MANILA - The Philippines will not achieve majority of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), according to two former government officials.

Leonor Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines, said the dismal performance of the Arroyo administration, particularly on skewed budget allocations, is one of the major roadblocks to achieving the MDGs.

Benjamin Diokno, economics professor of the University of the Philippines, said the current global economic crisis adds to the worsening poverty in the country.

The MDGs is an international agreement which started on 2004 and will last until 2015. The main purpose of the MDG is to assess social problems and push for reforms and developments in basic sectors.

The 8 key MDGs are: 1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; 2) Achieve universal primary education; 3) Promote gender equality and empower women; 4) Reduce child mortality; 5) Improve maternal health care; 6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; 7) Ensure environmental sustainability; 8) Develop a Global Partnership for Development.

Last year, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) told legislators that the country is not meeting its targets in 2 MDGs: infant mortality and maternal health care.

If the administration's lack of political will to pursue the targets continues, the country might fall behind completely. "Six years to go and you might not meet the target," Briones said.

Poverty

Speaking at a recent forum, both Diokno and Briones agreed that the current state of the economy contributes greatly to the problem of meeting the MDGs.

"Recent economic trends and fiscal priorities will further hinder the attainment of the goals. Achieving the MDGs is dim and we are under threat," Briones said.

Briones said National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) data showed that the number of poor Filipinos has increased by 2 million in 2006 from 2000.

"In 2000, the population of the poor was 25.5 million, now you have 27.6 million," she said.

Data also showed that poverty is more pronounced among fishermen (49.9%), farmers (44.0%) and children (40.8%). The largest number of poor Filipinos in 2006 were children (14.4 million), women (12.8 million), and the urban poor (6.9 million).

With these figures, Diokno said other countries are more likely to meet their poverty goals than the Philippines.

"Poverty will worsen this year. More Filipinos will be poorer and are likely to go hungry now than when Arroyo assumed office in 2001," Diokno said.

Sustainable employment

Contrary to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) promise of creating one million jobs every year, Diokno said real figures showed that only 600,000 jobs are being created.

The number of jobs being created cannot absorb the 1.3 million Filipinos who enter the labor force every year. But even before the financial crisis, Diokno noted that the country's employment situation was already in a "critical state."

In 2007, Diokno said there were around 2.7 million unemployed Filipinos and 6.8 million underemployed. "The focus of the government should be on job creation and job preservation instead of massaging the news," he said. .

Declining social budget 
 
Since President Arroyo assumed office in 2001, she has been neglecting social services, said Briones. "Indicators in education, health, and nutrition have not improved significantly with posted economic growth," she said.

For instance, Briones noted that the budget allocated for education comprised only around 12% of the Gross Domestic Product when the share should be at 20%.

Briones lamented that expenses for health and education are "really going down"

The lack of support from government has adverse effects on achieving the MDGs.

In the education sector, there is a continuous decline in participation rates for primary education. The latest data from NSCB showed that net enrolment ratio barely increased. It went up 0.2 to 84.8 in 2007. Participation rates were at 84.6 in the 1990s.

Infant mortality

Infant mortality remains to be one of the highest in the Southeast Asian region. Out of 1,000 live births, 24 babies die in the country, the second highest following Indonesia with 26 deaths.

Similarly, maternal health care is not being given attention. Out of 100,000 mothers who give birth, 230 die due to lack of medical facilities and access to health services.

"And we say we love babies...We say we love mothers yet we don't allot money for their well-being," Briones said.

She challenged the Arroyo government to release pending budget allocations for social development.

According to Briones, P100 million has not been released for autoclaves. The minimum amount will be used for devices that will sterilize medical equipment and supplies. Apparently, a high number of mothers and babies die due to infection after childbirth and the lack of attending physicians.

Social Watch is also urging the president to release the P400 million money for tuberculosis, one of the leading causes of deaths in the Philippines.