NEW YORK, USA — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said that the ultimate goal of his economic agenda is to ensure that not one more Filipino will go hungry again.
Marcos said this as he met with members of the Asia Society in New York City on September 23 (New York time).
In a short interview with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the President admitted that while it was a simple aim, achieving it is different.
"It's a very simple aim. It's a very simple goal. But I dare say, it is not necessarily a simple problem to solve, and it requires a great deal of effort and thinking on the part of the public sector," he said.
Marcos said the government is this would be possible if the public and private sectors would work together.
"We hope to leverage whatever it is that the government can do to maximize the effects of what development we are able to encourage and to the benefit of those who have come to help us, our partners, our investors, and of course to the benefit of the ordinary Filipino," he said.
"We have managed to engage our private sector partners to be part of this effort. I do not think that we could manage to do this by ourselves in the public sector," he added.
Not business as usual
President Marcos said as the Philippines recovers from the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, it cannot be "business as usual."
"We now have to find new solutions. Business as usual in our view simply has no place in that because it is not business as usual," he said.
"The pandemic basically has changed everything. We live differently, we work differently, we study differently, and our social contacts are done differently," he added.
Marcos cited the following areas that needed improvement in the country: digitalization, industrialization, energy supply, and agriculture.
"In these areas, we are still playing catch-up. But that's not where we want to go. We don't want to just catch up," he said.
"We want to go beyond that. We have no interest in going back to pre-pandemic levels," he added.
According to Marcos, he wanted to bring the Philippines to greater heights.
"What we are interested in is to flourish further and to position the Philippines in such a way that we can take full advantage of the new economies and the new industries that have come to light," he said.