MDG poverty reduction goal for Eastern Visayas ‘impossible’

published in BusinessWorld November 30, 2010

TACLOBAN CITY -- The objective to cut by a third by 2015 the portion of the Eastern Visayas’ population living in "extreme poverty" is not realistic, a regional official of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said, referring to the target set for the region under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Noting that about 48.5% of the population in Eastern Visayas had been living below the poverty threshold as of 2006, NSCB regional head Evangeline M. Paran said in a recent phone interview that, "looking at the trend since 1990, it’s impossible to eradicate [sic] extreme poverty in the next five years. It might stay in the vicinity of 40% by 2015."

Identified as living in "extreme poverty" are those households that live on less than a dollar a day.

Of the six provinces in Eastern Visayas, Northern Samar posted the highest percentage of such poor families (61.1%), followed by Eastern Samar (51.9%), Samar (47.6%), Leyte (47.3%), Biliran (42.2%), and Southern Leyte (36%).

"Under MDG, we’re supposed to reduce (the proportion of impoverished families) to 32.4% by 2015, but it was still high based on actual figures," Ms. Paran said.

For the past 13 years, NSCB data showed no marked improvement in the number of poor families in the region. In 1997, the poor families accounted for 47.4% of the region’s population. This percentage dipped to 45.4% in 2000, but rose to 43.5% in 2003 and further to 48.5% in 2006.

Ms. Paran said a slight improvement is seen in the 2009 data because of various anti-poverty programs of the national government such as Food for School, Kapit Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (Kalahi), Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), and intensified advocacy on achieving MDG through better local governance.

"In the case of 4Ps, the impact will not be remarkable because as of 2009, the recipients represent a small share of the total number of poor households and there are also issues like those who received the benefits were not the poorest," she said.

Department of Budget and Management Regional Director Imelda C. Laceras said
separately that "the region has many things to do to meet MDG targets. Yearly budgeting should be refocused to address the concern of sectors where we are lagging behind."

Eastern Visayas, also known as Region 8, has also been lagging behind in the other MDG targets, particularly in achieving universal primary education, with only 63.6% and 62.6% of children completing elementary and secondary education, respectively.

The region has also shown poor performance in the promotion of gender equality and empowering women, especially in the fields of education and politics.

Improving maternal health is another concern, amid a high maternal mortality rate and the preference of many mothers in the region to seek the services of traditional birth attendants.

High dengue cases in the region this year have also dragged on the region’s performance in combating diseases.

However, the region still fared better in terms of reducing child mortality. -- SQM