Faculty-Marked Assignment: An Assessment on the Alignment of the Ambisyon
Natin 2040 with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Student name: Rey Gabriel A. Granada
Degree program: Master of Arts in Urban and Regional Planning
Student no.: 202122203
Subject: Plan 239 B: Integrating Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in
Urban Development Strategies and Approaches
Professor: Merlina G. Panganiban, CBP, Eng, EnP, PhD
Date: September 18, 2025
Ambisyon Natin 2040 is a general vision statement crafted by the Department of Economy,
Planning and Development (DEPDev) in 2016 to serve as an anchor for national planning and
development in the Philippines.1 A year before, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was launched
by the United Nations, and is a comprehensive set of 17 targeted goals with highly specific indicators
geared towards the planet’s long-term sustainability. At first glance, it is impossible for Ambisyon Natin
2040 to perfectly match every target included in the SDGs, and simply viewing it in a lens of alignment or
congruence can be limiting–mainly due to the context of how the two frameworks were created. While
both were formed through a similar, rigorous methodology involving focus group discussions (FGDs),
surveys, and inter-agency collaboration, a lot of their key differences stem from two elements: structure
and scale. We will try to analyze how this is manifested and the corresponding cultural and local contexts
behind it.
Who is the Filipino?
Matatag, maginhawa, at panatag. Ambisyon Natin 2040 opens with this set of adjectives
describing who the Filipino aspires to be. Matatag (strongly-rooted) pertains to notions of family ties,
sense of community, and strength–not only in numbers–but in the unwavering camaraderie formed by
societal bonds which enable the Filipino to survive tough times and thrive, together. Meanwhile,
maginhawa (comfortable), describes the ease and convenience of a life away from hunger, poverty,
illiteracy, displacement, and discomfort, which allow the Filipino to embrace his full potential, see the
world, and be a contributing member of society. And finally, panatag (secure) illustrates the fulfillment of
a psychological sense of confidence and pride in living and having lived as a Filipino: sufficient
retirement savings, personal safety and insurance, and high government trust.
This simple, straightforward, values-based framework was publicly unveiled in 2016 with the
warm support of national officials[2][3] and local communities4 alike. It is a 25-year “collective long-term
vision”, “picture of the future”, and the product of a year-long visioning process, Filipino 2040:
Aspirations, Values, and Principles of Filipino People, among more than 300 focus group discussion
participants and nearly 10,000 survey respondents. It was envisioned to be a basis of unity among
Filipinos5 aimed to socially diagnose the prevailing principles, attitudes, and aspirations guiding their
everyday lives. Formulating a national vision required an inward-looking study which didn’t concern
1
National Economic and Development Authority. (2016). About AmBisyon Natin 2040. https://tinyurl.com/mr3nuazs
2
Cordero, J.T., GMA News. (2016, October 14). Duterte signs EO adopting 25-yr. plan to wipe out poverty. GMA News Online.
https://tinyurl.com/yfj3pzwh
3
Dioquino, R.J., GMA News. (2016, November 15). Robredo, NEDA call for unity to achieve PHL 25-year plan vs. poverty. GMA
News Online. https://tinyurl.com/4rchtp9j
4
Calabarzon embraces AMBisyon Natin 2040 | DEPDEV Regional Office IV-A. (2016, December 9). https://tinyurl.com/22zm4b3h
5
National Economic and Development Authority. (n.d.). FILIPINO 2040: Aspirations, values, and principles of Filipino people. In
Technical Details of the National Survey.
itself with international linkages and relationships nor the place of the Filipino in the broader, global
community. It forced the respondents to confront the gaps between our everyday realities and what we
want to achieve as a nation–but before we are able to do so, we must know who we are first. And
deducing from Ambisyon Natin 2040, who we are right now is less than matatag, less than maginhawa,
and less than panatag.
Its launch in 2016, and subsequent mainstreaming through the Philippine Development Plan
(PDP) 2023-2028, enabled local governments to have a benchmark upon which they can base and
harmonize their Comprehensive Land Use Plans (CLUPs) and Comprehensive Development Plans
(CDPs) onto–effectively adapting the principles of Ambisyon Natin 2040 to the local context. Through
this, the Filipinos’ collective vision can be translated into timely, tangible, and realistic measures that
solicit cooperation and collective action. But there are still challenges. Because while the values-based
approach of the Ambisyon Natin 2040 proved conceptually sophisticated and understandable by the
layman, it is this abstractive quality that can be an obstacle for planners during adaptation especially to
projects, programs, and activities (PPAs) that will need funding and logistics. It is also this quality which
can make progress difficult to monitor.
The Filipino Family
The word family appears four times in the eight-page long-form version of the Ambisyon Natin
2040. This is equal to the number of times it appears in the Global Indicator Framework for the
Sustainable Development Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development6–a 23-page
disaggregated list of the specific indicators for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This comparison is
quite telling of the everyday Filipino’s attitude towards family–we are close-knit, child-centred peoples7
who view our families’ wellbeing as equally valuable as our own.8
What distinguishes Ambisyon Natin 2040 from the SDGs in terms of family focus is how it
embeds the family as a core unit of both vision and policy aspiration, rather than treating it as one among
many stakeholders. The long-term vision explicitly says “the life that people want is centered on creating
an environment where the family’s future is secure, they are together, and safe from threats…”9 This is not
just about ensuring welfare or human rights in individual terms, but reinforcing the idea that families
together—multi-generational, community-oriented—are the building blocks of societal stability. The
phrasing sees the family as both the recipient of development (secure, together, safe) and the locus of
aspirations (home, shared futures, upbringing of children). In contrast, many of the SDGs, while
committing to social goods like education (Goal 4), health (Goal 3), and decent work (Goal 8), tend to do
so via measurable, often individual-level targets and indicators (child mortality, school enrolment, income
statistics) rather than qualitative vision statements about family togetherness, security and
interdependence.
This difference matters in practice: by giving prominence to family security, togetherness, and
future planning, Ambisyon Natin 2040 encourages policies that are holistic, values-based, and
generational. For example, it encourages local government planning (through PDPs, CLUPs and CDPs)
not only to improve economic metrics but also to consider how policy enables families to live together,
own homes, raise children in safe environments, and prepare for old age. This potentially allows for more
6
United Nations. (n.d.). Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development. https://tinyurl.com/bp8wfzs7
7
Morillo, H. M., Capuno, J. J., & Mendoza, A. M. (2013). Views and Values on Family among Filipinos: An Empirical Exploration.
Asian Journal of Social Science, 41(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685314-12341278
8
Chua, C., Gabriel, F., Bantang, J., Llige, A., & University of the Philippines. (2022). Conceptualization of Filipino family wellbeing.
In International Journal of Home Economics (Vol. 15, Issue 2, pp. 103–114) [Journal-article]. https://tinyurl.com/ycymzhp3
9
National Economic and Development Authority. (2016). About AmBisyon Natin 2040. https://tinyurl.com/mr3nuazs
people-centred and socially cohesive policy design. The SDGs, in contrast, while powerful in setting
international norms and providing quantitative benchmarks, can sometimes drive policies that aim for
numerical progress (e.g. reducing poverty rates, increasing school completion) without always capturing
the relational, emotional, or communal dimensions of what “well-being” means in the Filipino family
context. Thus, Ambisyon Natin 2040 offers a welcome complement or improvement: it retains some key
quantitative aspirations but roots them in a vision that places family values and long-term social cohesion
at the center.
Conclusion
To close the gaps and reconcile these differences, the way forward is to adopt a planning
approach that harnesses the strengths of both frameworks: preserving the deeply cultural and
values-driven vision of Ambisyon Natin 2040 while also embedding the measurable, time-bound
indicators of the SDGs. By aligning the matatag, maginhawa, at panatag aspirations with more specific,
family-oriented targets—such as reducing intergenerational poverty, strengthening community-based
safety nets, and ensuring inclusive housing policies—policy makers can bridge the abstraction of
visioning with the pragmatism of indicators. This would allow the Filipino identity and family-centred
ethos to remain the heart of national development, while still enabling planners to monitor, fund, and
evaluate progress in a way that is both culturally resonant and globally accountable.
