To the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) Executive Committee headed by no less than your President Dr. Edgar Orden, Science City of Muñoz Mayor Baby Armi Alvarez, our colleagues from other National Government Agencies, professors, senior officers, personnel, and staff of CLSU, and to the bright and promising students of CLSU, magandang umaga po.

Assalamu alaikum wa Raḥmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

First, I thank CLSU for inviting me to deliver this keynote speech in this year’s Research Innovation and Development (RIDe) Festival. Your theme—Research for Development or R4D: Key to a Sustainable Society—resonates with the advocacies that we have been continuously pushing for: innovation and sustainability. And I believe we are in the best place to hold this dialogue as we are in the Science City of Muñoz, the first and only Science City in the Philippines.

The importance of innovation in fueling development and driving economic growth has been recognized globally. According to the OECD or the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the build-up of innovation capacities has played a central role in the growth dynamics of successful developing countries. 

A robust innovation ecosystem can help create jobs, increase productivity, and enhance our competitiveness. And, it is for this reason that the present administration is investing heavily in innovation and technology.

Establishing a dynamic innovation ecosystem is at the heart of the socioeconomic transformation agenda of the Philippine Development Plan or PDP 2023 to 2028. The PDP outlines that, over the medium term, the government will provide a nurturing environment for basic research and development or R&D and knowledge creation; support market-driven and customer-centered R&D; scale up technology adoption, utilization, and commercialization; and promote an innovation culture and entrepreneurship.

This RIDe Festival is also timely and relevant. Last September 27, I joined the launch of the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document 2023 to 2032 led by no less than our President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. In his speech, PBBM reiterated the commitment of the Administration to make innovation an indispensable component of our nation’s development agenda, and a key driver in our vision to achieve a truly smart and innovative Philippines. 

Guided by this, we will bolster spending for research and development; support local enterprises; ensure food security through smart agricultural inputs to empower local producers; facilitate efficient and secure financial services; accelerate digitalization efforts to boost manufacturing processes and commercialization of products and services; improve mobility through better urban-rural linkages, and reduce carbon footprints of our transport systems.

And, I am proud to share that this places us on the right track. In the 2023 Global Innovation Index, which was also released last September 27, the Philippines was reported to rank 56th out of 132 economies—climbing three spots—with the country’s innovation inputs improving for the first time since 2020. And given this performance, the country joined a group of middle-income economies such as China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia that rose the fastest in ranking over the last decade. 

The government recognizes that innovation begins with investing in our people, including our youth, and nurturing a conducive environment and culture for innovation. And so we will do this through Filipinnovation, a term coined by our friends from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Filipinnovation is the whole-of-government approach to inclusive innovation. Through Filipinnovation, we eliminate silos as government agencies no longer work in isolation, and consequently, the impact of government funding is optimized with a multiplier effect. Seeing the promising research and technologies that you, our dear students, have devised makes me confident that we can further elevate Filipinnovation into a whole-of-nation approach.

On our end at the Department of Budget and Management, we have committed ourselves to ensuring that our national budget—the People’s Budget—will secure a future-proof and sustainable economy toward our Agenda for Prosperity while investing in our people, advancing research and development, and promoting a culture of innovation in our country.

Hence, under the proposed Fiscal Year 2024 National Budget, we allocated a total of Php 25.94 billion to DOST, equivalent to a 4.5 percent increase compared to this year’s budget. This includes Php 8.23 billion for the Grants-in-Aid Program, which covers Php 3.61 billion to support our National S&T Agenda, such as the Science for Change and Small Enterprises Technology Upgrading Programs.

Some Php 1.33 billion will also be provided for the Research and Development initiatives of State Universities and Colleges. And the good news is that we have allocated roughly around Php 50 million for CLSU. Meanwhile, some Php 100 million is allotted for NEDA’s Innovation Fund, which aims to support enterprises engaged in developing innovative solutions that would benefit the country’s underprivileged sectors.

Adapting innovations in the Philippine agriculture sector is likewise crucial for enhancing productivity, resilience, and sustainability, especially since we aim to transform and modernize agriculture into a dynamic and high-growth sector. Thus, Php 1.5 billion will be allotted to the DOST’s National Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Sector R&D Program. This will fund facility development, capacity building, and research projects that will supplement the R&D initiatives of the banner programs under the Department of Agriculture.

We will complement this with up-to-date digital infrastructure and technologies. Thus, the proposed budget includes some Php 38.75 billion for digitalization using a whole-of-government approach to digitalization. This increased by 60.6 percent from its Php 24.93 billion budget in 2023. 

To propel economic transformation for a prosperous, inclusive, and innovative society, we will also scale up sustainable and green investments with a total amount of Php 543.4 billion for our climate expenditures, equivalent to 9.4 percent of the proposed FY 2024 National Budget. This covers Water Sufficiency projects, followed by Sustainable Energy, Food Security, Knowledge and Capacity Development, Climate Smart Industries and Services, and cross-cutting actions such as technology transfer, research and development, information, education and communication, and capacity building.

As you can see, the Administration is as dedicated and hopeful as you are. As we do our part, I hope you will also pursue the research and technologies that you will showcase at this Festival, because they are all very promising. They have a lot of potential not only in realizing the vision of CLSU to be a world-class National Research University for science and technology in agriculture and allied fields but also in contributing to nation-building. 

And before I end, I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to the whole CLSU community for your proactive research on crops, farm resources, agricultural or environmental engineering, and fisheries and livestock, among others. Research propels our humanity forward. Driven by curiosity, we open possibilities, find solutions, and pave the way for progress. Hence, you are also opening possibilities, finding solutions, and paving the way for progress in our agricultural sector—which was paid less attention in the past and given little funding to prosper.

To our dear students, you are blessed and privileged to receive quality education from your beloved university. I hope you will use this privilege to make the most of your education and uplift the lives of our fellow Filipinos who do not enjoy the same. To find ways, through innovation, to make living easier for those who have it difficult in life, and to help our farmers, fisherfolks, agriculturists, agricultural workers, and other members of the informal sector. 

Indeed, this is what Bagong Pilipinas is all about—innovation with impact—our key to a sustainable society, even beyond our Agenda for Prosperity.

Thank you very much.

Wabillahi Tawfiq Wal Hidaya, Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.