RP losing war vs. extreme poverty

With only five years left into fulfilling the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations, the agency has identified eradication of extreme poverty as an “endangered” goal for the country since most Asian nations “made significant progress in combating [extreme] poverty” except for the Philippines, an official of the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) in Manila said on Friday.

UNIC Manila head Therese Debuque said during an exclusive roundtable with The Manila Times that United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is very much concerned that “MDG one is already an endangered goal in so far as Philippines is concerned.”

“Since 1990 [when the eight MDGs were first introduced], the number of extreme poverty incidences increased [in the Philippines] instead of (decreasing). MDG No. 1 is paramount,” Debuque added, referring to the first millennium goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

She said that the Philippine government is not even doing well in attaining the other UN millennium goals.

The eight MDGs—eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality rate; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensure environment sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development —were laid out by the 192 member-states of the UN and some 23 international organizations in September 2000.

The achievement of the eight MDGs was set for 2015.

In 2009, extreme poverty incidences remained at 33 percent. The universal poverty threshold is set at $1 a day. People earning below $1 a day are considered “poor.”

Debuque identified rising unemployment in the country as one contributing factor to the continuous increase of extreme poverty incidences especially in rural areas. From 2008 to 2009, the number of unemployed Filipinos rose from 2.7 million to 2.9 million.

“That’s an additional 200,000 Filipinos out of work [in just one year]. Rural poverty is an important factor in accounting for overall poverty incidence,” she said, adding that lack of employment opportunities and livelihood programs for indigenous communities contribute also to rising extreme poverty.

According to Debuque, the UN is proposing that President Benigno Aquino 3rd create “a task force on food security and nutrition” since “short-term and long-term agricultural and household food security needs a strategy to address rural poverty.”

The UN is also pushing for President Aquino to promote investment and market linkage, as well as to expand export markets and encourage agribusiness.

“And also, we are urging government to ratify ILO [International Labor Organization] Convention 169, which seeks to ensure full employment for marginalized groups like indigenous people, youth and women,” Debuque said.

Education system

The UN, the UNIC chief added, has noted  the country’s “languishing” rate of elementary students able to finish their education, which was pegged at only 73 percent for the last 10 years.

She said that in 2000, when the MDGs were laid down by the UN, the enrollment rate among elementary students was placed at 96.7 percent. But this dropped to 81.5 percent in 2009.

“We feel that Philippines may not be able to meet its target of reducing the drop-out rate. The goal of achieving universal primary education may be an endangered goal [also],” Debuque added.

In 2006, the Philippines — then under former President and now Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga — targeted to reduce the drop-out rate by as much as 5.5 percent and 4.3-percent in 2009. Both targets were not met.

The reality, Debuque said, is that the dropout rate increased from 8.6 percent to 9 percent from 2006 to 2007.

She added that President Aquino’s promise during his inaugural speech on June 30 that he will be adding more classrooms to accommodate students and aim for a better teacher-student ratio “is not enough.”

“[Because] of such low allocation for education, the UN is hazarding to introduce policy reform for education. It wants to expand pre-primary education [in the Philippines],” Debuque said.

She explained that the UN is proposing that an additional year be added on top of the three primary levels — nursery, kinder and prep —“to encourage students to sustain attendance in school,” and another two years of “upper secondary level,” which will bring the total number of secondary schooling to six years.

The Philippines has a 10-year basic education program — six years of elementary education and four tear of secondary education — as opposed to most nations where students have to undergo 12 years of academic training before being allowed to enter college.

Great need for RH bill

Debuque said that the United Nations is behind the passage of the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that will promote, among others, natural and artificial methods of family planning.

“Three UN agencies conducted country gender assessment in the Philippines [and found that] . . . there are  some more ways to go in ensuring gender equality. There is lack of progress in passing the RH bill, and that’s important as far as UN is concerned,” she added.

“There are still not enough safeguards to protect women against violence and trafficking,” Debuque said.

She added that Filipino women who migrate to other countries to work are still “vulnerable to abuses” and that household work, a very effective coping strategy for women, is still not given the due recognition it deserves.

Because of these, Debuque said,  the United Nations has ordered the creation of UN Women — composed of other UN agencies such as Division for the Advancement of Women, International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women, Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, and the United Nations Development Fund for Women — that will accelerate progress to meet the needs of women worldwide.

Also, she added,  passing the RH bill will help in reducing maternal and infant mortality rates. Debuque said that the UN “is very alarmed that in a recent study [by one of UN agencies] in 2009, 230 women out of 400,000 live births die of complications of child birth.”

She added that this figure is very high compared to other neighboring countries like Thailand, which only has 110 incidences of maternal deaths; Malaysia, 62; and Singapore, 14.

“There’s an upper trend from 2006 [162 deaths in every 100,000 live births]. The UN feels this is another endangered goal. Unless drastic measures are put in place, the Philippines will not be able to meet this target,” she said.

According to the UNIC chief, rising mortality rate stems from the lack of support for the RH bill since the more than 1.5 million annual pregnancies are either unwanted or unplanned.

Such pregnancies were usually terminated through induced abortion.

“As much as 54 percent of pregnant women have been reported that they regret having been pregnant. We strongly believe that this is because the government does not make available enough options for women to control pregnancy. Only 50.6 percent of women use family planning methods,” Debuque said.

She added that the UN is pushing for an “age-appropriate sex education” for children even as young as six years old.  Debuque cited that a big factor in the lack of progress for the passage of the RH bill is that “Filipinos are predominantly Catholics.”

About 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholics while the remaining 20 percent are distributed over other religions.

Debuque said that the passing of the RH bill is vital in the country’s battle against HIV/AIDS. She added that there have been reports of increase in the number of infected Filipinos with one in 2007, two in 2009 and four during the first quarter of this year.

The UNIC official added that the spread of HIV/AIDS can be mitigated if sex education can be introduced to students.

Climate change

Meanwhile, Debuque highlighted the need for the country to adopt policies that will help combat the devastating effects of being one of the most vulnerable nations to tropical cyclone occurrences, as well as other climate change-related hazards.

“The Philippines’ readiness to meet the problems brought on by climate change is limited by its failure to harmonize initiatives in climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation,” she said.

Debuque added that the “slum communities” will be hardest hit by climate change and that more than half of the country’s population, or about 65 percent, can be found in urban areas.

“An estimated 20 million of these live in slum conditions. This number is expected to rise alongside the Philippine’s rate of urbanization [3 percent a year],” she said.

The UNIC chief added that they are hoping that the new administration will implement the Urban Housing Development Act of 1992 that also provides security for slum dwellers.

On peace and order, Debuque said that issue is a primary concern for the UN since there can be “no development without peace and no peace without development.”

“We are fully supporting the government in making progress in brokering peace with rebel groups,” she added.

Debuque said that UN officials hope to meet with President Aquino before his scheduled State of the Nation Address on July 26, so the achievement of the eight MDGs can be included in his government’s platform. –Bernice Camille V. Bauzon Reporter, Manila Times