Effort to reduce poverty intensified (5:20 p.m.)

MANILA -- The government is set to present on Wednesday, September 8, its progress report on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with an utmost aim at addressing the worsening poverty problems of the country.

The report, which will be launched at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, will also contain recommendations on how to attain the MDGs before the 2015 deadline in terms of financing, monitoring, localization and advocacy.

President Benigno Aquino III will lead the unveiling of the Philippines’ Fourth Progress Report on the MDGs in time for his scheduled trip to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Earlier, United Nations resident coordinator Jacqueline Badcock said the Philippines will have difficulties in reducing its poverty levels in 2015, given the disappointing figures in the past years.

Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed that the number of poor Filipinos ballooned to 27.6 million in 2006 from 25.5 million in 2001. The unemployed citizens stood at 3.1 million last April.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman also said the 12.15 percent target is an uphill climb for the government after the ranks of the poor swelled four years ago due to the global financial crisis.

“We will meet to discuss the poverty-level targets of the Aquino administration and rest assured that the government will pour in resources for this drive,” she said.

But Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga thought otherwise. He said the Philippines has a “high probability” of slashing the number of Filipinos living below the poverty line.

"From 24.3 percent in 1991, the percentage of Filipinos living below subsistence threshold was reduced to 14.6 percent in 2006, which is near the 2015 target of 12.15 percent," said Paderanga, quoting official data from the NSCB. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)