No Lights, No Rights

As the world races toward an era of development with the rise of Artificial Intelligence and biotechnology, the Philippine scientific community is seen last in this race, sounding a desperate alarm to its government.

According to data from the Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM), the nation’s science and technology sector is critically underfunded and underperforming— far behind south east asian and international standards.

Bea Panlaqui, officer-in-charge of AGHAM and a research associate at UP Diliman’s National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, noted that scientists are "frustrated."

As such, it is critical for the government to heed the calls of its innovators, as the country may lose its brightest minds, who ignite scientific change in the nation.

Despite the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s recommendation that developing countries allocate at least 1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to research and development, the Philippines allotted only 0.32% of its GDP in 2018, while neighboring countries like Singapore spent 2.2% and Thailand 1.3%.

The trajectory of the Philippines’ scientific community leads to a bottomless pit—a void of the possible researchers the nation could have yielded as it instead produces countless graduates that the nation could not even sustain. 

Although the country may prioritize other sectors in government, it has shown to be of little impact to the national development, based on the overflowing cases of corruption and political stagnancy. 

In fact, the Department of Science and Technology has been the key in driving national growth and sustaining human capital—evident with the agency offering scholarship programs to its countrymen and leading the path to innovation with its initiatives, like ELEV8PH.

Therefore, the imperative to ensure the rights of these scientists for the simple light in their laboratories is critical in combatting the Philippines’ substandard performance in the scientific community.