Last week's column featured things we can do to deal with the current economic situation brought about by the conflict in the Middle East, such as proximate production, carpooling, and co-loading cargo to help us cope with the obvious challenges.

Low oil costs drive globalized trade, since petroleum fuels transport and provide the raw materials for many goods, including fertilizers for growing food. When oil prices rise significantly, so will the cost for everyone participating in the trading of goods and services in the economy. This is true for companies seeking to produce goods and services, invest in growth, and pay workers’ wages, as well as their employees going to and from work, eating meals, and providing for the education of children. For as long as oil drives trade, higher petroleum costs affect everyone’s incomes.

Nonetheless, despite this, many seem to be absorbed in the often emotionally laden tactical discussions filling our social media newsfeeds over a variety of topics pushed by algorithms. What more of us need to do is to think strategically, beyond current events, and look at the long-term situation and determine how we need to adapt to the shifts and changes we are seeing. In particular, we need to examine the outcomes that these higher costs and the possibility of fuel shortages may bring to our communities. This is especially vital in light of moves taking place between proverbial great powers, along with the economic shifts and cultural shakeups that often result from such movements through history.

With this, I believe we, who live in rural areas or regional urban centers, will need to start discussions on bolstering the capacity and capability of our local economies to provide our basic needs at prices the local populace can afford. I say this because for many of us in Mindanao, the fast-moving consumer goods such as soap, toothpaste, laundry supplies, and pharmaceutical products we consume are imported from or distributed through the industrial centers such as Metro Manila and Cebu. Higher transport costs to Mindanao’s 25 million consumers may hike prices and spike local inflation and the cost of living.

With this possibility of higher transport costs from Luzon, it is time for us in Mindanao to take stock of our industrial capabilities and determine whether we can encourage the local manufacture of such products to keep costs low. Do we have local soap manufacturers, makers of household cleaning chemicals, and laundry supplies? As the nation’s largest coconut producer, I believe that Mindanao can provide many raw materials for making soap, detergents, and other household goods. Are there companies capable of producing pharmaceutical products, particularly generic medicines?

Should manufacturers of such products be present, it would be good to encourage innovation through grants coming from the Innovation law and other incentives, including the SET-UP Program of the Department of Science and Technology, to improve productivity and lower costs. The Retail Competition Open Access (RCOA) program of the Department of Energy can help identify electricity suppliers at a lower cost. Helping local manufacturers scale production up will not only create more competitive products for the market but also increase long-term local employment. Production costs should be low enough to compete with imports, so that excess production can be sold outside of the country.

Yes, some tools can be used to bolster Mindanao’s manufacturing capabilities. What will matter is long-term collaboration between business, government, and civil society to enable manufacturing in Mindanao to be competitive in the long term to strengthen local economies.