Beyond food security: Filipinos need to be INTELLECTUALLY self-sufficient

An inability to produce and capitalise intellectual property will keep the Philippines from progressing

When the term ‘self sufficiency’ is mentioned, what often comes to mind is food. On that alone, self-sufficiency in terms of food is already a big issue in the Philippines. The Philippines is the world’s biggest importer of rice and is a major market in the region for the agricultural exports of many countries. The Philippines also imports many packaged junk food products that it does not need.

Beyond food, however, the Philippines suffers from an even more disturbing dependence on external providers. Philippine society is not intellectually self-sufficient.