Vigorous government support for Filipino inventors, scientists and other technological experts give the Philippines a good chance of luring noted businessmen like billionaire Elon Musk to invest in the country.

Partido Reporma chairman and standard bearer Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson aired this optimism as he vowed to strengthen government support for research and development if he becomes president.

Appearing as guest in the radio program “Bakit Ikaw? The DZRH Presidential Job Interview”, Lacson said brilliant minds among Filipinos will likely no longer leave the country for greener pastures abroad if people like Musk will start doing business in the Philippines.

Technology investors would look more favorably on the Philippines if the government strengthened its support for research and development, Lacson said.

“Kasi kung makita nila may suporta talaga ang gobyerno at marami tayong napalabas o na-enhance na mga talento ng Pilipinas, baka pumunta rito si Elon Musk kasi nandito ‘yung mga talent. (If investors see there’s real support from the government and we can produce and enhance the Philippines’ homegrown talents, maybe Elon Musk will come over here because the talent is here),” said Lacson.

“Baka mag-invest siya rito. Sa halip na yayayain niya ‘yung ating mga inventors, mga scientists papunta doon sa Amerika at doon—mas gusto niya siguro magtayo ng factory dito sa Pilipinas para ‘yung ating mga kababayan ang gagawa. (Maybe he (Musk) would even invest here. Instead of recruiting our investors, our scientists going to America and earning a living there – he’d probably build a factory here in the Philippines so our countrymen could work in them.” the senator said.

But the three-term senator said the Philippines could not attract any tech investors to the country if research and development continues to take a backseat in the country.

“‘Yung sinabi kong future-proof strategy... Alam mo ang pinaka-greatest asset ng ating bansa? Our people. Hindi natin naha-harness kaya nag-aalisan. (The future-proof strategy I mentioned... Do you know what our country’s greatest asset is? Our people. We are not harnessing them, so they are leaving.),” Lacson explained.

Even when he was Chief of the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001, Lacson said he was pushing to strengthen the organization’s R&D because he experienced the problems related to low funding for innovation and improving processes and services.

“Kaya malaking parte ng mga institutional amendments ko, dagdag na budget para sa research and development. Diyan naman tayo aasenso. It may be long-term, ano. kasi... Pero ang dami nating mga talents, sinasayang natin; nangingibang bansa at ‘yung kanilang mga—kasama sila sa pag-imbento doon, ‘yon ang ating binibili, napakamahal.(That’s why a big part of the institutional amendments I made (in the Senate) are additional budgets for research and development. That’s where we will prosper. It may be for the long term... But we have so many talents that we’re wasting; they’re going abroad and their (output) – they are part of the inventions we are buying, which are expensive.),” said the presidential candidate.

Lacson lamented that the government is only spending 0.4 percent of the national budget on R&D, which Lacson thinks should be raised to at least 1 percent so that Filipino homegrown talent can be harnessed with more government support.

“We will be the ones to reap the fruits (of their inventions) as we progress,” the presidential bet said, noting that China was spending significantly on their R&D, which is reflected in their high gross domestic product (GDP),” he said.