PHL is Asia's 'worst performer' in MDGs, says UN official

The United Nations (UN) resident coordinator in the Philippines said the country still has much to do to achieve the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, particularly on education, health and poverty reduction programs. “That’s true, there is a lot to do. And what we feel is that this government is mainly responsible for the last five years of MDG implementation [and] that they are very responsive in looking at each challenge,” UN Director Luiza Carvalho said at the sidelines of the forum on MDG Fund on Tuesday. She went on to say that “looking at regionally, we (Philippines) are the worst performer.” At this rate, the Philippines may only fulfill the targets by 2018, or an additional three years on the deadline, University of Asia and the Pacific economist Bernie Villegas said. “Definitely, we're lagging in most of the indicators,” Villegas told GMA News Online in a phone interview. “I don't think we will achieve the targets... But the direction is definitely very positive. It may not be in 2015 but I think in 2018 or an additional three years.” Despite this, UN's Carvalho said she “has a positive view” that the Philippines would reach the target. Set by the UN in 2000 as a challenge for its 193 member-states to achieve by 2015, the eight goals are:

• eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
• achieving universal primary education
• promoting gender equality and empowering women
• reducing child mortality rates
• improving maternal health
• combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• ensuring environmental sustainability
• developing a global partnership for development

According to the 2011-2012 “Asian-Pacific Regional MDG Report: Accelerating Equitable Achievement of the MDGs,” the Philippines failed in eradicating poverty, providing universal primary education, reducing child mortality rate and improving maternal health. Hits and misses Carvalho cited education, about which some authorities have told her the current data does not reflect the actual situation. “I have to be very true at this moment. We have heard from many authorities of education that data might be a little old and the circumstances that you have now is maybe not reflected in the data that we have now,” she said. The country is also lagging on poverty reduction, which has been focused on poor urban areas and not in the rural, Villegas said. “The problem is we have completely neglected the rural areas, and that's where poverty is. [The] Philippines is really one country in Asia that has neglected the rural areas. Even Indonesia and Vietnam which are also equally poor are more open on rural areas,” Villegas said. Social Watch Philippines earlier said the country lagged on poverty reduction because it had not addressed social inequality. Carvalho said income inequality may be resolved through distribution of wealth. “Countries that are growing such as the emerging economies… have to address poverty through distributing wealth and ensuring that the countries and communities really have opportunities to be lifted out from poverty, but also to carry on improving their economic and social conditions,” she said. Villegas said poverty can only be reduced long term if the country can sustain its economic growth by 7 to 8 percent in the next 10 years. “That's a general problem precisely if we talk about inclusive growth and the growth is not really inclusive, it has not trickled down... [F]or poverty to be reduced you need high growth rate of 7 to 8 percent for about 10 years and we have not had that growth,” he said. Maternal death Maternal health and infant mortality remains problematic, too, said Villegas, although he noted that the government's Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program may help mitigate the problem. Carvalho said maternal health is “complex” and that government should lay down clear goals to address the problem. “Maternal health [is] quite complex to deal with because there are many factors interfering in it. But it is fundamental that the government… work with very clear goals and where they want to reach what goal when so they can improve maternity health situation,” she said. Despite hits and misses, Carvalho said the administration has invested heavily on social expenditures. “The investment that you do in public and social policies, they are very synergic. They tend to be positive influence on the other politicies that are being implemented. We believe this is a very good moment because there are very, very mny things that are run by the government,” she said, citing the CCT program, expansion of sanitation, and access to water services. In a speech delivered on behalf of President Benigno Aquino III, National Economic and Development Authority deputy director-general Rolando Tungpalan said the government has allotted P13.55 billion to fund 2,487 health facilities, upgraded 3,258 health facilities, and immunized 217,000 children in the last quarter of 2012. He also noted that the government has expanded the PhilHealth coverage to 86.6 percent of total population from 62 percent from before Aquino took office in 2010, and that 3.8 million Filipinos with over 700,000 poor children had already benefited from the CCT program. “What we have done is mend our system, eliminate corruption and allocate our resources for maximum growth our people,” Tungpalan said. — KBK, GMA News