MANILA, July 13, 2011-In the recent Novartis Biotechnology Leadership Camp, Senator Edgardo J. Angara urged the Philippine government to use science and technology as one of its chief poverty-alleviation measures.
Angara said that there is a need to improve the country's scientific and technological capacity to boost national competitiveness which, in turn, would stimulate wealth and job creation in the annual gathering of young biotechnology and life sciences students and graduates.
“The Philippines' competitiveness, as measured by international rankings, slips every year or improves only marginally because of lack of technological capacity,” he said, adding that the government has to realize that technological R&D is a critical tool for economic growth because it enables a country to produce innovations that would improve overall productivity, whether in manufacturing, agriculture, services or healthcare.
“Keeping to a business as usual attitude will have little effect in denting poverty. A gross domestic product growth rate of 5 percent on average every year is not enough. We need to grow consistently by at least 7 percent to lower poverty incidence from about 40 percent to 15 percent,” Angara said.
“The Philippines has to keep up with the increasing competitiveness of its Asian neighbors in order to capitalize on emerging trends showing that growth and wealth will be centered in Asia this century,” he added.
Angara said that S&T and R&D are the only ways by which the Philippines will prevent being left behind, citing studies by the European Commission and the Asian Development Bank. (Jason de Asis)
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