Is there a more plausible way to predict the Philippines' future other than to see it as a sustainable, First World country?

 

Back to the future - we move 27 years forward to effectively envision living in a progressive Philippines with First World cities and communities. We delay our steps no longer as we all buckle up to rise as a middle-income country before 2028; achieve most of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and address the challenges of poverty, inequality, infrastructure, corruption, criminality and climate change by 2030; join the list of the First World countries by 2040; and rank as one of the top 20 economies in the world by 2050. We further strengthen our goals with the support of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)'s AmBisyon Natin 2040, where the Philippines is envisioned to be a "prosperous middle-class society where no one is poor."

 

Starting of with NEDA's recently published "Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023 to 2028," where I was hired by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as a consultant, we recommended the following: promote and establish active transportation, progressive infrastructure, and ease of transactions; develop 100 new cities and 400 new airports and runways to accommodate the 150 million Filipinos by 2050; and advocate vertical urbanism, green urbanism, new urbanism, mixed-use developments, transit-oriented development, walkable cities and 15-minute cities, among others.

 

PH's strategic location

 

The Philippines is strategically positioned at the center of the globe and is dubbed as a melting pot of cultures. The Philippines is 400 times the size of Singapore, 270 times the size of Hong Kong, eight times the size of Taiwan, and three times the size of South Korea. In fact, we ranked second in Asia from the 1930s to the 1970s, next to Japan. For 300 years, the Philippines was the Asia-Pacific hub of Spanish Europe, 48 years of the Americans, four years of the Japanese, and two years of the British. We were already trading with the Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Indonesians, Malayans and Arabs long before Spanish colonial times. Until now, many countries recognize the strategic location of our country, attracting foreign investors, among others, for higher economic growth. It is a demographic sweet spot with a young, trainable and English-speaking human capital with an average age of 25 years old, whereas the rest of the world has an aged and aging population. Every superpower country will always be interested in our islands.

We are blessed to rank first in marine biodiversity, sailors, and seafarers; first in call centers; third in geothermal energy and business process outsourcing (BPOs); fourth in shipbuilding; fifth in longest coastline; and among the best in human capital resources. In terms of occurrence per unit area, the Philippines ranks third in gold reserves; fourth in copper; fifth in nickel; sixth in chromite; and fifth in all other mineral resources (DoST-Pcieerd). With all these blessings considered, we see that our country has more strengths and opportunities.

 

Realizing Vision 2050

 

The collective effort of the citizens is needed toward Vision 2050 - the Philippines, a First World country. Achieving this vision entails immediate, short-, medium-, long-term, and visionary goals, plans and programs. We need visionary leadership with strong political will; great appreciation of great planning like urban planning and socioeconomic planning; great decisions like great governance, great architecture and great engineering; and responsible citizenship. Strong collaborations between the government, the private sector and all citizens would help us fight corruption through good governance; criminality through effective measures in attaining peace and order; climate change through the protection and enhancement of the environment, reduction of carbon footprints, mitigation of sea level rise, and redevelopment of communities to become sustainable and disaster-resilient; inequality through fair distribution of wealth; and non-sustainable infrastructure through seamless connectivity and disaster-proof design.

 

Admittedly, realizing the vision is not a walk in the park, but with two efficient and effective presidents and administrations, the country would have effectively addressed climate change, corruption, and criminality by 2030. With three visionary and action-driven presidents and administrations, the Philippines would be a First World country by 2040, and with five good presidents and administrations, the country's global economic ranking could rise to the top 20 by 2050. Furthermore, supporting President Bongbong Marcos' Build Build More program will help us rise to a middle-income country before 2028. President Bongbong is continuing the Build, Build, Build program of President Duterte and Ambisyon 2040 put forward by NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan back in 2015. In Palafox Associates and Palafox Architecture Group, Inc.'s architecture and urban designs and urban plans for rural, urban, regional and national development, we recommend "Build, Better, Berde," "Build, Build, Build," and "Plant, Plant, Plant."

 

The Philippines has battled unimaginable crises since time immemorial. We are known for our resilience, and though the present still has many challenges, we are, in reality, in the recovery stage leading to the First World economy. Thus, we need a strategic visionary plan towards 2050 and beyond to reach it, starting off with the development of smart cities.

 

Smart govt, smart cities

 

We often hear professionals like me talk about smart cities, but what about smart government? We build smart cities with the inclusion of smart initiatives and all the other components, namely smart government, smart economy, smart living, smart people, smart mobility and transportation, smart environment, smart communications, and smart security. Each one has an integral role in making a smart city effective.

 

Smart government refers to transparency, availability of open data, ease of doing business, no red tape, and no corruption. We hope more government transactions and services can be decentralized, expedited and completed online, so customers do not need to show up in government offices to accomplish their transactions. A great example is the DubaiNow portal where customers can seamlessly and efficiently access more than 55 government services provided by 24 of Dubai's government agencies in just one portal. DubaiNow allows customers to receive personalized and secure government-to-consumer services like bills payment, visa tracking, car registration, and renewal of trade licenses and building permits, among others.

 

A smart city, however, is not only limited to technological innovations (i.e., the Internet of Things). The focus still rests on finding and implementing effective and sustainable solutions to address the need for inclusive growth and development. Smart cities use efficient processes and invest in their people and technology to provide a higher quality of life for their citizens, businesses and other stakeholders. So, we begin with the creation of 15-minute cities where every destination is within 15-minute walking, biking and public transport, with a location that has more balance between jobs and housing. 

(To be continued)