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Halfway to the 2015 target year to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Philippines has made considerable progress particularly in poverty reduction, nutrition, reducing child mortality, combating HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases and access to safe drinking water  and sanitary toilet facility.  But the country needs to work harder on targets concerning universal access to education, maternal mortality and access to reproductive health services.   

These are some of the highlights of the Philippines Midterm Progress Report on the MDGs that was launched on October.10.  

In her foreword to the report, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said that the Midterm Report “enables us to prepare ourselves to overcome potential obstacles and ensures that we successfully complete the course of achieving the MDGs by 2015. Thus, addressing the uneven progress on the MDGs among the regions of the country and the concern on the adequacy of financing to meet the MDGs both remain high in our agenda”.

 The Philippines is a signatory to the 2000 Millennium Declaration that rolled out the time-bound MDGs as a global agenda for development by 2015.  The eight (8) MDGs are:  halve extreme poverty and hunger; universal primary education; gender equality; reduce child mortality; improved women's health; stop and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases; environmental sustainability and global partnerships for aid, trade and debt relief.   The Millennium Declaration was signed by 189 member-states of the United Nations (UN).

UN Resident Coordinator Nileema Noble reaffirmed the commitment of the UN to support the Philippines’ objective to attain the MDGs by 2015 and commended the Philippines for the gains it had achieved while emphasizing the bigger task ahead for MDG targets.   She enjoined everyone to make full use of the report for planning, programming and policy development and to ensure linkages to advocacy, budgeting, localization, monitoring and evaluation.

The midterm report was prepared by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) with support from the UN.  Acting NEDA Director General and Secretary of Socioeconomic Planning Augusto B. Santos said that the report reflects the country’s resolve to pursue affirmative action especially in mobilizing much-needed resources to meet the MDGs.   He added that new and innovative solutions and strategies to make growth with equity a reality must be in place to make poverty and hunger history, thus paving the way for the achievement of the MDGs by 2015.

Gainers

The report shows indicators of the gains made on the MDGs:

• The proportion of people living in extreme poverty, referring to individuals whose incomes cannot support a recommended minimum food basket, showed a decrease from the 1991 baseline figure of 24.3 percent to 13.5 percent in 2003.

• The net enrolment rate (NER) for girls in elementary education in school year (SY) 2005-2006 was 85.4 percent, exceeding that of boys, which was 83.6 percent.

• Clear gains have been made in reducing infant deaths per 1,000 live births. This measure of infant mortality rate (IMR) showed a decline from 57 to 24 deaths between 1990 and 2006.

• The prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV and AIDS) has been kept below the national target of one percent (1%) of the population.

• Important improvement was noted in the protection of the environment. For example, the number of protected areas under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAs) has expanded from 83 proclaimed areas in 2000 to 103 in 2006.

• In partnering for rule-based trade and finance, the Philippines has been an active participant in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and in regional trading arrangements committed to trade and investment facilitation on a global scale.

Goals to closely tend

On the other hand, there are some targets the Philippines needs to step up its efforts on:

• Access to primary education worsened in School Year (SY) 2005-2006. This represented a decline in the net enrolment rate from the 2000 level of 96.8 percent to 84.4 percent, thereby setting back the 2015 target of universal access.

• The decline in number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births has slowed down, from 209 deaths in 1993 to 162 deaths in 2006. It is unlikely that the 2015 target of 52 deaths in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) will be met.

• Access to reproductive health care improved at a modest rate for currently married women ages 15-49, from 49 percent in 2001 to 50.6 percent in 2006. At this rate, the 2015 target of 80 percent access is difficult to achieve.

Sub-national picture

Comparison across regions showed uneven progress and wide disparities Most of the lagging regions and provinces were in Mindanao while the frontrunners were in Luzon.

Consistently on track in almost all the regions were targets on poverty reduction, nutrition, child mortality rates, and access to safe drinking water and sanitary toilet facility. Consistently off-track were the following: elementary participation rate, elementary cohort survival rate, dietary energy intake and MMR.

In all goals and targets, existing indicators exhibited significant disparity by region.  Only three (3) regions, namely, Ilocos Region (Region 1), Cagayan Valley (Region 2) and the National Capital Region (NCR) were consistently above national averages. The rest of the country’s regions were lagging behind in most of the targets, with large pockets of poverty noted in these areas.

Financing the MDGs

The report raised concerns about the adequacy of financing, whether public or private, allotted to meeting the MDGs.  Moreover, while MDGs entail activities devolved to local government units (LGUs), most of these, especially fourth- and fifth-class municipalities, have little capacity to formulate, finance and implement MDG programs and projects. Overcoming financial and decentralization constraints is vital to achieving the 2015 targets.

For critical MDGs like poverty reduction, health, education and water alone the financing gap is estimated anywhere between US$ 12.2 Billion to US$15.7 Billion.   Government is exploring options to bridge this gap including the proposed Debt-for-MDG conversion scheme that involves ‘swapping’  foreign debt or equity investments for MDG programmes and projects.

Challenges and recommendations

The report emphasized good governance to achieve the MDGs and identified the following key cross-cutting issues and the priority actions needed:

·          Address wide disparities across regions

·          Curbing the high population growth rate

·           Improving performance of the agriculture sector

·          Accelerating the implementation of basic education and health reforms

·          Ensuring strict enforcement of laws pertinent to the achievement of the MDGs

·          Bridge the financing gap

·          Strengthen the capacity of Local Government Units (LGUs) to deliver basic services and manage programmes and projects

·          Ensure transparency and accountability in government transactions

·          Address peace and security issues

·          Public-private partnership

·          Improve targeting, data base and monitoring