Presentation made
by
Mr. Meynardo LB. Montealegre, Minister, Philippine Mission to the United Nations

at the Retreat Session
organized by the Permanent Mission of the Republic
of Indonesia to the United Nations

on the “Implementation of the Jakarata Declaration: Addressing Unemployment Issue in Asia and the Pacific Region”
Doral Arrowwood, Weschester, New York, 18 February 2006

Significant measures have been undertaken by the Philippine Government to address poverty eradication. The Philippines recognizes the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as means to productive life, economic growth, and further development. The Philippine Government reaffirms this commitment and has therefore directed its strategies towards achieving the MDG’s by mainstreaming them into the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP), 2004-2010.

The attainment of the MDG’s are reflected in the 10-point Program of Action of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that aims to improve the economy, uplift the lives of the Filipinos, strengthen democracy and forge peace and national solidarity. They have been incorporated into the MTPDP, focusing on the promotion of livelihood, strengthening of education, attainment of fiscal stability, decentralization of development, and arriving at sustained national harmony.

The 10-Point Pro-Poor Agenda

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s pro-poor development agenda is clearly manifested in her 10-point Program of Action. The Program of Action includes: generation of six to 10 million jobs within the period of six years; increasing access to quality education; provision of electricity and water to all local communities or “barangays”; housing, health care and proper nutrition; and efficient delivery of social services, among others.

The implementation of the 10-point Agenda has so far generated encouraging results.

First, the Philippine Government has generated 1.99 million jobs from January to September 2005. These jobs were generated through the following programs and initiatives:

Second, in line with the thrust of the Government to increase access to quality education especially for the poor, the Arroyo Administration included ‘Education for All’ in its 10-point agenda. This involves the construction of more school buildings, the provision of scholarships to poor families and distribution of computers for every public secondary school.

Third, the Government aims to attain 100% community-level electrification by 2008 through the provision of electricity to the remaining un-energized local communities or ‘barangays’ by the end of 2004 and provision of potable water to all waterless areas by 2010. Electricity was provided to 1,333 barangays from January 2004 to October 2005 under the Expanded Rural Electrification Program, bringing the total number of energized barangays to 39,081 out of 41,945 barangays and attaining 93.17% barangay-level electrification. Water services were provided to 26 out of the 210 waterless areas in Metro Manila through the metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) concessionaires benefiting 18,729 households.

Fourth, a total of 144,208 hectares of private and public land were distributed from January to September 2005, while 38 certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles (CADT’s) covering 835,165 hectares have been distributed or approved from July 2002 to November 2005.

Fifth, about 27,360 informal settlers were given security of tenure through Presidential Proclamations declaring public lands as alienable and disposable for housing purposes. Socialized housing services were provided to 30,023 households belonging to the bottom of 30% of the income population from September 2004 to September 2005 bringing the total to 252,258 since 2001.

Sixth, to provide quality healthcare, there were 371,000 poor families or 1.9 million poor Filipinos that were enrolled in the National Health Insurance Program. The Government expanded the access of the poor to half-priced medicines by establishing more than 4,000 local pharmacy outlets nationwide.

Seventh, through the concerted efforts of concerned agencies, access to low-priced, quality rice has been provided to Filipinos, especially the poor families. There were 76 stores that were established in 15 hotspot areas in Metro Manila.

Eighth, the Government launched the Enhanced Food for Work Program (EFWP) to address the basic food and socio-economic needs of the poor, and to let them become self-sufficient by providing them access to employment and livelihood opportunities for a suitable family income.

Ninth, under the Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (CIDSS), 785 sub-projects were completed and made operational out of the 1,499 sub-projects, amounting to P1.7 billion. The remaining projects are expected to be completed by second quarter of 2006.

Tenth, the Government continues to pursue national reconciliation and harmony with all sectors of the society.

Achievement of the MDGs in the Philippines

The Second Philippine Progress Report on the attainment of the MDG’s has been completed. It provides an update on how the country and its different regions are faring in the MDG targets. The Second Report shows that the Philippines will likely achieve the targets on reducing extreme poverty, child mortality, and incidence of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS as well as improving dietary requirement, gender equality in education and access to safe drinking water.

A latest survey of the Filipino families indicate that poverty incidence has dropped by almost three percent from 27.5% in 2000 to 24.7% in 2003 as earnings rose in all income levels.

Challenges

While progress has been achieved in some areas, there are challenges that remain to be addressed in order to eliminate poverty. The Philippine Government specifically the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has identified the following targets in support of the 10-point Agenda:

To achieve these targets, the Philippine Government has laid out five (5) main strategies, namely:

With the 10-point Program of Action, the 2010 targets in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan are aligned and consistent with the MDG targets by 2015. Nevertheless, the MTPDP’s pro-poor strategies require strong investment spending that would contribute to an environment favorable to the fulfillment of the MDG’s. They also need to build on the gains and opportunities offered by continued and evolving partnerships among various stakeholders, including the business sector.