By
Liling Magtolis Briones
From ABS-CBN Interactive
August 20, 2007
"Last August 15-16, forty-two national networks of civil
society organizations met in Quezon City to assess the government’s
Philippines Mid-term Progress Report on the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs.) They also considered the alternative assessment
of Social Watch."
Last
August 15-16, forty-two national networks of civil society organizations
met in Quezon City to assess the government’s Philippines
Mid-term Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs.)
They also considered the alternative assessment of Social Watch.
The eight goals are as follows: (1) eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger; (2) achieve universal primary education; (3) promote
gender equality; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve maternal
health; (6) combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases;
(7) ensure environmental sustainability; and (8) develop a global
partnership for development.
The following is the statement of civil society organizations
which raises serious questions on whether the MDG goals will be
attained or not:
“Are we on track with the goals? The government
says that the Philippines is on track with majority of the MDG
targets. However, it admits that the areas of concern with low
probability of being achieved are in universal primary education
for both participation and survival, maternal mortality ratio
(MMR); and access to reproductive health. It also admits that
major challenges are financing, regional disparities, advocacy,
localization and monitoring.
In contrast, Social Watch emphasizes that most of the goals will
not be fully met, judging from MDG performance for the past seven
years. The 2006 report of UN-ESCAP, UNDP, and ADB shows that the
Philippines is falling further behind in relation to countries
in Asia and the Pacific. Social Watch International ranks the
Philippines as very low in the Basic Capabilities Index or (BCI)
on a global scale. The BCI is based on three indicators: percent
of children reaching Grade 5, Under-5 mortality, and percentage
of births attended by health personnel.
Education: the most threatened goal. Social Watch
notes that all key indicators, e.g. participation rate and cohort
survival rate are all going down for elementary and secondary
education. The drop out rates are also rising. Out-of-school rates
in the country are now among the highest in Asia—higher
even than Indonesia and Vietnam . Even more alarming, the quality
of education remains poor and is further deteriorating. The Philippines
rates very poorly in performance scores for Math, compared to
other Asian countries.
Poverty and inequality. Social Watch has consistently
pointed out that the Philippines does not only have a serious
poverty problem. Even more serious is the problem of inequality.
Even as claims are made that poverty is being reduced, this is
in terms of national totals. A large number of geographical regions
are still mired in deep poverty. The national totals are pulled
up by a few rich regions.
The Gini Coefficient which measures inequality, remains high.
According to the 2003 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES)
2% of the total number of families (281,000) earn more than P500,000
a year while 52.5% of total market capitalization is controlled
by the country’s top 10 families.
Environmental Insecurity. While the Philippines
has a sound policy environment, translating this to actual programs
and allocating the needed resources is problematic. Social Watch
has noted inconsistencies in governance characterized by high
turn over of the position of DENR Secretary; conflicting dual
role of DENR as protector of the environment and franchiser of
exploiters of natural resources and politicization of key positions…
Among the MDG goals, environmental sustainability remains the
least funded at less than 1% of the total budget.
Civil society organizations assisting the poor who live along
Pasig river and other waterways have pointed out that more than
390,000 families are in danger of being ejected without relocation.
They are demanding participation in the decision making processes
which directly affect their sense of security and well being.
Indigenous people who have traveled from Mindanao to attend the
Social Watch consultation complain that their way of life is threatened
by mining and massive destruction of natural resources.
Health and gender concerns. Social Watch has
pointed out time and again that our infant mortality and maternal
mortality rates remain inordinately high, compared with other
countries in Asia . It has also been noted that health expenditures
for goals in health and gender are largely donor-driven, subject
to conditionality and donor priorities. The Philippines is still
threatened with diseases which should have been wiped out fifty
years ago, like tuberculosis, malaria and other dreaded diseases.
Other issues
Concerns have been expressed about the role of LGUs in attaining
the MDGs and the need to monitor their budgets. For the OFWs,
a plea was made for reduction of cost of remittances, and incentives
for investment.
CALLS. The main reason why progress on the MDGs
remain unsatisfactory is because the government is not fully committed
to it. Direction and focus needs to come from the highest political
leadership.
The call is for political reform which will do away with traditional
political practices which divert needed financial resources to
the undeserving and distorts government priorities. Good governance
characterized by citizen participation, transparency and accountability
will go a long way in achieving MDG goals.
The final call is for support for effective citizens’ monitoring
of government performance as well as for the alternative budget
for MDGs.
In other words, government needs to put its money where its mouth
is.”
(Ms.
Leonor Briones is a former National Treasurer of the Philippines.
She is currently teaching public administration at the University
of the Philippines. She also writes a column for the Business
Mirror)
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soon: young bureaucracy?
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to do the morning after the night before
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Where the Country Begins
-Questions
Begging for Answers
