UN poverty reduction goal unrealistic – DSWD

THE Philippines’ goal to reduce the number of Filipinos living in extreme poverty and subsistence by 12.5 percent in 2015 is “unrealistic,” according to the chief of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“The 12.5 percent [eradication of extreme poverty and hunger] that we ought to meet in 2015 is not a realistic goal. At [about] 33-percent poverty incidence today, in five years I do not think we will get to 12.5 percent as target,” said Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman during a briefing on Thursday.

The country’s commitment to attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stipulated the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger from 24.3 percent in 1991 to 14.6 percent in 2006 and 12.5 percent in 2015.

“MDG is almost like a covenant we signed. So we will be measured by what we agreed upon and by 2015, poverty incidence at that point should be 12.5 percent, that is what the government has committed itself to and I assure you that we will not get there at 2015,” Soliman said.

The MDGs are based on the United Nations Millennium Declaration endorsed by all 189 United Nations member-states in 2000.

Soliman said that the perception of poverty by Filipinos right now from the last Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey is not far from the 33 percent.

“I think its about 40 percent to 45 percent [who] perceived that they are poor,” she added.
The Social Welfare secretary said that the country has a low probability of achieving the education goals

and the maternal and child health goals stipulated in the MDGs.

Cleofe Pastrana, the director of the National Economic and Development Authority’s Social Development Staff, said that lower economic growth and greater poverty as a result of the crisis will lead to slower progress toward attaining the millennium goals set by the United Nations member-countries.

“Effects of the economic downturn on government revenues have important implications for the ability of the government to meet the financing requirements for the MDGs,” Pastrana added.

She added that the country has slow progress in meeting the target to improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS and eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education.

An earlier report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said that based on the MDG indicators, the Philippines is off track in meeting the 2015 targets.

The country’s score is only 33.3 percent while the best score is 100 percent.

ADB said that one-fourth of the 42 developing countries for which the MDG and its funding were set up are not likely to meet the 2015 targets if they do not radically improve. –DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times