The impossible dream

I dedicate this column to all my readers to whom I’m incredibly grateful. Thank you for taking the time to provide me with invaluable feedback and support through this column. More importantly, thank you for sharing with me your hopes and dreams for our country. Writing here has given me such great joy. In deference to our election laws, however, this will be my last article for a while. Until then, please let me leave with you my insights, hopes and dreams for our country and the Filipino people, as we carefully choose our future elected leaders.

Here are some things I hope to see over the next three years. I look forward to the immediate creation of the Department of Water Management and the Department of Disaster Resilience. It is reiterated that the “National Water Resource Management Act” or Senate Bill No. 102 filed last July 7, 2022 is a good starting point for lasting reforms in water sustainability, flood management and resource security. Bills on the disaster resilience, including Senate Bill No. 1735 filed since March 2018, are relatedly of prime importance for our food security, built-to-last infrastructure and inclusive economic progress. These are not ‘hot’ issues right now, but it does not make it any less vital. We should not only talk about flooding when floodwaters are already higher than houses.

Let’s empower Filipinos with better businesses, jobs and social protection. As the World Bank suggests, our focus should be 3i’s – investments, infusion and innovation. Attracting, accelerating and generating investments in the Philippines allows us to harness the best practices, technologies and talents from all over the globe and infuse it into our own domestic economy, infrastructure and people. In my time working with the Philippines-Korea Economic Council, I saw the potential in trade missions that help build relations between countries and allow more opportunities for both, but we need support from government to make it easier for people to invest in the Philippines and the Filipino people. Senators and congressmen and women sought to accomplish the necessary series of landmark legislation through Amended Public Service Act (RA 11659), amended Foreign Investment Act (RA 11647) and the CREATE MORE Act (RA 12066), but it is clear that more must be done.

As an entrepreneur working with startup business leaders, I can say we badly NEED ease of doing business. more creative fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for technology companies, whether multinationals or startups, such as relaxing of taxes or establishment of government grants, and promotion of public-private partnerships for trailblazing technologies and information infrastructure. It should work for our own countrymen and foreign investors alike, but with the emphasis on creating manufacturing hubs, jobs and products in Philippine soil. As the chairman of the Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Council and advisor to the Blockchain Council of the Philippines, I hope we can create a better environment for artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, the Internet of Things (IoT) and digitalization. In the advent of AI, we should work our hardest to ensure Filipinos are not left behind. Let’s also do better in establishing our energy independence, particularly in exploring renewable energy. Cheap energy has historically been a cornerstone of social, political and economic progress. And let’s not forget the looming transportation problems like jeepney modernization, traffic and sustainable infrastructure.

Let’s also continue to discuss grassroots issues like access to affordable and nutritious food. Investing in agrifood infrastructure and by supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the food sector, upstream and downstream are critical. Painful surges in food commodity prices hurt the poor the most. And taxing struggling business owners will not solve that. We should institutionalize more agricultural training programs and grants as well as restructure our national agriculture architecture to maximize the benefits of better paradigms such as economies of scale by way of cooperatives, biodiversity and sustainability in food security.

We have so many ideas that have yet to be institutionalized such as the Right to Adequate Food Act of 2022 (SBN 337 filed on July 25, 2022), Instructional Gardens and Urban Agriculture Act (SBN 875 filed on July 25, 2022) and Protection of Watershed for Irrigation Act (SBN 966 filed on Aug. 1, 2022), to add to our arsenal for food and nutrition independence.

I’ve had the honor of working alongside our frontliners during the pandemic, working with our men and women in uniform through the efforts our Army Reserve Command multi-sectoral advisory board, and even sailed alongside the Philippine Coast Guard through the West Philippine Sea. I have seen their service and sacrifices through the years. As such we should update benefits vis-à-vis living wages, augment government equipment, fund training and development and defeat corruption to permit so many genuine, diligent and honest public servants to do their jobs in delivering public services to the Filipino people. Especially our barangay health workers who deserve to have standard pay and training.

And as I continue to touch base with multiple sectors, I feel the clamor for justice. I hope the next set of leaders will find ways to provide more legal aid to those who cannot afford it. As Senator Grace Poe envisioned, there ought to be Hustisya Para sa Lahat (Senate Bill No. 963 filed on Aug. 1, 2022). Justice should not be denied any person by reason of poverty.

Every election is our chance to change the country. FPJ always believed that the ordinary Filipino could make a difference. It’s my greatest hope that this election will bring renewed hope for the future. I know these are all still lofty goals for the future but, in the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.”