ON THE eve of his second State of the Nation Address (Sona), Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (Agham) reminded President Aquino that the country under his administration continues to suffer massive brain drain. Many of us S&T (science and technology) professionals still find it hard to land jobs that suit our skills and expertise.
The Department of Science and Technology graduated more than 1,400 scholars in school year 2009-2010, but it’s highly doubtful if they have found jobs in an industry that is very small and almost non-existent in the Philippines.
Over a year into his presidency, P-Noy has still no plan to establish national industries. His economic platform remains much like that of his predecessors: export-oriented and heavily reliant on imports.
The Philippines remains an exporter of cheap raw materials but imports expensive finished products. In the meantime, the government continues to adhere to a program that encourages the mass export of our highly talented human resources.
Last July, the DOST announced it would use the Internet and the communications technology to help expand and sustain the burgeoning business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. Science and Technology Secretary Mario G. Montejo said that the DOST has the mandate and knowledge resources to raise the number of BPO workforce “in a significant way.” This emphasis on the BPO industry only shows the current administration’s mindset as to science and technology. Instead of locally producing tools and machineries for agriculture and other equally important aspects of our economy, the administration toes the line of foreign big business and international lending institutions, as its predecessors did—that is, set aside its dream of building strong domestic industries to serve foreign monopolies with cheap English-speaking workforce.
The S&T community in the Philippines calls on President Aquino to institute a comprehensive reform program that would include national industrialization. It should prioritize a genuine agrarian reform to ensure food security and self-sufficiency; this way we can more firmly build the foundations of national industrial development. Furthermore, it will provide the support and infrastructure needed to harness the capabilities of our local, world-class scientists in addressing local problems and boosting domestic industrialization.
We call on all well-meaning scientists, engineers and other S&T professionals to join Agham in its advocacies and call on the current administration to put in place an industrial environment where we can practice our technical knowledge and skills to help propel our country from the agrarian stage to the industrial stage.
—GIOVANNI TAPANG, PhD,
national chair,
Advocates of Science and Technology
for the People (Agham),
agham@agham.org