To the best of my knowledge, we must focus on industrialization but not at the expense of agriculture. Please read my opinion patiently.
Two reasons. Globalization and Balance of Trade (BOT).
Doors are already opening to free trade (zero tariff on imports and exports). That means in the future, since our country is a member of ASEAN, most imports from co-Asean nations will enter our country with no taxes. As a result, products will freely pour in this country. On the lighter side, we may also export products with no tariff at all. In a nutshell, there is "free-er" flow of goods among nations. And this is were balance of trade(BOT) comes in.
Balance of Trade is the difference between the total export (in dollars) and total import. A positive BOT happens when there is greater export than import, also known as trade surplus. So what if there is trade surplus? Generally, this is a good indication because it means to say we have more dollars saved than spent, which, as a result, gives us a stronger peso and therefore a stronger economy.
So going back to our main topic... considering globalization and BOT, the question is what are we going to export in the future?
If we are focused on agriculture, then what are we gonna sell? Mangoes? Bananas? Corn? Well, don't get me wrong these are all excellent exports, but for God's sake they just cost a few hundred million dollars!
What we need are industrial products to export because they are more expensive and will greatly contribute to a greater BOT.
But oooppsss... here comes a new problem...
If we are gonna focus on exporting industrial products, how are we gonna compete with industrialized nations? They have more capital, economies of scale and more experience to don against us. It seems the future of our country is in a dead end!
But wait... don't lose hope just yet because there is one...
Kumbaga, nasa atin ang huling alas. We have the most skilled and the brightest people in Asia, if not the world. Service is therefore the key! We can focus on training Filipinos and export their service/labor to other countries. Their remittances will surely help uplift our ailing economy.
