Sen. Loren Legarda on Friday urged policymakers to pursue greener, more inclusive and value-driven growth following weaker-than-expected economic performance in 2025.

Legarda said the latest data showing fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth of only 3 percent — the slowest quarterly expansion in nearly 15 years outside the pandemic — should prompt a reassessment of existing development assumptions.

Full-year growth settled at 4.4 percent, well below the government’s target and the lowest annual rate since 2011.

“These economic figures must be understood in context. They invite us to reflect on whether our development strategies are responding effectively to today’s realities,” Legarda said.

She noted that the Development Budget Coordination Committee’s decision to lower medium-term revenue projections through 2028 underscores the need for more prudent fiscal management and structural reform, as investment momentum and fiscal space tighten.

Legarda said decades of growth driven largely by large-scale, concrete-heavy infrastructure have exposed vulnerabilities when governance failures and weak oversight undermine public spending.

“These challenges affect the entire economy,” she said, citing impacts on logistics, food prices, local enterprise growth, education outcomes, and household incomes.

She said the country has a policy foundation for an alternative growth path anchored on sustainability and resilience, pointing to landmark laws she authored or championed, including the Clean Air Act, Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, Renewable Energy Act, Climate Change Act, People’s Survival Fund, Environmental Awareness and Education Act, and the Philippine Ecosystem and Natural Capital Accounting System law.

“We do not need to start from zero. We have laws that embed sustainability and resilience into the core of economic planning,” Legarda said.

As co-chair of the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II), Legarda said education reform must advance alongside economic planning, noting recent findings on learning gaps and skills mismatch.

“Economic planning and education reform must move in tandem. Unless we invest in human growth, progress will remain uneven and fragile,” she said.

Legarda said a development framework that links sustainability, innovation, and education can generate decent jobs, attract responsible investments, and strengthen local economies.

“We must move away from growth that excludes and toward development that uplifts every sector of society,” she said. (PNA)