Palace: Gov’t to work hard to achieve 14% poverty incidence in 2022

Malacañang on Wednesday remained bullish on its goal of reducing poverty incidence in the country to 14 percent after a government report showed a significant drop in the poverty level between 2015 and 2018.

Poverty incidence among Filipinos for the first half of 2018 declined to 21 percent from 27.6 percent in the same period in 2015, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Also, the poverty incidence among families was at 16.1 percent, down from 22.2 percent in 2015.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the figures showed how the Duterte administration "has made significant strides" and reflected "how it seriously deals with the long-standing national issue of poverty."

Panelo cited programs such as broadening access to free education, free medicine and improved healthcare facilities, as well as providing institutional school feeding program for public school children, higher pension for seniors and veterans and salary increases for soldiers, policemen, firemen, teachers and government workers.

He also mentioned free irrigation for farmers and other socioeconomic services for the marginalized people, "with the goal of ensuring that Filipinos directly benefit from the country’s economic gains."

"As we commend the responsible departments and agencies for doing their respective jobs with commitment and fervor, we will not rest but rather continue to work hard to achieve our target of decreasing poverty incidence to 14 percent, or even better, by the end of President Duterte's term in 2022 and fulfill the President’s vision of providing a comfortable life for each and every Filipino," Panelo said. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News