PHL R&D progressing, but still behind Asean neighbors

WHILE government scientists noted the Philippines’s progress in research and development (R&D), its level is still behind some member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Science Secretary Mario G. Montejo told the BusinessMirror he estimates that the country’s R&D output has increased by 300 percent.

“That could probably be in line with the regional, if not global, trend,” Montejo said citing the leading role of the Philippines in the health research field in view of the “One Asean 2015” initiative.

R&D is a key component in science and technology, an area of cooperation of the envisioned “Asean Harmonization” of the economies of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Jaime C. Montoya of the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD), an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), said in a news briefing that the Philippines is preparing for that reality when these countries enact a “shared R&D system.”

“We are not worried about the harmonization of standards. Some countries would have to raise their standards while those that currently apply strict standards would have to ‘lower’ these a little so that other Asean member-countries can comply,” Montoya told reporters.

Montoya, PCHRD executive director, said preparation for this reality is seen in the increase in the DOST’s budget for R&D.

He noted that the DOST budget alone has increased by 100 percent since 2010, from almost P5 billion to P10 billion this year.

More than 50 percent of that, Montoya said, goes to R&D as embedded in the maintenance, operating and other expenses.

He noted that 60 percent of the PCHRD budget alone is for R&D.

Montejo, however, noted that such figure is for the DOST only.

“All departments have R&D components, so I guess the total R&D output would be higher,” the DOST chief told the BusinessMirror.

However, while Montoya believes the budget would increase in the following years, “it’s still small.”

“Even if the budget looks big in absolute terms, it’s still small compared to other departments.”

The size of the government’s allocation for science and technology, much less R&D, has allowed other Asean member-countries to boost their R&D capability, according to Montoya.

“In terms of ratio of the R&D personnel per million population, we’re still low. In fact, we’re almost at the tail end. We’re just a bit higher than Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Even Vietnam is ahead of us.”

According to a Philippine Senate report, the country only has 165 personnel per million population in 2005, which is a far cry from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) recommended standard of 380 science and technology personnel per million population.

Data from the Unesco revealed that in 2005, the Philippines only has 0.44 R&D personnel per thousand total employment compared to Singapore’s 15.15 and Thailand’s 1.85.

Indonesia, the Unesco data revealed, is higher at 0.59 per thousand total employment.

“This should serve as a wake-up call for us because S&T [science and technology] is the way to go in a knowledge capital-driven world,” Montoya said. –Dennis D. Estopace, Businessmirror