Chapter 1
The Long View
By 2040, the Philippines will be a prosperous, predominantly middle-class society
where no one is poor, our people will live long and healthy lives, be smart and
innovative, and will live in a high-trust society.
AmBisyon Natin 2040
President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed
Executive Order (EO) No. 5, s. 2016 on
October 11, 2016 approving and adopting
the country’s 25-year long-term vision
(LTV) entitled AmBisyon Natin 2040 as a
guide for development planning. Section 3
of EO 5 states that the four medium-term
Philippine Development Plans (PDPs) to
be crafted and implemented until 2040
shall be anchored on the Ambisyon Natin
2040 and its overall goals. The EO further
states that the PDPs shall ensure
sustainability and consistency of strategies,
policies, programs and projects across
political administrations. In addition,
Section 4 of EO 5 prescribes that all plans
of government departments, offices and
instrumentalities, including government-
owned or controlled corporations and local
government units, shall be consistent with
Ambisyon Natin 2040.
AmBisyon Natin 2040 is the result of a
long-term visioning process conducted at
the national level which started in 2015
under the previous administration. Focus
group discussions (FGD) and a national
survey with about 10,000 respondents were
conducted to gather inputs for the
visioning process. The FGD participants
and survey respondents were asked on the
kind of life they want for themselves and
their children. They were also asked on
what they hope the country would be like
AmBisyonNatin2040
in 2040. Strategic options for realizing the
vision spelled out by the citizens were
identified based on the results of
commissioned technical studies. An
advisory committee composing of selected
representatives from government,
academe, civil society, and the private
sector provided the guidance to the
exercise.
AmBisyon Natin 2040 represents the
collective LTV and aspirations of the
Filipino people for themselves and the
country in the next 25 years. The LTV is
not a plan. It is a vision that presents a
picture of the future which includes a set of
personal life goals and ideals for the
country. It also provides the anchor for
the country’s development plans until
2040.
The vision of the Filipinos for the
Philippines in 2040 is a prosperous,
predominantly middle class society where
there is equality of opportunities and
poverty has been eradicated. The people
will live long and healthy lives with a
higher life expectancy at birth of 80 years.
The people will be smarter and more
innovative and the country is envisioned to
be a major player in the global economy. It
is envisioned that the Philippines will be a
high trust, more caring, and peaceful
society where human security is assured
Chapter 1 The Long View | 5
 and the government enjoys the trust of the
people.
For their vision for themselves, Filipinos
want a life that is strongly-rooted
(matatag), comfortable (maginhawa), and
secure (panatag). “Matatag” means that
the people are living with their families and
they have time for their family and friends
as they observe work and life balance.
“Maginhawa” means that the people are
free from hunger and poverty, they have
guaranteed mobility, secure home
ownership, and travel and vacation
opportunities. “Panatag” means that the
people have security of place, they have
resources adequate for their day-to-day
needs and unexpected expenses, and they
have passive income during retirement.
To support the realization of the country’s
LTV by 2040, the region’s RDP during the
four planning cycles until 2040 will be
anchored on the country’s LTV. The
region will support the following broad
areas for strategic action over the next 25
years as identified in the PDP 2017-20221
to realize the national vision:
Toward building a prosperous,
predominantly middle-class society
where no one is poor, create the
conditions for the growth of enterprises
that generate high-quality jobs and
produce high-quality goods and services at
competitive prices. Give priority to
enterprises in sectors that produce goods
and services that meet Ambisyon (i.e for
which there is a domestic market) and
those that are able to participate in global
trade. The following are the identified nine
priority sectors with the greatest potential
to contribute to realizing Ambisyon:
• Housing and urban development
• Manufacturing (food processing,
1 bureaucracy, including at the local
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022
6 | Ilocos Regional Development Plan 2017-2022
housing-related goods and services,
transport)
• Connectivity (roads, ports, bridges,
communication)
• Education services
• Financial services
• Health services
• Tourism-related services
• Agricultural development
• Countryside development
Toward promoting a long and healthy life,
a range of programs starting with quality
and affordable universal health care and
social protection is required.
• Reduction of infant mortality rate
through quality maternal health and
child care
• Reproductive health and family
planning programs
• Eradication of malnutrition
• Programs and facilities to encourage
development of healthy lifestyles
• Efficiently-managed natural resources
and environment
Toward becoming smarter and more
innovative, people need to expand their
skills in order to adapt to rapidly changing
technology and work requirements.
• Education system should equip
citizens with knowledge and skills
necessary to occupy high-productivity
jobs, while remaining adaptable to
changing needs of the economy
• Strong intellectual property rights
framework to encourage Filipinos to
generate innovative products and ideas
• A mature research and development
(R & D) program
Toward building a high-trust society,
government must be people-centered,
effective, and accountable.
• Public goods and services should be
efficiently delivered by a professional
level
• Promote competition and
inclusiveness in the political system
through major political and electoral
reform
• Pursue the peace agenda that
accompanies a long-term development
agenda for areas threatened by armed
conflict
• Create social and cultural awareness
and develop in every Filipino a deep
appreciation of the Filipino nation.
The above national broad areas for
strategic action to support the realization
of the national vision will be put into
action in the Ilocos RDP until 2040 (RDP
The Regional Development Plan 2017-2022
The Ilocos RDP 2017-2022 takes off from
the Administration’s 0-10 Point
Socioeconomic Agenda. It is the first
medium-term plan anchored on the
country’s LTV 2040 as approved through
EO No. 5, s. 2016. The Plan aims to lay a
stronger foundation for inclusive growth, a
high-trust society, and a globally-
competitive economy toward realizing the
Vision by 2040.
As an agricultural region, the region will
focus on the improvement of the
productivity of the agriculture sector in
support to the region’s agri-based
industrialization goal during the next six
years. This will be complemented with the
strengthening of the local tourism industry
which is expected to bring multiplier
effects to its allied industries. The desired
outcome is to reduce poverty, specifically
in agriculture and in provinces with high
poverty incidence and magnitude of
poverty. Under the Plan, poverty incidence
among population is targeted to go down
from 13.1 percent in 2015 to 8.0 percent by
2021.
2017-2022, RDP 2023-2028, RDP 2029-
2034, and RDP 2035-2040). This will
require the buy-in and support of all
stakeholders in the region including local
officials so that succeeding plans will not
be drastically changed as administrations
change. Succeeding plans will build on
previous plans while taking also into
consideration emerging concerns and
other development trends. Continuous
advocacy campaign on Ambisyon Natin
2040 covering all sectors of the region will
be conducted to sustain the awareness,
appreciation and support of all
stakeholders.
The strategies to achieve the above targets
are grouped in three major pillars:
enhancing the social fabric, reducing
inequality, and increasing potential
growth. Chapter 4 provides a discussion of
the strategic framework of RDP 2017-2022.
This document is organized into seven
parts. Part I provides the overall context
for the Plan. Part II is about enhancing the
social fabric to build the foundations for a
high-trust society. Part III stresses the
importance of reducing inequalities in
economic development opportunities. Part
IV focuses on increasing potential growth.
Part V calls for a supportive economic
environment that will enable the region’s
economy to sustain growth. Part VI is
about the foundations for sustainable
development. The last part, Part VII,
describes the institutional arrangements
for the implementation and monitoring of
the Plan to ensure that what is planned gets
implemented and that timely adjustments
are done, as needed.
Chapter 1 The Long View | 7