UP profs urge next admin to focus on jobs, healthcare

A week before Filipino choose their new leaders in an election, top professors from the University of the Philippines (UP) pitched policy recommendations to aid the next administration in its governance reforms.

In the online forum on Friday, UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo said the UPD Task Force on Nation Building (TFNB), a multidisciplinary body under the Office of the Chancellor, was organized as the university’s contribution to the public conversation on policy alternatives leading up and beyond the upcoming polls.

“It is the university’s response on the two imperatives of the times. The first is the COVID-19 pandemic and our transition to the post pandemic situation. The second, is the coming national and local elections which is heightened debates and policy issues political platforms on our country’s future,” Nemenzo said in his opening remarks.

“Our country’s response has been constrained by governance issues and the lack of development of resources. The crisis has opened up an opportunity to build the country’s development track and rethink its direction. There is a need for new and bold policies, processes and practices for a sustainable and equitable future for all Filipinos,” he added.

Dr. Renato Reside, associate professor at the UP School of Economics, said th COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges in the economic sector including closure of businesses, increase in unemployment, and significant amount of debt for health and economic stimulus.

“This means the Philippines need to exert a mix of effort by government to pursue health and productivity enhancing expenditures like infrastructure spending, replenishing our resources through tax reforms on electronic commerce and other means, building an environment that will enhance competitiveness of industries by improving business laws and regulation and strengthening export industries," Reside said.

Among the other recommendations are upgrading social protection of vulnerable groups and improving delivery of social services, and investing in education and training of workers to improve productivity and enable workers to absorb emerging technologies to support employment given the structural changes taking place in the economy.

Assistant professor Ma. Ivy Claudio from the UP College of Mass Communication discussed the national social protection floor, citing that there is no adequate social protection coverage to insulate Filipinos from contingent risks.

“Implementation of social protection programs in the country is characterized by fragmentation, incoherence, duplication, and gaps. The adoption of the National Social Protection Floor (NSPF) would address these institutional challenges,” she said.

According to Claudio, the NSPF, which is rights-based and universal, should be institutionalized for inclusive development, poverty eradication, and promotion of health and well-being.

Dr. Dina Ocampo, professor from the UP College of Education, cited the poor access to technology and connectivity hinders access to learning delivery and opportunities and lack of support in higher education.

“The government should ensure a consistent quality and equitable access to higher education, alternative systems of learning as well as flexible accreditation and recognition systems should be institutionalized,” Ocampo said.

She also recommended that the government invest in technology and connectivity especially in rural areas. Teachers must also be provided with adequate training to equip them in effectively handling the online and in-person modules.

On industrial policy, Dr. Giovanni Tapang dean of College of Science said the country's manufacturing sector needs a boost to contribute in economic recovery.

“There is a need to promote an industrial policy that prioritizes the development of the small and medium enterprise sector as the building blocks of industrial development, promotes synergies among manufacturing, agriculture and services, builds Filipino ingenuity and capacities toward the development of niche industries, and jumpstarts structural transformation,” he said.

Dr. Noriel Tiglao, professor from the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, said there is a serious economic loss due to inefficient transport systems.

Tiglao said there is a need to sustain the momentum of reforms through the Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program, adding that the transport sector must transform into an “environmentally sustainable system.”

With only a few days before the May 9 elections, Dr. Jorge Tigno, professor from the UP Department of Political Science, said politics in the Philippines has “evolved into a largely personal and personality oriented system.”

He said that there is a serious challenge to reforming the political system towards making it “more representative, accountable, and effective, and making it truly effective and public oriented.”

Among his recommendations was to introduce tandem voting, remove the three-seat cap in the party-list representation, desynchronize national and local elections, and call for reforms not only during elections.

For local governance, professor Dr. Maria Ela Atienza of UP Department of Political Science said there should be an increase in the local government units’ capacity building on effective financial management and resource mobilization.

She added that there must be improved coordination among different levels of government, strengthen the implementation of accountability and transparency, and conduct regular consultations with the national government agencies and other stakeholders.

Professor Herman Joseph Kraft of the UP Department of Political Science said the Philippines has failed to establish stable and consistent foreign relations with long-term national goals.

Kraft said that the country’s foreign policy should sustain a strong and secure regional alliance to manage the new realities amid the heightened tension in the West Philippine Sea.

He added that research on the WPS should be funded, while exploration, exploitation, and management activities should also be promoted and maintained.—LDF, GMA News