Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua reiterated his call to innovate basic sectors to ensure that the engines for growth are well-established for the long term to eradicate “extreme poverty” and become a high-income country by 2040.

“The country’s economic performance has exceeded expectations in 2021. We expect to recover to the pre-pandemic level in early 2022. However, as this pandemic has shown, we cannot simply return to business as usual (except) for some city-states, no country has achieved high-income status without first addressing agricultural productivity,” said Chua in a recent Inclusive Innovation Conference 2021 hosted by Department of Trade and Industry.

Chua said policy distortions will be addressed through more innovations and reforms and it should start by innovating the most basic sector which is agriculture. The Rice Tariffication Law, for example, increased the productivity and income of rice farmers through the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, and it also brought down rice prices, he said

“We can transform our agriculture, manufacturing, and our services sectors, and provide better economic opportunities and outcomes for all,” said Chua.

Another important reforms which can be considered basic are amendments to the Public Service Act and the Philippine identification system (PhilSys).

“NEDA fully supports the urgent passage of amendments to the Public Service Act. Relaxing restrictions on foreign ownership will help us attract more investments and create more jobs that are crucial to accelerating our economic recovery,” said Chua. “This, in turn, will expose us to new ideas, best practices, and high skills in an increasingly globalized world,” he said.

As for PhilSys, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has registered 50,014,382 Filipinos to the demographic and biometric data collection as of Dec. 10.

PSA parnert, Land Bank of the Philippines, has also processed 6,786,939 bank account applications for low income families through a co-location strategy in PhilSys registration centers.

Chua said with all these reforms, the full implementation of the Philippine Innovation Act will not only ensure growth prospects but also improve the country’s global innovation index through more research, development, and adaptation of new technologies.

“Innovation is not simply about cutting-edge technology. Rather, at its core, innovation is about working together to find the best solutions to our most pressing problems – even basic ones in agriculture and financial inclusion,” said Chua.

NEDA, in its capacity as as the vice-chair of the National Innovation Council (NIC), is also developing the 10-year National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document to harmonize existing policies and strategies based on the evolving innovation ecosystems.

The NIC has for its disposal P1 billion innovation fund for 2022 to help in poverty alleviation projects.