The Philippines need to build a nationalist industrial policy to have industries that will maximize the country's capacity to produce its own capital goods, according to a University of the Philippines (UP) professor.
During the #PILIpiLUNAS2022 virtual forum, UP College of Science Dean Dr. Giovanni Tapang said the country must build a nationalist industrial policy to prioritize production for domestic consumption.
“The development of the local industrial economy really has to look at where we want to bring this industrial economy to. To what end are we developing industries because we can actually ask foreign investors to build their industries for us, but at the end, even though we will have those industries, can we actually sustain them without continually depending on these foreign investments?” Tapang said.
Tapang added that the country needs genuine investments in science and technology.
“National industrialization really plays a part in developing science and technology and science and technology will be key towards building those industries that we will be needing in the future,” he continued.
Meanwhile, UP College of Engineering Associate Dean for Research Dr. Gerald Jo Denoga said the country needs to develop policies that "will bring the academe and industry closer" and "policies that will promote technology-driven, evidence-based decisions."
“We get ideas from the evolving world, from our students who bring their work experiences, and from industry,” Denoga added.
In boosting the textile and garments industry, UP Institute for Small-Scale Industries Head of Training and Entrepreneurship Education Division Dr. Rolando Ramon Diaz said the country should also improve its production processes and support micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
“We need to enhance the government's participation in enabling textile and garment MSME to access finance and credit,” Diaz furthered.
“As we move on to promote knowledge-based innovation-driven development, there is a pressing need to promote technology as a collective goal. government needs to raise its investment in research and development and to mobilize the science and technology community to strengthen small and medium enterprises' participation in the country’s modernization efforts,”
UP Asian Center Professor Dr. Antoinette Raquiza added.