NEGROS ORIENTAL, May 26 (PIA) – ‘Majority of Filipinos want a “comfortable and simple life” by 2040, according to the AmBisyonNatin2040 survey results presented by National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in its first regional public forum at Silliman University, Dumaguete City.
NEDA-7 and concurrent Negros Island Region (NIR) Regional Director Efren Carreon said AmBisyon2040 is a long-term vision program which is designed for development planning that may be used throughout administrations for the next 24 years.
Speaking before a hundred stakeholders from the youth, academe, business, local government units, non government and civil society organizations, and media, Carreon said that “participatory planning on development is critical in achieving the vision and aspirations of the Filipinos.”
NEDA is looking at the development directions, said Carreon, hoping the vision will serve as basis for the next four medium term development plans of the country’s four presidents.
Seventy-nine percent Filipinos aspire for a simple and comfortable life described as having medium-sized home, having enough earning to support everyday needs, owning at least one car, capacity to provide their children college education and going on local trips for vacation.
The survey also disclosed that many Filipinos prefer to work in the country rather than abroad 24 years from now.
However, Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce Inc. (NOCCI) President Ed Du cited that Philippines is lagging behind other ASEAN countries because the Philippines is consumption-driven, unlike Malaysia, China, Singapore, Japan, among others, that are investment-driven.
Du said the Philippines has 10 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) sending $20 billion a year and yet this goes only for food, clothing, shopping, and buying and not converted to business.
“Even if we are now number one fastest growing economy with 6.9% in Asia, we are still lagging behind in terms of jobs generations and employment,” expressed Du.
Du said that one-fourth of the population or 27% is still in the poverty line, thus, the chamber discouraged consumption economy only but focus more on investors that create more jobs here.
He cited bringing in business processing outsources (BPOs) like SPI and Qualfon which provided more than 9,000 jobs in Negros Oriental. (rmn/jct/PIA7-Negros Oriental)