A Pathway to Development
If we’d take look at the development in the context of the Philippines, some of you might raise your brows or shake your head or even roll your eyes because let’s face it we’re at that point where we’re close to giving up on our country. But let’s try to narrow everything down and specify why we’re stuck and why we can’t seem to progress.
If we talk about technology, I might say that I commend the technological advances happening in the Philippines. For one, we now have our own Diwata 1 & 2 microsatellites. The goal is to send the two microsatellites into space to assist in disaster management programs, weather forecasting, agriculture, fisheries, forest protection, mining, and even the protection of cultural and historical sites. Another project which aims to improve the disaster risk reduction and management of the Philippines is Project NOAH. Here’s the description of the official gazette website about the project: Project NOAH is the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) response to the call of President Benigno S. Aquino III for a more accurate, integrated, and responsive disaster prevention and mitigation system, especially in high-risk areas throughout the Philippines. The Project will harness technologies and management services for disaster risk reduction activities offered by the DOST through PAGASA, PHIVOLCS, and the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), in partnership with the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences and the UP College of Engineering. You know what’s sad about this, though? It’s that it has a great purpose but it’s stopped because there isn’t enough budget and support from the government and that’s why I don’t think that the Philippines is in its right path through national development, structurally.
Let’s simply observe the policies of the current administration. It’s all obscure and too much. First is the famous oplan tokhang, this policy is violating human rights. Next is the people I power are incompetent, take Mocha Uson for example when she was still in post. She frustrated the hell out of all of us. The failed implementation of the TRAIN Law that made our inflation rate blow up making basic necessities pricey is also so infuriating that makes our economic state obviously, underdeveloped and there’s no sign of recovery. Imagine an agricultural country importing rice.
If we’d observe Filipino values as of today, I might say that it is somehow a good thing that most youth are more open-minded, accepting, understanding and most of all, loving. A lot of Filipino youth have been “woke” in social and political issues. The only problem I see is that not everyone is like these “woke kids” because there are still a lot out there in social media who are still being shaped for every meme that they see. One example that makes me cringe is the Larry Gadon memes. It has become his accidental publicity material now to make people vote him and what bothers me the most is that most people will actually vote for this guy just because he became a meme!
I don’t know how long we’ll be stuck in this situation, I don’t know how long will it take for us to recover but one thing is for sure, we have to do something. After reading this, I encourage you to please stand from your seat and do something. Do something for your country. Do something for the people.
Sources:
https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/d/diwata-1
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/programs/about-project-noah/
