Growth for whom?

The arrival of actress, filmmaker and humanitarian Angelina Jolie in Manila for the 2026 ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit certainly brings undeniable star power to the capital.

Yet, beyond the flashbulbs and headlines, her presence — alongside Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh to discuss community resilience and grassroots dignity — forces us to look past sterile economic data and confront the human lives hanging in the balance. It refocuses our attention on a foundational question that must anchor every conversation about regional development: growth for whom?

We hear the familiar lexicon of economic progress on repeat: rising (or in our case, falling) GDP figures, high-stakes investment pledges, seamless regional cooperation, tech-driven innovation and macroeconomic resilience.

But for an ordinary Filipino — or anyone dealing with the pressures of daily life across Southeast Asia — inclusive growth cannot remain an abstract metric or some confusing jargon. It must mean something tangible.

A decent, living-wage job. Affordable food on the table. Accessible health care and quality education. Safer communities. Real economic opportunities outside of congested urban centers. Genuine protection from the shocks of extreme weather. A future where citizens do not have to leave their families behind simply to earn a dignified living.

Too often, leaders point to glowing macroeconomic projections while ordinary citizens experience the economy rather differently.

Consider the daily reality: battling hours of punishing gridlock on Metro Manila commutes, absorbing unrelenting food inflation, bracing for the next destructive typhoon or Super El Niño cycle, and anxiously wondering whether their children will find secure employment.

Growth that bypasses these lived realities may look impressive on paper, but it is difficult to call it true progress.

Across Southeast Asia, the digital and financial divides remain stark. While regional economies expand, prosperity is too often concentrated among those who already have access to capital, advanced education and structural privilege.

When wealth fails to cascade downward, the populations most in need of upliftment are reduced to being mere spectators of a boom they cannot touch.

The ultimate test of inclusive growth will not be decided on a summit stage or measured by the eloquence of its closing declarations. It will be measured in places and spaces beyond the conference halls — in whether policy promises actually reach the families whose futures are being negotiated.

True development begins when we stop asking ordinary people to possess an exhausting resilience just to survive systemic inequality, and start building economic systems that give them a genuine, unhindered chance to rise above it.

That is the kind of growth worth pursuing — not just in Manila, but across the entire ASEAN region.