President Duterte has ordered the adoption of the National Economic and Development Authority’s (Neda) long-term vision aimed at tripling Filipinos’ real per capita income as well as eliminating hunger and poverty on or before 2040.
Executive Order No. 5 signed by the President on Oct. 11 adopted “Ambisyon Natin 2040” as the 25-year long-term vision for the Philippines. The goal is that by 2040, “the Philippines shall be a prosperous, predominantly middle-class society where no one is poor.”
EO 5 mandated the identification of an “appropriate set of milestones” that will guide the medium-term development plans to be developed by four administrations, starting with the Duterte administration.
“The four medium-term Philippine Development Plans (PDPs) to be crafted and implemented until 2040 shall be anchored on the Ambisyon Natin 2040 and overall goals. The PDPs shall ensure sustainability and consistency of strategies, policies, programs and projects across political administrations,” EO 5 read.
As such, “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,” the President ordered.
The Duterte government is currently drafting the PDP for 2017-2022, eyed for publication by yearend.
Launched last March, Ambisyon Natin 2040 was aimed at tripling Filipinos’ per capita income to $11,000 in 24 years’ time by sustaining at least a 6.5-percent annual gross domestic product growth alongside the implementation of policies that would make the Philippines a high-income country by 2040.
A survey conducted early this year showed a majority of Filipinos aspire for a “simple and comfortable life,” which Neda had said reflected a middle-class lifestyle—earning enough, all children educated until college, owning a car, owning a medium-sized house, finding time to relax with family and friends, owning a business, and being able to travel around the country.