By Ercel Maandig/PNA
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY — The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) is aiming for a “prosperous middle-class society” by 2040, starting with lowering down the current 21.6 percent poverty incidence to 14 percent by the end of the term of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Fernando Cao, head of the research unit of NAPC, said the target was based on their belief that most causes of poverty are “systemic and structural.”
“What we are doing now, under the leadership of Secretary Noel (Felongco) and under the guidance of President Duterte, is to break the cycle of poverty in the country. We will break the cycle of poverty by attacking the systemic causes of poverty,” Cao said during a press briefing here on Wednesday.
One of NAPC’s programs, he said, is the Sambayanihan, Serbisyong Sambayanan (SSS), which seeks to alleviate poverty by developing rural and urban agriculture and industries.
Second, he said, is the rollout of the Provincial Consultative Body (PCB), a consultative mechanism at the provincial level that will serve as a venue for collaboration and coordination between government agencies and the communities in recommending, implementing, and monitoring anti-poverty programs and services.
“Third is the Actionable Development Agenda for Poverty Transformation or ADAPT 40-10-10, which intends to help the poor communities across the country adapt to the effects of climate change,” the NAPC official said.
Cao expressed hope that the agency’s programs could “change strategically” the structures that perpetuate poverty.
NAPC secretary and lead convenor Felongco noted that NAPC’s setup is “unique” in that the national government and 14 basic sectors are embedded in the decision-making processes of the agency.
The basic sectors consist of farmers and landless rural workers, artisanal and landless rural workers, urban poor, indigenous peoples, formal labor and migrant workers, workers in the informal sector, women, children, youth and students, senior citizens, person with disabilities, victims of disasters and calamities, non-government organizations, and cooperatives.
Meanwhile, Felongco noted that the poverty incidence in Lanao del Sur remains high — way above the national poverty incidence of 21.6 percent.
This, he said, is the reason why the province is among the priority of the Duterte administration. (With reports from Renee Barrio and Benedict Talinis, USTP-CDO Interns/PNA)
