Human capital is the Philippines’ mostimportant resource. Two examples of its benefit to thecountry: remittances from skilled and semi-skilled workerswho work abroad amount to about 10 percent of its GDP, andit is one of the top destinations for foreign enterprisesseeking educated workers for outsourcing their businessprocesses. However, the Philippines has been losing itshuman capital edge over the past decades, with critical gapsin access to social services and in the quality of thoseservices. In 2018, its rating on the Human Capital Index, acomposite measure based on survival rates, the quantity andquality of schooling, and health status, was 0.55, puttingit just ahead of Indonesia but well below Malaysia,Thailand, and Vietnam. Within the past decade, thePhilippines adopted an ambitious national social agendathat, if implemented well, funded adequately, and monitoredassiduously, could put it back on a more robust humandevelopment path. All efforts should be made, however, tosafeguard this promising agenda from the implementationproblems that evidence suggests have subverted the country’spast performance, weak governance, selfish politicalinterest, and widespread corruption. Sound policies won’tlead to progress unless they are implemented well across theagencies and levels of government.
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