"We wait until it's too late": CuUnjieng urges Philippines to plan long-term or risk stagnation

CEBU, Philippines — Veteran investment banker and corporate director Stephen CuUnjieng urged Cebu’s business and government leaders to abandon what he described as a reactive approach to economic management and adopt long-term strategies centered on infrastructure, industrialization and productivity if they hope to reverse the Philippines’ chronic economic underperformance.

Speaking at the Investment and Entrepreneurship Summit, one of the flagship events of the annual Cebu Business Month (CBM 2026) organized by the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), CuUnjieng said policymakers often wait for problems to reach crisis levels before taking action, resulting in missed opportunities and slower economic growth.

“The biggest thing we do everywhere in the Philippines is nothing, until it’s too late,” CuUnjieng told business leaders and government officials gathered at the summit. “We wait for a shortage, we wait for a backlog—and only then do we act.”

CuUnjieng said the country’s economic challenges stem from years of neglecting structural issues in critical sectors such as energy, food security, education and infrastructure. Rather than building capacity in anticipation of future demand, he said governments frequently invest only after bottlenecks have emerged.

He cited the development of major aviation hubs in Hong Kong and Singapore as examples of economies that invested ahead of demand, allowing them to support sustained growth and remain globally competitive.

For Cebu, he said, long-term infrastructure planning should extend beyond terminal upgrades and focus on capacity-expanding projects such as additional airport runways that can accommodate future growth in tourism and trade.

“Some things are more important than short-term profit,” CuUnjieng said, stressing that infrastructure should be viewed as a catalyst for broader economic development rather than merely a response to existing constraints.

Beyond infrastructure, CuUnjieng emphasized the need to rebuild the country’s manufacturing sector, arguing that industrialization remains essential to generating high-quality jobs and creating broader economic benefits across logistics, services, housing and supply chains.

“If we want to remain a predominantly Catholic country and continue to grow our population, we had better employ, educate, and feed that population,” he said.

The veteran banker also challenged the view that the Philippines’ young and growing population automatically translates into economic strength. He said a demographic dividend can only be realized if workers are productive, well-educated and gainfully employed.

“What matters is productivity and the quality of the workforce, not sheer numbers,” he said.

CuUnjieng pointed to the development trajectories of China, Japan, South Korea and Scandinavian economies, which he said invested heavily in education, industrial capacity and productivity improvements to achieve long-term prosperity.

He also called for a more deliberate industrial policy focused on sectors where the Philippines holds competitive advantages, including agriculture, food security, renewable energy, mining, mineral processing and manufacturing.

As an example, CuUnjieng cited Indonesia’s policy of restricting raw nickel exports while encouraging domestic processing, a strategy that helped attract investment, create jobs and increase the value of mineral exports.

The Philippines, he said, should similarly pursue value-added industries instead of relying heavily on the export of raw materials and labor.

CuUnjieng likewise urged closer collaboration between lawmakers, policymakers and technical experts in crafting legislation and economic programs, arguing that sustained economic progress requires a culture of continuous improvement rather than crisis-driven decision-making.

“Improvement is not a one-off event; it is a constant state of life,” he said.

“If we embrace long-term planning, true industrial policy, investment in the commanding heights, and continuous improvement, we can move from underperformance to genuine, broad-based prosperity.”