Investments still key to poverty alleviation – NEDA chief

Ramping up investments remains the cornerstone of the government's poverty alleviation program, the country's top economist said Monday, as he mapped out different types of poverty-stricken areas in need of intervention.

“Investments must continually rise for the economy to continue to grow and this requires a stable and predictable market environment,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.  

Increased investments is what is needed to create much-needed jobs that will trim the number of poor, added Balisacan, who is also National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General.

But increasing worker productivity, pouring money in research and development, improving infrastructure, and lowering costs of doing business are also needed, the economic chief said.

Balisacan also cited the three categories of places where the high numbers of poor families are found.  
 
Category 1 are provinces whose robust growth does not benefit the poor. These are  Zamboanga del Sur, Cebu, Pangasinan, Negros Occidental, Camarines Sur, Leyte, Iloilo, Sulu, Quezon, and Davao del Sur.

Here the poorest families are being left behind perhaps because the growing sectors do not require the goods or services that the poor can provide, said Balisacan.  
 
In this case, the government needs to improve the skill sets of the poor families and undertake more aggressive employment facilitation for better job-skills match, he noted.
 
Category 2 includes provinces that are being left out of the growth process altogether. These are Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Eastern Samar, Apayao, Zamboanga del Norte, Camiguin, Saranggani, North Cotabato, Masbate, and Northern Samar – mostly sparsely populated and frequented by weather disturbances and armed conflict.

Meanwhile, Category 3 consists of 30 provinces that are exposed and prone to multiple hazards, such as landslides and flooding.  
 
“In these provinces, the marginally non-poor people can quickly slide into poverty due to shocks or natural disaster,” Balisacan said. “These involve updating the geohazard maps, land use plans and even their local development plans.”  
 
The plans are under the updated Philippine Development Plan (PDP), where the government seeks to cut the poverty incidence in the Philippines to just 16.6 percent by 2016. — BM, GMA News