“The Philippines ranks fifth highest in the study’s ‘proportion of reported indicators for which countries are off track’ in South East Asia. The more off track than us is a short list: Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.”
by Ducky Paredes
Despite the millions that Gloria spent on advertising her government’s “achievements,” comes now the Millennium Development Goals in an Era of Global Uncertainty: Asia-Pacific Regional Report 2009/10 that says otherwise.
When the MDG was first announced, the Philippines eagerly joined in; now, we have been found wanting: The Philippines remains off track in meeting its Millennium Development Goals (MDG), especially eradication of extreme poverty by 2015. In fact, “the Philippines is also off track in more than 40 percent of the 21 indicators, including poverty, hunger, infant mortality and maternal health.”
The Philippines ranks fifth highest in the study’s “proportion of reported indicators for which countries are off track” in South East Asia. The more off track than us is a short list: Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.
The Millennium Development goals are: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Achieve universal primary education’ Promote gender equality and empower women; Reduce child mortality; Improve maternal health; Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; Ensure environmental sustainability; and Develop a Global Partnership for Development.
The study defines off track countries (such as the Philippines) as those that are expected to meet the MDG targets only after 2015, stagnating or slipping backwards.
Countries in our immediate area likely to meet the target by 2015 are Vietnam and Thailand, which missed less than 20 percent of the indicators. Other South East Asia countries that are also better off are Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
United Nations undersecretary-general Noeleen Heyzer said the Philippines still has problems in curbing maternal and infant mortality, although it has done well in promoting gender equality in education.
“The largest disparity is in the Philippines — 66 deaths per thousand live births in the poorest quintile compared with 21 in the richest. Mortality rates also vary according to the level of education of the mother.”
According to the report: “If fiscal stimulus packages have a strong component of social expenditures these are likely to produce a double dividend — not only boosting growth more rapidly but also aiding progress towards the MDGs. In the Philippines, the stimulus package could have reduced the poverty ratio by 7.5 percent and the under-five mortality rate by 3.8 percent.
“Similarly, in the Philippines a stimulus that was fully pro-MDG would, accumulated over several years, have increased GDP by 12 percent rather than the 6.2 percent that the current stimulus packages is expected to deliver. This represents the total increase over a number of years, with the largest increases in the initial years and the impact gradually tapering off.”
The government had a P330 billion fiscal stimulus program in 2009. Where did all that money go?
For us to reach the MDG targets by 2015, we must increase social protection expenditures.. The Philippines, the report said, spends only about 2 percent of gross domestic product on social protection expenditures, lower compared to Vietnam’s 4 percent, South Korea’s 7 percent and Malaysia’s 3 percent.
The next President would not be ill-advised to listen to what the UNDP is saying. Adopting the MDG targets would not be a bad thing and has the added advantage of having an outside agency doing the grading, which makes whatever achievements we may have even more credible.
Ignoring them can only mean that by 2015, we will be so far behind the rest of the world that very soon, admitting to being Pinoy could become the ultimate embarrassment. To move forward, all that the next President has to do is forget politics and do what must be done to move this country forward.
That is so easy to say but so hard to do. But that is what has to be done.
* * *
What is preferable a President who spends for his own campaign without bothering anyone else or a President who will accept as little as a peso coin from a voter or a supporter against the promise that he will do a good job as President and minimize if not stop the corrupt ways of government?
This is a legitimate question because Manny Villar said in Hongkong about Noynoy’s piso-piso campaign: “Mayron pang nangongolekta ng piso-piso ay may hacienda naman.”
Should someone running for President solely fund his own campaign? How then can non-billionaires ever aspire for that higher office? Clearly, it would be beyond the reach of most Pinoys and even fewer than can now seek the office would be capable of doing so.
I am wary of people who rely solely on wealth as a measure of man’s worth. In fact, if I were a politician, I would probably not run for any office unless others were willing to contribute to the campaign. After all, if no one will support me, where would I get the votes and the popular support that one needs to win? Unless, of course, one is rich enough to buy his way to the presidency.
Once president, who would he owe for his presidency if not only himself? While others may be comfortable with that thought, I would not be. I want a president who acknowledges those who helped him become President and the more independent they are of him, the better. These are the ones who can, when necessary, call his attention to mistakes and suggest corrections.
Being President has to be the ultimate high for any politician. It can get to one’s head and make him giddy. When that happens, I would like someone to be there to remind him that without our help (even if this was only a peso), he would not have made it to the presidency.
* * *
“The Lenten season is about personal sacrifice. It is also about our willingness to put our country above our own personal gain, humility above arrogance, principles above compromise, truth above slander, courage above cowardice, and real justice above all. That is why, I prayed especially hard for Mr. Villar.” Senator Jamby Madrigal, interviewed on Ash Wednesday at Baclaran.
# # # #
hvp 02.18.10
Post a Comment