NEWS UPDATE: A better Philippines promised by President Rodrigo Duterte!

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte promised to make the country even more competitive in the region,on his last day at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vietnam. The government will also focus on education, with the President suggesting that Filipino school children should learn the basics about cyberspace and digital communications.

“And I will make that mandatory,” Duterte said.

There must be an improvement in food security, he said, noting that while the country allocates vast tracts of land for commercial cultivation of crops for the export market, ensuring enough local supply of food must be given priority.

The government will also focus on education, with the President suggesting that Filipino school children should learn the basics about cyberspace and digital communications.

Duterte said the government will also increase infrastructure spending to “realize the ‘Golden Age of Infrastructure’ that will enhance mobility and connectivity.”

Despite criticisms from farmers’ groups on his alleged failure to fully implement the land reform program, President Duterte intends to make good on his election promise to back agrarian reform and uplift the lives of farmers.

“I am for land reform. That was one of the things I mentioned during the campaign and I will not renege on it,” said Duterte


Duterte admitted that the country’s agriculture is “really lagging behind” other sectors “almost to a fault” and that “the only way to improve it really is to give more lands if we can afford it.”

“Investor confidence in the Philippines just went through the roof. And with the Association of Southeast Asian Summit, we can expect the country to receive a tidal wave of foreign investments and financial packages that otherwise would have not been offered to us with a different president,” he said.