Towards an Inclusive, Sustainable and Green Philippine Economy

The neo-liberal framework, which has guided development in the Philippines for nearly four decades, has produced economic growth without creating enough jobs for the job seekers. With a stagnating industrial sector and a collapsing agricultural sector, growth has been fuelled mainly by the remittances of millions of overseas Filipino workers and immigrants. The sustainability of the economy is further threatened by an environmental crisis and climate change-induced calamities that have been occurring in the country with alarming frequency.To make the economy sustainable economically and environmentally, the author argues that the country has little choice but to embrace an inclusive, sustainable and green development framework. Inclusiveness means empowerment of the people through an all- out implementation of social and economic reforms such as agrarian reform. Greening means the renewal of the environment through reforestation, the development of green industries such as the renewables, and the greening of existing industries, turning “brown” technologies into more efficient ones and workers into environmental crusaders. All these necessitate an overhaul of the failed neo-liberal policy framework and adoption of an Industrial Policy that promotes green/greener industries and value-adding inter-sectoral linkages, technological and environmental innovations and skills upgrading.