PNoy to Cabinet: Make 5-year plan vs poverty

President Benigno Aquino III has instructed his Cabinet to come up with a thorough master plan to reduce the country’s poverty during his term, Malacañang said Tuesday. In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Aquino had many questions over the anti-poverty framework presented to him Monday by government officials in the anti-poverty cluster, so he instructed them to come up with a more "rigorous" five-year plan against poverty. "They're going to come up with a poverty-reduction master plan for the next five years, taking into account all various proposals submitted by respective agencies," Lacierda said. Aquino specifically wants the anti-poverty cluster to set milestones that would allow the government to determine if poverty-reduction goals are reached. Priority meeting According Lacierda, as preparations for Typhoon Juan appeared to be already in place, Aquino decided to prioritize the anti-poverty cluster meeting on 10 a.m. Monday, and did not attend the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) meeting scheduled an hour earlier. The president presided over the anti-poverty meeting, then met with Mindanao governors, he said. "The excellent handling of the storm allowed me to focus on the continuing need to attend to other problems that will persist even after this storm has passed," the President said in a statement Tuesday. “Instead of engaging in rehearsed photo opportunities and idle chit-chat, we got the job done: we proved that, together, we can mitigate risk; and that Filipinos working together, [can] minimize the costs of natural disasters," he said. Present during Monday's Cabinet cluster meeting were Social Welfare Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio delos Reyes, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, Budget Secretary "Florencio" Butch Abad, National Anti-Poverty Commission lead convenor Joel Rocamora, and representatives from the Department of Agriculture and the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. During the meeting, presidential peace adviser Teresita "Ging" Deles also presented inputs on combating poverty in relation to the peace process. After the meeting, Aquino met with five Mindanao governors including Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan and Maguindanao Gov. Esmael "Toto" Mangudadatu to listen to their concerns about the region. Some of the concerns raised included "representations of Muslims in national government" and an issue about a prosecutor in Maguindanao, Lacierda said. The Palace spokesman said that the president also reiterated his confidence in Deles, whom the House of Representatives is urging to resign after her row with a congresswoman from Mindanao. On Monday, China's Communist Party wrapped up a four-day annual conference that is expected to approve an economic blueprint aiming to narrow the yawning gap between rich and poor in that country and begin the delicate preparations for a new generation of leaders. — DM/VS, GMANews.TV