NOY ADMIN: PHL CAN TRIM POVERTY INCIDENCE TO 16.6% BY 2016
[PHOTOAT LEFT COURTESY OF imagesPHILIPPINES: PAYATAS SCAVENGERS; OTHER PICTURES OF REAL HUNGER IN MANILA ON THIS PAGE FROM GOOGLE IMAGES]
MANILA, AUGUST 9, 2011 (STAR) By Marvin Sy - Government economic managers expressed optimism that the administration can bring down the poverty incidence to 16.6 percent by 2016, 10 percentage points lower than the 26.5-percent in 2009.
During a briefing on the proposed P1.8-trillion national budget for 2012, the Development Budget Coordinating Committee said a lot of the programmed spending in the budget is targeted at reducing poverty in the country.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga said the government is striving to attain the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of cutting the poverty incidence of 22.6 by 2015, half of the 1991 level of 45.3 percent of the population.
He said this can be attained though job creation, noting that from May 2010 to May 2011, 1.4 million jobs were created.
The United Nations Development Program reported that extreme poverty in the country went down to 13.5 percent of the population in 2003 from 24.3 percent in 1991.
Extreme poverty refers to the proportion of the population living below the subsistence threshold.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the administration is taking poverty reduction very seriously and for this reason, the five-year conditional cash transfer (CCT) program must be sustained.
Funding for the program managed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development would rise to P39.4 billion in 2012 from P21 billion this year.
Under the program, poor families will receive cash grants from the government provided that parents send their children to school, have infants immunized from diseases, and themselves regularly visit community health centers.
"The CCT is a five-year program so it is really important for us to maintain (this) five-year period, to already make your investments in quality and sustainable jobs," Abad said.
While the country might attain the goal of poverty reduction, Abad said it is lagging behind in the goals of providing universal primary education, and reducing maternal and child mortality.
"The past few years we have seen a reversal in those three areas," he said.
EARLIER NEWSREPORT FROM GMANEWS TV
PNoy to critics: If you can't see govt gains, sorry but… GMA News OnlineGMANews – Wed, Jul 27, 2011
In his first one-on-one interview after his second State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President on Tuesday defended the employment and hunger statistics in his speech that analysts have described as out of context.
In an exclusive interview aired on GMA News TV's "State of the Nation" newscast, anchor Jessica Soho asked President Benigno Aquino III about the supposed decrease in unemployment in the Philippines amid what critics say is a rise in underemployment.
Aquino, in response, emphasized the weight of the unemployment figures he cited in his speech – 7.2 percent in April 2011 from 8 percent in the same period last year, amid the rise in the number of unemployed Filipinos after the elections.
"Kung ayaw n'yong makita, 'di ba, sorry, 'di ba, wala akong magagawa do'n," the President said.
This page requires a higher version browser For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV
Speaking to GMA News Online on Monday, IBON Foundation research head Sonny Africa said Aquino failed to mention that the jobs created "were more than offset" by a growing labor force of 1.2 million people and an 829,000-increase in underemployment, which he said indicates an increase in the number of low-quality work opportunities.
Hunger stats
The President also pointed out that the survey that shows his declining popularity, released by pollster Social Weather Stations (SWS), is from the same firm that showed a decline in self-rated hunger in the second quarter of 2011.
"Sa akin lang, hindi ba tayo dapat mag-focus do'n? Sila na mismo ang nagsabi, four million kami noon, three million kami ngayon," Aquino said, referring to the decrease in self-rated hungry Filipinos by one million.
"Tapos, maghahanap ka pa ng babatikusin mo? Masama pa ang loob natin, nabawasan nang one million ang nagsasabing nagugutom sila?" the President added.
On Monday, however, University of the Philippines economics professor Winnie Monsod hit Aquino's supposed selectiveness in citing statistics, particularly his reference to the second-quarter SWS survey on self-rated hunger.
Monsod noted that Aquino discredited a similar SWS survey in the first quarter of the year, which showed a 20.5-percent rise in the number of self-rated hungry Filipinos.
"All of a sudden, he is quoting the survey without reservations," Monsod said. "If he accepted that hunger went down in the second quarter, then he must accept that hunger went up in the first quarter."
'Start-up' govt
Meanwhile, Soho also asked Aquino about the perception "that things aren't moving so fast" as he progresses in his term.
"Start up pa lang naman kami," Aquino said of his administration that is now on its second year. "Hintay namang 'pag medyo nakabuwelo-buwelo nang konti na." — ELR/VS, GMA News
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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