RP to include millenium goals in MTDP

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino administration said it would incorporate in the next Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan programs the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) director general Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said the NEDA is already starting the next planning cycle for the government’s economic blueprint.

“We will include the MDGs as we try to coordinate the planning for the next six years,” Paderanga said during the recent courtesy visit by officials of the United Nations in Malacañang.

Paderanga added that the NEDA will ensure the disaggregation of plans an targets at the regional level, to determine which regions are lagging behind in terms of achieving the MDGs.

“We will be reviewing the targets, as well as reminding the other agencies that the MDGs are good milestones to consider relative to the MTPDP,” he said.

The MDGs are a set of specific and time-bound development targets committed by the UN-member states to be achieved by 2015.

The eight MDG goals were formulated to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop global partnership for development.

The meeting was attended by UN Resident Coordinator and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative Jacqueline Badcock, and other heads of UN attached agencies based in the Philippines. Among the Cabinet members present were Education Secretary Armin Luistro and Health Secretary Enrique Ona.

Earlier, Paderanga directed NEDA to fully engage the different government agencies and other stakeholders in fleshing out the contents of the MTPDP. But he stressed that NEDA’s main responsibility is to set the parameters on how the plans can be made consistent. “The NEDA will not solely write the MTPDP. We want to strengthen the sense of ownership of the government agencies to the Plan,” Paderanga said. –Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star)