Govt committed to solve poverty

THE government remains committed to significantly reducing poverty and inequality in the Philippines through the upcoming 2023-2028 Philippine Development Plan (PDP), Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

In his keynote address during Thursday’s launch of the World Bank Philippines’ poverty and inequality report, Balisacan claimed that the upcoming PDP — anchored on the Marcos administration’s eight-point socioeconomic agenda — would address persisting problems.

“In particular, initiatives to boost health, improve education and lifelong learning, increase income-earning ability, ensure food security and proper nutrition, and rationalize social protection will be among the main policy thrusts of the PDP,” Balisacan said.

“We aim to sustain the socioeconomic gains in the past decade for at least two more decades in the hope of attaining the AmBisyon Natin 2040, which states that all Filipinos will enjoy a firmly rooted, comfortable and secure life by 2040,” he added.

Responding to the World Bank report, he said it provided a “sweeping picture of how inequality and poverty are entrenched over a person’s life cycle — from maternal health that impacts mother and child, to children’s access to education and health services, and to employment and income opportunities. Interventions, therefore, must encompass this whole life cycle,” Balisacan said.

The World Bank said that inequality remained high in the Philippines, with the top 1 percent of Filipino earners accounting for 17 percent of national income and only 14 percent being shared by the bottom 50 percent.

“We must urgently address these challenges so that we do not backslide and instead sustain our efforts toward sustainable and inclusive economic development. The World Bank’s new Poverty and Inequality Report is a welcome analytical piece that is both timely and relevant,” Balisacan said.