MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines  is in serious danger of missing many of the UN development goals, including halving poverty by 2015, President Benigno Aquino III and a senior economic advisor acknowledged Wednesday.

"Reducing poverty, reaching universal primary education and improving maternal health are three areas that demand more attention," Aquino told a public forum.

Aquino said he would expand the coverage of a cash transfer program now targeting the poorest Filipino families, who receive small amounts of up to P1,400 (about $32) monthly if they keep their children in school.

There is only a "medium" chance poverty will be halved, a "low" chance that fewer mothers will die while giving birth, while AIDS is still spreading, Economic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga told the same forum.

The government also lags on providing basic education and safe tap water for all, Paderanga added.

World leaders meeting at a UN summit in 2000 drew up the list of "Millennium Development Goals", or MDGs, aimed at improving the lives of poor people around the world.

Food and fuel shocks in early 2008 and the global financial crisis affected government efforts, Paderanga said.

He said the priority now was to cut the number of the poor, which he defined as those whose incomes cannot provide their basic food, clothing and shelter needs, to 12.5 percent of the population in five years' time.

The proportion of the poor rose to 33 percent in 2006.

Realistically, Paderanga said, the government will only likely succeed in trimming the percentage of Filipinos in extreme poverty -- those who cannot afford basic food needs -- from 14.6 percent in 2006 to 12.15 percent.

He said there were wide disparities across regions, and the government needed a more pinpoint intervention.

He said the Philippines was doing well on other targets such as gender equality, reducing toddler deaths, controlling malaria and tuberculosis and improving access to sanitary toilets.