The four eyelashes attached to the eye resemble the sun’s rays, suggesting a bright future for the
Philippines. Basic colors are used to evoke familiarity, as most are the colors of the Philippine flag.
✤ The 3 pillars of the Philippine Development Plan are:

1. Malasakit (Compassion) - which aims to regain

people’s trust in public institutions and cultivate trust
among fellow Filipinos.

2. Pagbabago (Change) - inequality-reducing

transformation through increasing opportunities for
growth of output and income.

3. Kaunlaran (Prosperity) - increasing potential growth

through sustaining and accelerating economic growth.

✤ These will be supported by a strong foundation in national

peace and security, strategic and accelerated infrastructure
development, resiliency, and ecological integrity.
✤ The plan has 7 parts, divided into 22 chapters:

1. Introduction (with Overview and Framework)

2. Enhancing the Social Fabric (Malasakit)

3. Reducing Inequality in Economic Development Opportunities

(Pagbabago)

4. Increasing Potential Growth (Kaunlaran)

5. Enabling and Supportive Economic Environment

6. Foundations for Inclusive and Sustainable Development

7. Moving Forward
 Strategies
Under Each Pillar
 Malasakit

✤ promoting awareness of anti-corruption measures,

✤ improving the productivity of the public sector,

✤ implementing regulatory reforms,

✤ increasing access to legal aid,

✤ pursuing corrections reform,

✤ and promoting culture-sensitive governance and

development.
 Pagbabago

✤ Expansion of opportunities in agriculture

✤ Increase presence in the global market

✤ streamline bureaucratic processes for both local and

foreign businesses

✤ achieving quality and accessible basic education for all

✤ enhancing disaster risk reduction and management

(DRRM) mechanisms

✤ adopting universal social protection.

 Kaunlaran

✤ maximizing the demographic dividend

✤ vigorously advancing science, technology and

innovation

✤ maintaining macroeconomic and financial stability

✤ observing fiscal prudence while the tax system is being

reformed into a much simpler, fair and equitable one.

✤ implementing strategic trade policy alongside measures

to promote competition and establish a level playing
field.
4 Cross-Cutting Bedrock Strategies

✤ attaining just and lasting peace

✤ ensuring security, public order and safety

✤ accelerating strategic infrastructure development

✤ ensuring ecological integrity and a clean and healthy

environment
✤ The PDP 2017-2022 also gives special attention to
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families.

✤ It identifies strategies and policies that will work to

protect the rights of overseas Filipinos, improve their
quality of life, and integrate them into the country’s
development.
A Duterte presidency’s economic
priorities will be as follows:
1. Continue and maintain the current macroeconomic policies. However,
reforms in tax revenue collection (in the Bureau of Internal Revenue and
the Bureau of Customs) efforts will be complemented by reforms within
the bureaucracy of these tax collecting agencies.

2. Accelerate infrastructure spending by addressing, among others,

major bottlenecks in the public-private partnership (PPP) program.
Maintain the target of setting aside 5% of the country’s gross domestic
product to infrastructure spending.

3. Ensure attractiveness of the Philippines to foreign direct investments

by addressing restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution and
our laws, and enhancing competitiveness of the economy.
4. Pursue a genuine agricultural development strategy by providing
support services to the small farmers to increase their productivity,
improve their market access, and develop the agricultural value
chain by forging partnership with agribusiness firms.

5. Address the bottlenecks in our land administration and

management system.

6. Strengthen our basic education system and provide scholarships

for tertiary education which are relevant to the needs of private
sector employees.

7. Improve the income tax system to make it progressive to enable

those who earn little to have more money in their pockets.

8. Expand and improve implementation of the conditional cash

transfer (CCT) program.
 Chapter 14
Vigorously Advancing Science Technology, and Innovation
This chapter discusses the priority strategies and outcomes needed to
increase the country’s potential growth though innovation, which will
build the foundation for a globally competitive knowledge economy.
 Science, Technology and Innovation (STI)

✤ plays an important role in economic and social progress.

✤ a key driver of the long-term growth of an economy.

✤ Technology adoption allows the country’s firms and

people to benefit from innovations created in other
countries, and allows it to keep up and even leap frog
obsolete technologies. This can lead to significant
improvements in the productivity of firms in
agriculture, industry, and services.
✤ can lead to the creation of new public goods and
services (or new methods of delivering public goods
and services) that will help address the needs of
society, especially of the disadvantaged, including in
the areas of health, education, energy, disaster
resiliency, and climate change adaptation.
 Assessment and Challenges

✤ There is a low level of innovation in the country

brought about by:

1. weaknesses in STI human capital,

2. low research and development (R&D)

expenditures, and

3. weak linkages in the STI ecosystem.

✤ In the Global Innovation Index (GII)
Report of 2016, the Philippines ranked
74th among 128 economies in
innovation, garnering a score of 31.8 out
of 100.

✤ It is a slight improvement from the score

of 31.1, ranking 83rd out of 141
economies in 2015.

✤ The Philippines also ranked 5th out of

the seven members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the
survey, ahead of Cambodia (95th) and
Indonesia (88th), but behind Singapore
(6th), Malaysia (35th), Thailand (52nd),
and Vietnam (59th). Source: https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/gii-2016-report#
Factors behind the weak performance of
the STI sector:

1. Weak STI Culture

✤ There is lack of public awareness and interest in STI.

✤ Many sectors do not recognize, appreciate, and understand the use of technology
and science-based information in their daily activities.

✤ Weaknesses in social and professional cultures (i.e., research culture in universities,

commercialization of results from public research, and awareness of intellectual
property rights) in the research community and the general public persist.

✤ Technologies are not widely used among micro, small, and medium enterprises
(MSMEs) and sectors like agriculture and fisheries.

✤ Weak links between technology generators and users, capacity constraints of users,
and inadequate local government unit support.
 2. Low Government Spending on STI

✤ STI monitoring and evaluation of expenditures on R&D and

innovation activities, as well as support for human resources
development in the various fields of science and technology
(S&T) indicates low government spending.

✤ The bulk of R&D spending (60%) comes from the public sector.

✤ was used for agricultural and industrial production and

technology, protection and improvement of human health,
control and care of the environment.

✤ Most of the R&D activities in the country are concentrated

in the National Capital Region (NCR), Region IV-A
(CALABARZON), and Region III (Central Luzon).
✤ Although nominal R&D expenditures increased by 80
percent to P15.92 billion in 2013, the proportion of R&D
spending to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at
only 0.14 percent.

✤ This is substantially below the 1 percent benchmark

recommended by the United Nations Educational,
Scientifi, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

✤ Low compared to the global average of 2.04 percent.

✤ It is also low compared to other ASEAN countries,

such as Vietnam (0.19 %), ailand (0.36%), Malaysia
(1.09%), and Singapore (2.0%).
 3. Inadequate S&T Human Resources Engaged in STI
R&D

✤ As of 2013, the country has a total of 36,517 R&D

personnel, of which 26,495 are key researchers (scientific,
technological, and engineering personnel), and the rest
are technicians and support personnel.

✤ This means that there are only 270 researchers for

every 1 million Filipinos.

✤ This falls short of the UNESCO norm of 380 per

million population and the 1,020 researchers per
million population average across developing
economies of East Asia and the Pacific.
✤ Of the total researchers in the country from the
government, higher educational institutions (HEIs)
and private non-profit sectors, 14 percent have PhDs,
38 percent have Master’s degrees, and 34 percent have
Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees up to post BS degrees.

✤ The low number of researchers in the country reflects

the propensity of the educational system to produce
graduates outside of Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics (STEM) programs, which are the
disciplines where R&D flourishes.
 4. Difficulty in Increasing Employment

Opportunities and Retaining S&T Human

Capital.

✤ The supply of STEM graduates exceeds local demand.

(source: USAID-STRIDE study)

✤ There is an out-migration and underemployment of

many skilled, locally-trained scientists and
engineers.

✤ There is shortage in training in fields that are critical

to innovation (i.e., information technology).

✤ Brain drain
 5. Absence of a Vibrant Intellectual Property Culture

✤ The output of R&D is commonly measured in terms of patents applied and

granted to Filipino residents.

✤ Reports show that many universities do not have the expertise to market
their patent portfolios for commercial use.

✤ Technology generators face persisting issues in technology ownership.

✤ Researchers are constrained by the “publish or perish” phenomenon.

✤ The country needs to catch up in research publications since the

number of scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals per
million population stands at 55, substantially below that of ASEAN
member states Singapore (10,368), Malaysia (1,484), Thailand (478),
and Vietnam (105).

✤ These result in a weak technology transfer system in the country.

 6. Weak Linkages Among Players in the STI Ecosystem

✤ Innovation actors have weak cooperation, partnerships, and

trust among them. (Source: 2009 Survey of Innovation Activities
and the 2014 USAID-STRIDE Assessment of the Philippine
Innovation Ecosystem)

✤ Most HEIs perceive collaboration with companies as outside

their core missions and as potential exploitation of their
products or ideas.

✤ Firms report that convincing HEIs to collaborate with them

is difficult because of resentment, suspicion, and distrust.

✤ Firms end up with little technical assistance from the

government and research institutions.
7. Restrictive Regulations that Hamper the Implementation
of R&D Programs and Projects

✤ Tedious government procurement process hampers the

immediate acquisition of equipment and other materials for
research, which in turn delays the implementation of R&D
programs and projects (Source: USAID-STRIDE study).

✤ decrease research productivity, publication

potential, and speed to market innovations. In
addition,

✤ Government research grants do not compensate universities

for the salary of faculty members’ research activities. A
practice rarely seen outside the Philippines.
 8. Inadequate STI Infrastructure

✤ The country does not have enough STI infrastructure such as

laboratory facilities, testing facilities, and R&D centers.
Those that exist need upgrading.

✤ The situation contributes to the lack of absorptive capacity in

research institutions.

✤ Public institutions failed to provide young researchers,

particularly those returning from PhD studies abroad with
more advanced research agenda, with the necessary
equipment.

✤ The Philippines’ leading research institutions also remain

concentrated in Luzon.
 Strategic Framework

✤ STI will contribute in the achievement of the overall PDP goal of establishing the
foundation for inclusive growth, a high-trust and resilient society and a globally
competitive knowledge economy by increasing the country’s potential growth.

✤ This will be done by promoting and accelerating technology adoption and

stimulating innovation.

✤ Increasing STI in the agriculture, industry, and services sectors as well as

investments in technology-based start-ups, enterprises and spin-offs will result to
the promotion and acceleration of technology adoption.

✤ Enhancing the creative capacity for knowledge and technology generation,

acquisition and adoption, and strengthening open collaboration among actors in
the STI ecosystem will stimulate innovation.
Strategic Framework to Leverage Science,
Technology, and Innovation 2017- 2022
 Subsector Outcome 1
✤ The government will promote and
accelerate the dissemination, transfer,
commercialization, and utilization of
knowledge, technologies, information
and processes derived from publicly-
funded S&T activities without
prejudice to intellectual property
rights.

✤ Those technologies with high

commercial potential shall be given
priority assistance.

✤ The government will foster the

development of networks and
markets, and undertake efective
marketing strategies through the
extensive use of quad-media and the
organization of fora, fairs, and
exhibits.
 Subsector Outcome 1
✤ The initiative to improve patent
applications performance through the
Patent Incentive Package will be
strengthened.

✤ The provision of the Philippine

Technology Transfer Act of 2009
particularly on ownership and revenue
sharing will be institutionalized.

✤ Aggressive and sustained advocacy to

increase the appreciation and
understanding of IPR shall be undertaken
in order to leverage intellectual property
protection as an essential component of
the innovation ecosystem.

✤ The government will also conduct

information campaigns on the
importance of intellectual property rights
to strengthen public awareness and create
an intellectual property culture among
Filipinos.
 Subsector Outcome 2

✤ Creation of an investment
environment that encourages
more private sector
participation, including angel
investments, venture capital,
and crowd fund-sourcing for
STI-based startups,
enterprises, and spin-offs.

✤ Strengthen programs that

provide financing to
commercially- viable
innovation projects to bridge
the gap between R&D and
commercialization.
 Subsector Outcome 2
✤ Strengthen the policy and regulatory
environment and introduce new
mechanisms to support technopreneurs,
start-ups, spin-off companies, and MSMEs.

✤ Provide platforms for technology

commercialization such as the establishment
of new technology business incubators in the
regions in partnership with the private sector
and HEIs.

✤ Promote available technologies.

✤ Extend consultancy and other services for

productivity improvement.

✤ The Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading

Program will be expanded to enable more
MSMEs to access government assistance.

✤ The Startup Ecosystem Development

Program will be pursued to usher in a new
breed of businesses that will thrive in an
innovation economy.
 Subsector Outcome 3

✤ Invest in building an efficient

system of knowledge creation
and technology generation.

✤ Preserve long-term funding

for curiosity-driven research.

✤ Consolidate and promote

basic and applied research in
agriculture, aquatic
resources, natural resources,
health and nutrition, drug
discovery and development,
industry, energy, defense and
security, and emerging
technologies.
 Subsector Outcome 3
✤ Increase the number and quality of
researchers, scientists, and
engineers.

✤ Target is to achieve and even

surpass the UNESCO norm of 380
researchers, scientists and engineers
per million population by 2025
from its current level of 270.

✤ Provide continuous support and

funding to ongoing S&T
scholarships like (a) Expanded
Specialized Science Secondary
Education Scholarship; (b)
Expanded Undergraduate S&T
Scholarships for Inclusive
Development; and (c) Expanded
S&T Graduate (Masters/PhD)
Scholarships.
 Subsector Outcome 3
✤ Mechanisms will be established to encourage
overseas-based experts to share their
knowledge and specializations with the
academe and industry through information
and communication technology (ICT).

✤ The Balik Scientist Program and other related

initiatives will be strengthened.

✤ The potential role of OFs in developing the

country’s STI capability will be recognized
and pursued by providing opportunities for
them.

✤ The hiring of foreign scientists and experts

will be explored in areas where expertise is
not available locally to leapfrog products
and process development and build capacity
in the eld.

✤ Institutional linkages through OFs,

especially in ASEAN, will be fostered to
encourage more R&D collaboration and
capacity building activities.
 Subsector Outcome 3
✤ STI infrastructure development will be
undertaken across the country in order to
address region-specific concerns.

✤ Niche centers for R&D will be established

to equip regional academic institutions
and improve industry competitiveness.

✤ Modernization of existing R&D facilities

and other STI infrastructures, both in the
public and private HEIs, will be pursued
to enable them to carry out higher-level
R&D activities.

✤ Invest in the establishment of product

development centers, materials and
product testing facilities, and climate and
disaster risk reduction facilities.

✤ Improvement of internet connectivity by

putting in place a robust ICT
infrastructure, particularly the national
broadband infrastructure.
 Subsector Outcome 3
✤ Innovation hubs will be established in strategic
locations in the country to include food
innovation centers and shared service facilities.

✤ The country will position itself to become the

global hub for Disaster Risk Reduction and
Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. e
hub will provide a platform for sharing
technologies, lessons and best practices in
responding and recovering from natural
disasters such as typhoons, floods, and volcanic
eruptions.

✤ An innovation center will be established to

promote not only innovation, but also design
and creativity, and to provide support for the
creation of incubation centers for MSMEs and
start-ups.

✤ The Department of Trade and Industry will

coordinate with the Department of Science and
Technology (DOST) and other government
agencies, the academe, the private sector, and
people’s organizations on the necessary
investments in scientific and technological
research, as well as government support for
science and technology parks and local R&D and
training.
 Subsector Outcome 3
✤ The culture of inventiveness and creativity
will be promoted in all sectors and as early
as possible.

✤ Programs to boost the interest of young

students to pursue STEM courses and the
creative arts as viable career options will be
pursued.

✤ Communicating STI through various

media and in partnership with different
stakeholders will be carried out to increase
public awareness and interest on the
importance of STI in daily life.

✤ An STI culture that fosters more effective

decision making will be promoted among
policy makers and government offcials and
employees. Being major users and
consumers of products and services,
government offces will also serve as
showcase and promoter of innovative and
STI-based solutions. The government will
also support LGU-led innovation activities.
 Subsector Outcome 4
✤ Collaboration in R&D based on
the triple helix model, which
involves the coordination and
cooperation of university,
industry, and government, will be
strengthened.

✤ Elimination of institutional
bottlenecks for joint research
activities, such as burdensome
processes and administrative
procedures, particularly in public
higher education and research
institutions.

✤ The government will leverage

public R&D grants, tax, and other
incentives to increase
productivity.
 Subsector Outcome 4
✤ International cooperation will be
pursued more aggressively to enhance
the flow and benefit of a wide range of
existing knowledge and technologies
from other countries.

✤ Existing fora such as the ASEAN, Asia-

Pacific Economic Cooperation and
other similar platforms for dialogue
and collaboration will be utilized.

✤ Public and private STI institutions will

be encouraged to participate and
collaborate with international partners
in research platforms that seek
solutions to common regional concerns
such as food security, climate change,
disaster risk reduction, resiliency and
preparedness, and conservation of
resources and biodiversity.
 Legislative Agenda

✤ To strengthen the effectiveness of the strategies,

legislative action is needed on the following.
 Plan Targets to Leverage Science,
Technology, and Innovation, 2017-2022
The Philippine government continuously engages in
technology-intensive research and capacity building
projects to improve the quality of its service to the people.
 Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards
(NOAH)
✤ Project NOAH was initiated in June
2012 to help manage the risks
associated with natural hazards and
disasters.

✤ The project developed hydromet

sensors and high-resolution geo-
hazard maps, which were generated
by light detection and ranging
technology for flood modelling.

✤ It provides timely warning with a

lead time of at least six hours
during floods.
 Diwata-1

✤ In April 2016, the Philippines launched into space its

first micro-satellite called Diwata-1.

✤ It was designed, developed and assembled by Filipino

researchers and engineers, with support from Japanese
experts.

✤ Diwata provides real-time, high-resolution and multi-

color infrared images. They are used in meteorological
imaging, crop and ocean productivity measurements,
and high-resolution imaging of natural and man-made
features.

✤ It enables a more precise estimate of the country’s

agricultural production, provides images of watersheds
and floodplains for a better view of water available for
irrigation, power, and domestic consumption, as well as
information on any disturbance and degradation of
forest and upland areas.
 Intelligent Operations Center Platform

✤ was established through a collaboration between the

local government of Davao City and IBM Philippines.

✤ resulted in the creation of a dashboard that allows

authorized government agencies (i.e., police, re, and
anti-terrorism task force) to use analytics software for
monitoring events and operations in real-time.
Establishment of State-of-the-Art R&D
and Testing Facilities

✤ The DOST in cooperation with HEIs and research

institutions established state-of-the-art facilities that
seek to spur R&D activities and provide MSMEs
access to testing services needed to increase their
productivity and competitive advantage.
✤ Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratories – equipped with advanced equipment for failure
analysis and materials characterization to address advanced analytical needs for quality control, materials
identi cation, and R&D.

✤ Electronics Products Development Center – used to design, develop and test hardware and software for
electronic products.


✤ High Performance Computing Facilities – perform tests and run computation-intensive applications for
numerical weather prediction, climate modelling, analytics and data modeling, and archiving. 


✤ Philippine Genome Center – a core facility that combines basic and applied research for the development
of health diagnostics, therapeutics, DNA forensics and preventive products, and improved crop varieties. 


✤ Drug Discovery Facilities – address the requirements for producing high quality and globally acceptable
drugs.


✤ Nanotechnology Centers – provides technical services and enabling environment for interdisciplinary and
collaborative R&D in various nanotechnology applications. 


✤ Radiation Processing Facilities – used to degrade, graft, or crosslink polymers, monomers, or chemical
compounds for industrial, agricultural, environmental, and medical applications. 


✤ Die and Mold Solutions Center - enhances the competitiveness of the local tool and die sector through the
localization of currently imported dies and molds.