Let’s have long term development plans!

WE ARE supposed to have “Ambisyon 2040” and the “Medium Term Philippine Development Plan” ( MTPDP) for 2023 to 2028 as two separate documents that were officially adapted the government.

As I understand it, “Ambisyon” is a road map, while MTPDP is a plan, even if I do not understand exactly what is the difference between the two.

Although “Ambisyon” does not seem to be a plan, it does seem to contain some “wishes” of what should happen or what could happen on or before 2040. That sounds good, but it seems that “Ambisyon” is really more of a “wish list”, with no one really accountable whether something happens or not.

As I see it, what is obviously missing is areal long term development plan that that goes beyond 2028, and even beyond 2040. In the absence of such a plan, we do not really know what are national targets are beyond those time frames.

I say that we must correct this discrepancy, and I also say that we must even plan for 100 years or more, perhaps up to 2128.

Every time that a new cabinet member is appointed, he or she comes up with his or her action programs as if his or her programs do not have existing programs at all. While his or her innovative spirit may be good for his or her department, it would be bad if he or she disregards the existing programs.

The fact is, all cabinet members are supposed to base their action programs on both “Ambisyon” and the MTPDP for the most part.

LET’S CONTROL INVASIVE PLANT SPECIES

I have already written about invasive marine species, but I was surprised to find out that there are also invasive plant species.

In the case of invasive marine species, it is clearly the BFAR that is in charge. But who is in charge of invasive plant species?

Is it the Bureau of Plant Industry ( BPI), or is it the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB)?

My first question is, is the government fully aware or conscious about the need to control invasive plant species?

My second question is, does the government know what are the species that they are supposed to control?

Based on my limited research, these are large leaf mahogany, paper mulberry, Siam weed, coronitas, water hyacinth and believe it or not, ipil-ipil. Among the six, water hyacinth is the most widely known, because they are so pervasive and are seen all over the country.

Two of them have been here so long that they have already acquired local names. Siam weed is known as Hagonoy, and coronitas is known as baho-baho. Water hyacinth is also commonly known as water lily.

Just to be clear, not all alien plant species are invasive, and many are not destructive. I think what is important is for the government and the people to know which is which, so that we both would know if we come face to face with the problem.

We know where to find the water lilies, but what about the other five? Perhaps what is needed is a location map so that we would know where to control them./