(Zea Io Ming C. Capistrano / davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) is calling on government agencies to comprehensively address the problem of poverty by taking into consideration the people’s 10 basic needs when crafting projects for the community.
The NAPC on Wednesday, October 25, launched the Mindanao-leg of its Kilos Sambayanan campaign, an anti-poverty drive which seeks the convergence of local government units, government agencies, and communities to attain the Filipino’s 10 basic needs in the Muslim Village in Barangay Talomo here.
Under Kilos Sambayanan, NAPC listed food, housing, water, health, education, work, social protection, clean environment, peace and community cooperation as the 10 basic needs.
In an interview, NAPC lead convener Liza Maza said these basic needs are also the rights of the people “which they do not attain because of underdevelopment.”
Maza said to solve poverty, the government should fix the economy and prioritize land reform.
“Land reform is really important because 7 of 10 farmers remain landless or are not able to receive support services from the government,” Maza said.
She listed agrarian reform, land distribution and the development of industries as the factors in resolving poverty and ultimately, in ending conflict.
In October 2016, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that the country’s poverty incidence stands at 21.6 percent.
More comprehensive
Meanwhile, Paying Pascual, Executive Assistant of NAPC said they are gearing towards a more comprehensive approach in providing projects in communities.
Pascual said, through the campaign, the NAPC will coordinate with government agencies and LGUs to ensure that the 10 basic needs are targeted to be addressed by each project.
Pascual admitted that the campaign is a big challenge for the agency citing the traditional “token projects” given by politicians to their constituents.
“It’s really a big, big challenge for NAPC, but since we know Secretary Liza Maza came from the progressive group, this is the only chance to implement this. And whether the government will accept it or not, we will do this because this is the right approach,” she said.
“But providing seedlings or water system does not immediately solve the problem in the community,” Pascual added.
She said the NAPC will monitor through the en banc whether government agencies are integrating the 10 basic needs in their projects.
The campaign was first launched in Tondo, Manila on July 16. (davaotoday.com)
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