PPP initiative to help reduce poverty as MDG goal — NEDA

The chances for the Philippines to halve the number of its poor citizens by 2015 are high as a result of the Aquino administration’s public-private partnership initiative (PPP), the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said Wednesday. Poverty alleviation is of eight targets the Philippines pledged to fulfill under the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "Strengthening the partnership between the government and the private sector will eradicate extreme poverty and hunger in the Philippines," NEDA deputy director-general Margarita Songco said in a forum, "Engaging legislators in breaking through to MDG achievement: The final five years." The probabilities are also high for the Philippines in reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality and empowerment of women, particularly on eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education, reversing the incidence of malaria and tuberculosis, and providing access to sanitary toilet facilities, Songco said. The country, whose economy grew last year at its fastest since 1976, continues to lag in achieving universal primary education, improving maternal health, and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDs, she added. Particularly, the government needs to bolster its PPP initiative at the grassroots level as "localizing the goals will likely address inequities and disparities," the NEDA official said. Songco is hoping that more local government units would consider the achievement of the MDGs important. She cited Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Batangas, Biliran, Camarines Norte, Eastern Samar, Marinduque, Romblon, Sarangani, and Siquijor as provinces that have started to recognize the value of realizing the MDGs. Craft more policies The MDGs are a set of specific and time-bound development goals that governments committed to achieve by 2015, with 1990 data as baseline. The eight MDGs include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality/women empowerment, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing global partnership for development. MDG Fund advocacy specialist Layla Saad urged Congress to craft more policies that ensure the MDG goals are attained. "It is apparent that more and more people are excluded in helping in the development of the country. Exclusion resonates in all parts of the world, undermining the progress of the MDGs," she said. Congress needs to "make up for the lost time and immediately address the root causes of poverty and other dilemmas causing the decline in the quality of life," Saad also said. For her part, former First Lady and incumbent Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos reiterated that her bill creating the Philippine Millennium Development Fund will ensure implementation of poverty alleviation strategies in the country. "It has come to our attention that the present efforts have not met some major targets so we have to double our initiatives to speed up our country's drive towards our goals. It seems that based on official government reports, our poverty situation worsened today than when we started ten years ago," said Marcos, chairperson of the House special committee on MDGs. The bill aims to mobilize $10 billion in a mutual fund subscription campaign from overseas workers until 2015. Exceed MDG targets According to SocialWatch lead convenor Leonor Magtolis-Briones, the country should not only be content with achieving the "minimum" goals. "The country should have to exceed them, because, if not, 50 percent of the Filipinos will remain in poverty. We cannot allow huge numbers of babies to die or allow mothers to continue to die even if we save a number of them," she said. Briones, a former National Treasurer, said that to meet and exceed the MDG goals, its important to spend adequately for sectors that have been underfunded like health, education, agriculture, and environment. She pointed out that the P1.6-trillion budget for 2011 is not enough to make a significant impact on the country's progress in achieving the MDGs since more than 25 percent of the budget goes to debt service. Briones said the government needs to improve tax collection, rationalize tax incentives, which is "so much larger" than the country's debt burden, and fully utilize "hidden" government revenues, such as the Motor Vehicle User's charge and the dividends paid to the government by government financial institutions and government-owned and -controlled corporations. — VS, GMA News