NEDA’s AMBISYON 2040

By: Charmaine Dela Paz

In ensuring the continuity of policies, projects, and programs, development plans have to be

anchored to a long-term view of what we want, and where we want the country and the economy to be in

the foreseeable future. Hence, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) started

developing the Long-term Vision (LTV) project in early 2015.

This project is envisioned to be a basis of unity among Filipinos where we generally want the

Philippines to be by 2040, and serve as a guide in development planning across administrations. Producing

the outputs of this project involved conducting series of nationwide consultations, writing of evidence-based

thematic papers, and quantitative projections, among others. We want this project to come up with the

reflections of the Filipino people’s sentiments and vision for themselves and for the country, supported by

evidence and considering current realities.

We used to boast that the Filipino family was the “social security” of the country: that whatever

went wrong, the family was always there to help each of us. We never seem to learn to stand on our own

feet because we are confident that the family will always be behind us to prop us up.

In the past fifty years, as the enrollment of our five schools increase, we have been recruiting

teachers annually. Of the 500 to 600 college graduate applicants, only 15% pass the battery of tests (I.Q.,

Teaching Aptitude and Temperament) required before we could train them as Montessori teachers. Majority

already fail in the initial interview conducted in English and the rest fall short in the Temperament Test for

maturity. We have concluded that owing to the family system, the maturation of a Filipino is delayed by four

to six years. So many Filipinos never grow up. This is our common ambition for the Philippines. As the PDP

states, the dream is that by 2040 “…the country will be a prosperous middle-class society where no one is

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poor. People live long and healthy lives and are smart and innovative. The Philippines is a high-trust

society where families thrive in vibrant, culturally diverse, and resilient communities.”

This is anchored on the belief which I share and work hard for in both my private and public lives: the

Filipinos have simple dreams. They want food on their table, education for their kids and a good and secure

job so they can attain a bright future for their families. The study of the National Economic and

Development Authority (NEDA) shows that 79.2% of Filipinos want a simple and comfortable life while only

16.9% desires an affluent life, and 3.9% the life of the rich.

I am glad that the Duterte administration has embraced this vision. I am glad that we are finally putting the

full force of government towards the realization of this end. Whatever your political affiliation is; whatever

you wrote in the ballot last May 2016, I believe that we can all be reasonable and agree that this is a dream

we can all support. I shudder to think that there is one person who truly loves his country who would

oppose the realization of the Filipino dream.