“We Filipinos see ourselves in the Passion of Christ, the suffering and sacrifices that we struggle with every day, and which we hope and pray we will finally overcome. Our task here at government is to join the poor in both prayer and action,” National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Sec. Liza Maza said.
In Reforming Philippine Anti-Poverty Policy, a groundbreaking book by the NAPC Secretariat to be launched later this week, the NAPC Secretariat forwards a framework that positions poverty eradication as the centerpiece of economic, social, and environmental policies.
The book details a comprehensive and integrated approach that requires the unity of state policy and the coordination of government agencies and all sectors of society. Rather than the goal of a stand-alone program, eradicating poverty must be a whole-of-nation effort, guided by a rights-based and social development approach.
Currently, more than one out of five Filipinos are living in extreme poverty, while around 60 percent of Filipinos households need to be raised to more decent levels of income and welfare, corresponding to 13.6 million families with monthly incomes of Php18,333 or less, the anti-poverty chief explained. To get a multi-dimensional, rights-based picture of poverty, this income-based criterion must be supplemented by looking at other social indicators, such as education, housing, and health.
“The best way to join the people in their prayers in this Feast of the Black Nazarene is to make sure our resources are efficiently mobilized towards those who need them most,” Maza said.
Produced by the NAPC secretariat, Reforming Philippine Anti-Poverty Policy is expected to be launched on January 11, Thursday, this week.
“This reinvigoration of the government’s efforts to combat poverty requires us to embrace a new way of thinking and dealing with poverty, one that goes to the core of every Nazarene devotee’s hope: freedom from hunger, joblessness, landlessness, freedom from sickness and suffering, and a prayer for peace and prosperity. There is no better time to do so than the start of a brand-new year.” Maza said. (NAPC-PR)
