Suchergebnisse

The Philippines aspires to be an upper middle-income country by 2022 as stated in the 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan. It has also committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where the first goal is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. This paper examines the performance of the country in poverty reduction. It also examines the reasons for the recent performance, including the pattern of economic growth, numerous shocks experienced by the country, and government policies and programs. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent gains will likely be wiped out. It also provides some recommendations to accelerate the rate of poverty reduction.

The primary objective for the conduct of the assessment of the social sector is to provide the basis for setting the thematic priorities for the Philippines, taking into account the development requirements in the next five years. The specific objectives of the study are: (i) to review the major accomplishments during the period 1989 -2003 in the social area, taking into account the targets set by the government, if any, during this time; (ii) to identify the critical factors which contributed to the attainment of the major accomplishment in the social areas during the period; (iii) to identify areas where accomplishments were lagging behind targets and the problems encountered that led to poor performance in these areas; and (iv) to propose an action plan in the social area for the period 2004-2008, composed of key strategic interventions where maximum impact can be achieved. The assessment covers 4 administrations, Aquino (1986-1992), Ramos (1992-1998), Estrada (1998-2001) and Macapagal-Arroyo (2001-present). It draws upon secondary data and earlier assessments done. The social developments in the Philippines are viewed from the overall context of poverty as the major development problem of the country. The concept of poverty as being multidimensional is adopted in this study. Consequently, various indicators relating to the different dimensions of poverty are used to gauge the performance of the country. The Philippines' performance with regards to reducing the different dimensions of poverty has been generally modest and mixed. While the country has achieved notable gains in several non-income based measures of poverty, the performance with regards to income-based measure of poverty has been unremarkable. This paper also proposes an action plan for the social sector that identifies key strategic interventions for the next five years.

Using panel data from about 1,500 farm households and estimating from a logit model, results show that agrarian reform has had a positive impact on farmer beneficiaries. It has led to higher real per capita incomes and reduced poverty incidence between 1990 and 2000. Compared to nonagrarian reform beneficiaries, the agrarian reform beneficiaries tend to have higher incomes and lower poverty incidence. Moreover, complementary inputs such as irrigation, credit and government services tend to increase the chances of farmer-beneficiaries to be nonpoor.

The Philippine government shows its serious effort to combat poverty through the continuing expansion of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Philippines' version of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program modeled by Latin American countries. The 4Ps by far is the most comprehensive and also controversial poverty reduction program of the Philippine government because of the huge amount of money the government is spending for this. The expansion of the program since 2008 necessitated the government to secure loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank amounting to a total of $805 million to finance the program. To date, there are already 2.3 million households in 80 provinces who are enrolled in the program. The DSWD targets a total of 3 million household beneficiaries by end of 2012. This paper aims to discuss the salient features of the 4Ps and the reviews or assessments done so far, and to expound the issues surrounding the targeting scheme and pace of expansion of the program.

Crop insurance is a risk management tool designed to even out agricultural risks and address the consequences of natural disasters to make losses more bearable, especially to the marginalized farmers. In the Philippines, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) implements and manages the government program on agricultural insurance. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the crop insurance program in the Philippines - its history, operationalization, performance, and a number of challenges. Some of the identified constraints in operating the program are high overhead cost, need for larger investment fund, and question of sustainability. The results of secondary data assessment and key informant interviews revealed that PCIC has captured only a small segment of its target clientele, particularly the subsistence farmers, due to logistical and marketing constraints. Moreover, farmer dependence on informal credit, particularly in rural farming communities, seems to have also created a nonviable setting for a crop insurance program.

This paper documents the activities of the National Food Authority (NFA), particularly on rice marketing, in realizing its mandates of buying high and selling low. Because the Philippine agriculture is greatly affected by extreme climate events such as El Niño and La Niña, this paper highlights the importance of seasonal climate forecast (SCF) information as input to the formulation of various policy decisions of the NFA. Among these important policy decisions are: how much volume of paddy rice to procure from farmers to be able to defend its support price; how much volume of rice to maintain in order to achieve stability in the supply and consumer price; and how much volume of rice, as well as when is the best time, to import to be able to position the optimal level of stocks in time for the lean season. It is also argued in the paper that importation has been playing a significant role in the rice supply-demand situation of the country since 1990, making it one of the most significant government interventions in the rice sector. Based on historical data assessment, some of the worst events in the past such as the 1995 rice crisis and over-importation during the 1997-1998 El Niño could have been avoided if policy decisions, particularly on the volume and timing of rice importation, were linked to SCF. Indeed, linking crop production and import decisions more systematically with SCF would enhance the usefulness of these forecasts at a more practical level.

Recent Philippine data indicate that the needs of the poor, which are met unsatisfactorily, include productive employment, access to quality education, access to basic health services, potable water, sanitation facilities and electricity. This paper emphasizes that eradicating poverty entails effective poverty alleviation strategy as an integral part of the government programs. Strategies should be focused on broad-based economic growth for employment generation and livelihood opportunities. It also offers measures to aid poor people during the transition period.

There are many and varied government programs that target the agriculture and fisheries sector, especially the poor. For more efficient and streamlined program targeting, the Aquino administration has initiated the creation of the Registry Service for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA), a list of farmers, farm workers, and fisherfolk in the 75 provinces of the country excluding the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the National Capital Region. This is currently used by the Department of Budget and Management to target beneficiaries of various government agencies implementing agricultural support programs, and as a basis for issuing allocated budgets for these programs. This paper finds that there are legitimate agricultural producers that are excluded from the list, leakages, difficulty of the registry to be linked with other government databases, and unclear operational definition of farmer. But despite its shortcomings, the authors find that the RSBSA is useful as a targeting tool; the list just needs to be validated and regularly updated.

This paper results from a series of international workshops that brought together CBMS and GRB practitioners to discuss how the community-based monitoring system (CBMS) can be used to facilitate gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) at the local level. To provide conceptual background to the discussion, the paper highlights two points where CBMS and GRB initiatives converge and complement each other. On the one hand, it points out that both serve as guideposts for government targeting and prioritizing of the poor and other vulnerable sectors of society. On the other hand, both are also centrally concerned with policymaking. CBMS was seen from the start as a tool to inform evidence-based policymaking while GRB emerged out of the realization that unless gender policies and plans have adequate accompanying budgets, they are not worth the paper they are written on. It also notes that the standard CBMS data already provide valuable input for GRBs (e.g., sexdisaggregated analysis of the situation of local people in terms of aspects such as education and economic activity and situation analysis of accessibility of services such as sanitation, nutrition and health). However, the potential of the existing instrument to support LLGRB work can be further enhanced.

This common country assessment update for the Philippines underpins the sustainable development partnership framework for the Philippines and the United Nations (UN). Taking off from the analysis of the national baseline on sustainable development goals (SDGs) and progress in the SDGs, this report employs UN's approach of framing the sustainable development outcomes under three pillars, namely, people, prosperity and planet, and peace. The report dissects the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) impacts and trajectories of the sustainable development outcomes under each pillar. COVID-19 impacts are anticipated to result in a regression in human development capacities and opportunities. These are also expected to thwart economic prosperity, change consumption behavior, and affect the environment. Delays in peacekeeping activities and fiscal resources realignments might also affect the communities that are trying to recover from violence and armed conflicts, especially in Mindanao. To mitigate further regression in development, the report recommends the following, among others: for the people pillar, governance improvements in areas such as social welfare programs delivery to vulnerable groups; for the prosperity and planet pillar, science-based policy strategies that will consider the current problems exposed by the pandemic, as well as incorporate the timeliness of the policy responses; and for the peace pillar, the continued cooperation between the national government and the Bangsamoro government in ensuring that the recently gained peace dividends are protected and stakeholders do not slide back on their commitments.

The Philippines is identified as one of the countries with an ageing population, as the proportion of persons aged 60 and above is at 7.4 percent in 2015 and is projected to increase to 15.9 percent by 2045. Senior citizens tend to have higher prevalence of various medical diseases and comorbidities. Moreover, they are less economically active compared to younger age groups. Thus, this projected increase in the number of senior citizens entails greater support needed in terms of health care and income security for the elderly. In response to this, the government has been enacting various legislations and implementing various social protection programs for senior citizens. Among the following are the mandatory coverage of senior citizens to PhilHealth, and retirement benefits and pension through SSS and GSIS for senior citizens previously involved in the formal economy, or through the social pension program for indigent senior citizens.

The Community-Based Monitoring System (CBMS), which is an organized technology-based system of collecting, processing and validating local-level data based on a census of households in the locality, was institutionalized by virtue of Republic Act No. 11315 in April 2019. This paper aims to illustrate uses of the CBMS in relation to the planning process of local government units. The study finds that since the CBMS provides disaggregated local-level data, local planners can use the CBMS to better identify and target vulnerable members of the society. Regular conduct of CBMS also offers the possibility of generating panel data, which can help monitor the impact of policies and programs on vulnerable households in the long run. Moreover, geotagging of households also support local officials in locating those at risk from natural hazards.

The 2008 global economic and financial crisis spawned a synchronized recession among industrialized countries leading to a contraction in world trade. Exports from developing countries fell sharply dragging many of them into the global economic downturn. The Philippines was not spared the fallout from the crisis as GDP growth decelerated considerably in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first half of 2009. Asset prices experienced volatility but unlike the 1997 East Asian crisis, the financial sector remained fairly stable. Unemployment increased moderately, but was more pronounced in the manufacturing sector which felt the brunt of the slowdown mainly through the export channel. Remittances from overseas Filipino workers continued to grow, however, albeit at a lower rate. Foreign exchange reserves therefore maintained an upward trend despite the fall in exports and larger capital outflows. A cause of concern is the widening fiscal deficit, which is largely due to the need to increase government expenditures to offset lower consumption, investment, and exports. The Economic Resiliency Plan is a key component of the government's response to the crisis and 2009 first half data indicate modest success. However, another factor behind the wider fiscal deficit is the weak tax effort and if this persists, the resources to finance achievement of the Millennium Development Goals will likely be reduced. Thus, even if preliminary survey data derived from the Community-based Monitoring System indicate a moderate adverse effect on the income and employment of lower income households, lower economic growth and fiscal troubles imply that the government will not have enough resources to improve their situation in the medium term. This is definitely a problematic scenario given that the poverty situation in the Philippines deteriorated even when economic growth was relatively robust. To its credit, the government embarked on a campaign to increase and expand social protection in response to the deteriorating poverty situation. In the wake of the crisis, resources were increased and programs were improved. However, many social protection programs continue to be hindered by low coverage and inadequate benefits, poor targeting, and operational constraints due to lack of coordination among program implementers. This is a microcosm of the institutional problems that have constrained economic development in the Philippines over many decades.