President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. emphasized the importance of transformation over recovery in his speech at the Blair House in Washington on Thursday.
He stated that the Philippines must adapt to the changing global market in order to progress and thrive in the new world.
"I do not view it as they said how do we get out of this hole? The hole that the pandemic put us in? I said: ‘Well I see it in a different way.’ I think because – that’s why I do not use “recovery”, the word recovery, I use the word transformation. Because we are not trying to recover to where we used to be. We are trying to transform ourselves to be part of the modern world," he said.
The President sees the Covid-19 pandemic as a grand opportunity for transformation rather than a setback to be recovered from.
He envisions the Philippines to be in the middle of the new economy rather than back to where it was before the pandemic hit.
Marcos expressed optimism about the young Filipino workforce, with an average age of 23 to 24, who are well-trained and speak English.
"Well, the optimism, number one, comes from our workforce. I have a 107 million population and 60 percent of that are working. And those – we have the youngest, we have the youngest I don’t know in the world but certainly in Asia," the chief executive said
He believes that the country can quickly transform itself with the help of these young individuals and noted that the right approach is essential for stronger investment and well-structured value chains in the service and manufacturing sectors.
