RP told to form crisis agency

ALARMED by the impact of the global economic turmoil, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is pushing the Philippines to create a task force headed by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to respond to the global economic crisis.

Documents from NEDA showed that a crisis-monitoring unit would be maintained at the agency as the regular arm of the Task Force for gathering, generating and disseminating information.

The proposed task force came on the heels of gloomy projections of trade flows, overseas remittances and foreign direct investments.

“With this situation, it can be inferred that the crisis threatens to weaken the Philippines’ accomplishments in reducing poverty and inequality. At stake is the large share of the population is highly vulnerable to negative shocks and at the risk of falling further below the poverty line,” the UNDP said.

The UNDP said incomes and revenues are expected to fall, adding that government, private sector and household spending will be tight.

“Significant reversals are thus foreseen in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 where the Philippines has so far made significant gains,” the UN body said.

It said the challenge posed is on how the international development community can help developing countries like the Philippines mitigate the impact of the crisis and respond to the threats to the achievement of the MDGs by 2015.

“In this regard, a Task Force Response to Global Crisis (TFRC) composed of the international development community is proposed mainly to bring to focus the response to the global crisis in the context of MDGs. The proposed TFRC will be coordinated by the UN system with the latter playing the crucial role of mobilizing and positioning the work of the TFRC in the context of the global economic crisis and its impact on the MDGs,” the UNDP said.

The proposed Task Force will have a one-year lifespan, the extension of which will depend on how the global crisis turns out.

“As suggested by the World Bank . . . the crisis monitoring unit should have both short-term and long-term functions and will function within NEDA even after the crisis to continue to serve as a rapid monitoring unit of the government on socio-economic issues,” the UNDP said.

The UN agency said the task force should monitor the impact of the global crisis on vulnerable groups in the Philippines, design and implement a range of safety net programs for the poor, and evaluate the effectiveness of emergency policies and programs put in place.

The UN body said the overall responsibility for the crisis monitoring and response system will rest with NEDA as the coordinating and operations center. NEDA should mobilize its central office for national data and its regional offices in coordination with the Department of Interior and Local Government for local government units for data on those areas.

The UNDP said the Philippines could draw from the experience of Indonesia on how its government through the National Development Planning Agency is responding to the global crisis.

Rolando Tungpalan, NEDA deputy director general, said the government is still studying the UNDP proposal.

He said any task force should look beyond the present crisis, but that the government should tap the National Statistics Office, National Statistical Coordination Board, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, among others for data to minimize funding requirements for the crisis response scheme. –Darwin G. Amojelar, Senior Reporter, Manila Times