Gov’t vows to implement dev’t plan more vigorously

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino and his Cabinet are determined to implement more vigorously the revised Philippine Development Plan (PDP) and meet its targets, especially those on poverty reduction and infrastructure development amid criticisms that the administration has been slow in addressing these, Malacañang said yesterday.

Benjamin Diokno, University of the Philippines economics professor and former budget secretary, said if the slow roll out of the much touted Public-Private Partnership initiative was any indication, the implementation of the revised PDP would likely be sluggish as well.

Diokno noted that in the last three and a half years, the administration consistently failed to implement what little had been budgeted and it would have to demonstrate better capability to complete projects.

In a statement, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said performance targets were embedded in the national budget and that “spatial or area specific targets have been set in provinces with high poverty incidence and those that are highly vulnerable to disasters.”

“Every Cabinet secretary has signed off on a performance contract with the President,” Coloma added.

The revised PDP sets more ambitious economic targets to address the persistent concern that poor Filipinos are not enjoying the benefits of the country’s recent dramatic economic growth.

Among the new targets is the lowering of poverty incidence from 25.2 percent of the population in 2012 to 16.6 percent by 2016, economic officials said.

The interventions will ensure that the poor will not be left behind as the benefits of economic expansion take time to actually trickle down.

Provinces categorized

Based on the new PDP, growth will result in more opportunities and accelerate poverty reduction by deliberately addressing the constraints faced by the poor as summarized by their province of residence.

For “Category 1” provinces with the highest magnitude of poor households, poverty reduction efforts will be focused on improving infrastructure to attract more job-generating investments in agro-industry, food manufacturing, information technology-business process management, logistics and tourism.

Included in this category are the provinces of Zamboanga del Sur, Cebu, Pangasinan, Negros Occidental, Camarines Sur, Leyte, Iloilo, Sulu, Quezon and Davao del Sur.

For “Category 2” provinces or those with the highest poverty incidence based on population, the revised plan calls for putting in place measures to ensure that basic social services such as basic education, health services, sanitation and water are accessible.

Included in this category are the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Eastern Samar, Apayao, Zamboanga del Norte, Camiguin, Sarangani, North Cotabato, Masbate and Northern Samar.

Following the onslaught of natural disasters such as the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck central Visayas and Super Typhoon Yolanda that devastated central Philippines, the updated PDP identified 30 provinces whose geographies expose them to hazards like flooding and landslides, as another set of focus areas.

Included in the disaster-prone “Category 3” provinces are Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Benguet, Cagayan, Quirino, Isabela, Nueva Viscaya, Zambales, Pampanga, Aurora, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, Quezon, Albay, Catanduanes, Antique, Catanduanes, Antique, Iloilo, Bohol, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Southern Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Dinagat Islands, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.

According to the plan, the poverty-reduction strategies in these 30 provinces will be focused on disaster-risk reduction and mitigation, income diversification and social insurance and protection.

Chief among the poverty-fighting measures is an increase in infrastructure spending to five percent of gross domestic product by 2016, compared with the 2013 level of less than three percent.

These reforms in turn will improve the connections between urban centers where growth has been concentrated and the poverty-stricken rural areas where the majority of the country’s 100 million people live, the plan said.