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WINNING THE NUMBERS,
LOSING THE WAR
The Other
MDG Report 2010
Click here for
PDF file of the report
“The Philippines is in a worse poverty
situation in 2010 than when it started on
the MDGs in 2000. We are losing the war on
poverty. Many would still be left behind,
and their numbers are simply staggering by
any count,” said Isagani Serrano, SWP
convenor and editor of the citizens’ report
on the MDGs.
“This report titled ‘Winning the Numbers,
Losing the War: The Other MDG Report 2010’
intends to feed into the annual planning and
budgeting processes and the new regime’s
six-year blueprint,” Serrano explained. “Our
hope is to see a Medium-Term Development
Plan (MTPDP) and local development plans
that are truly MDG-sensitive and committed
to deliver on the minimalist MDG promises.
From the MDG perspective, the MTPDP failed
on its promise to reduce the poverty
incidence of families by 20 percent come
2010,” he added.
President Noynoy Aquino is set to present
the Fourth Philippines’ Progress Report on
the MDGs to over a hundred heads of State in
New York this September. The MDGs is the set
of measurable targets which heads of state
promised to fulfil by 2015 in order to
eradicate poverty and hunger, reduce
inequality and promote human rights.
Serrano said that, in sharp contrast to the
Philippines Fourth Progress Report on the
Millennium Development Goals 2010, the
shadow report warns that the problem is much
more serious than what the government is
prepared to admit.
“The official report was impressive in its
goal-by-goal trends and inequality analysis
and in suggesting possible solutions. But we
are still left wondering why numbers don’t
seem to add up and reflect the deterioration
of the national situation,” Serrano said.
“Many of the quantitative indicators on key
goals such as education, maternal and infant
mortality and poverty eradication are still
between low and medium probability of
achievement when they should all be on the
high side going into the last five years,”
he added.
Former national treasurer Leonor Magtolis
Briones, SWP lead convenor, said that it is
obvious that the financing gap on the MDGs
is a major reason on why the poverty
situation is worse in 2010 than when the
country started on the MDGs in 2000. “When
the MDGs were adapted by the international
community in 2000, Social Watch Philippines
immediately called for estimates of the
costs of the MDGs. Even at that time, it was
clear that financial resources as allocated
in the budget were inadequate,” she said.
“An MDG-sensitive budget will correct the
inequalities highlighted in the Shadow
report. A budget to provide education,
health, decent work, food security for all
-- not just for a half or for two-thirds of
the poor – will ensure that no Filipino is
left behind,” Briones said.
Serrano added that the shadow report also
digs into the less obvious reasons of not
attaining the minimalist set of goals
despite MDG-oriented policy declarations and
national development plans.
Marivic Raquiza, SWP convenor and lead
writer on poverty (MDG 1), pointed out that,
in the first place, the country has a very
low poverty threshold of P41 per person per
day, which is not enough to cover the food,
medical, education, transportation and
rental expenses of any person. “The poor can
be found not just below, but also above the
poverty line because of the unrealistically
low poverty threshold,” Raquiza said.
Meanwhile, Rene Raya of E-Net Philippines
said that while the government report
admitted the poor performance and failings
of the education sector, the analysis and
arguments presented appear to be restrained.
“Stagnation and reversals in education since
2000 left the marginalized further behind,
thus, exacerbating inequality even more.
We need mechanisms to effectively reach out
to the ‘unreached’, particularly the
non-literates, the out-of-school, indigenous
people and Muslim children, and other
socially excluded sectors,” said Raya.
Raya said that the country has long been
under investing in education with a total
education expenditure level that
consistently declined from 3.5% of GDP in
2000 to only 2.4% of GDP in 2004. In 2010,
share of national government in education
spending went down to 0.7 percent compared
to 2009. “The Philippines should meet the
international benchmark of 6 percent of GDP
as public expenditure for education,” Raya
said.
Meanwhile, the shadow report writers on
health laud the President’s promises of
universal health care within three years’
time and to reform of the health insurance
system to achieve universal coverage.
“The Philippines is one of 68 countries
where 97 percent of all neonatal, child and
maternal deaths worldwide occurs. Ensuring
equity could prevent 40 percent of all child
deaths, which occur largely among poor
children,” said May-I Fabros, lead writer on
infant mortality.
Mercy Fabros of WomanHealth Philippines and
lead writer on maternal health said that
even though technical solutions to most of
the problems associated with mortality and
morbidity in pregnancy and childbirth are
well-known, the Philippines is one of 55
countries that accounts for 94 percent of
all maternal deaths in the world.
“Our public spending on health is low. In
2007, the Philippines spent 6.8 percent of
government expenditures on health compared
with the average of 9.9 percent of
government expenditures for the East Asia
Region,” Fabros said. “To achieve universal
health care, we should shift the relative
weight of public spending from tertiary
services that cater to the affluent to basic
services and public health that benefit the
poor,” she added.
Meanwhile, Edel Hernandez of the Medical
Action Group (MAG) said that progress in
HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria is
very problematic. The Philippines ranks
ninth on the list of 22 high-burden TB
countries in the world, according to the
WHO’s Global TB Report 2009. “Total
prevention and cure are still far on the
horizon,” she said.
Hernandez said that the limited or the
diminishing resources allocated by the
government and other stakeholders could
hamper the implementation of necessary
programs to fully achieve the goal. The
shadow report on infectious diseases
revealed a total gap of about P178.8 million
per year is still required to finance TB
control; and a projected 11- year P15
billion financing gap for malaria.
Meanwhile, writers on environmental
sustainability said that the current MTPDP
is the most glaring policy inconsistency
with regard to ensuring environmental
sustainability.
“It prescribes a business as usual attitude
in environment and natural resources
management. It is clearly uninformed of the
realities and challenges of climate change,”
said Jonathan Ronquillo of the La Liga
Policy Institute.
The writers reported that mining took up 67%
of the budget of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR),
while funding allocations for protected
areas, biodiversity conservation,
reforestation and implementation of
environmental laws such as the Clean Air
Act, Solid Waste Management Act are either
erratic, low or completely without
allocations. Moreover, in 2009, a total of
P1.1 billion budget for programs to
conserve, revive and protect the environment
were impounded by the Office of the
President.
Jessica Cantos, convenor of Rice Watch
Action Network and lead writer on global
partnerships for development, said that
trade, debt and aid have all worked to
exacerbate rather than alleviate poverty and
unemployment in the Philippines.
“Despite excessive liberalization policies,
the Philippine government has not proven
that trade could be free and fair to the
country, especially the poor. Since 2000,
the nation has been saddled with debts, both
legitimate and questionable, the size of
which surpassed the combined borrowings of
the three preceding regimes,” she said.
Cantos called for debt relief to countries
where government revenues cannot meet MDG
financing needs. “It is time to do away with
the traditional debt ratios that create an
illusion that a country has the capacity to
service its debt and at the same time
develop,” Cantos said.
The Shadow Report also featured the report
by people in Mindanao, particularly the
Bangsa Moro. “Eighty (80) percent of the 20
poorest municipalities in 2003 were in
Mindanao. The government report attributed
this situation to the conflicts and peace
and order problem. What is not said is that
several of these poorest regions, provinces
and towns are also host to large plantations
and mining enclaves,” Serrano said.
“We presented data from independent and
previous studies which point out that
poverty in Mindanao is higher when compared
to the national level,” said Jolly Lais of
Assalam. ”Approximately 40% of the AFP
annual budget spent on war in Mindanao in
1970-1996 could have built thousands of farm
to market, roads, classrooms, clinics,
irrigation systems and other socio-economic
infrastructure,” he added.
Serrano said that what is needed is for the
budget to support an MDG catch up plan that
focus on where the country is lagging
behind—poverty, education and maternal
health. “The national budgets beginning 2011
until 2015 must be MDG-dedicated. The
General Appropriations Acts (GAAs) to be
enacted for those years should be
pre-audited for their MDG-sensitivity,”
Serrano said. ^ Back to top |
