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Addressing the country’s poverty situation has been consistently at the forefront of government policies beginning the Aquino leadership. Such prioritization projects poverty as the country’s foremost challenge, with previous and present leaders vowing to alleviate the lives of poor Filipinos and directing all government efforts towards this end.

Although previous governments identified target poverty incidence for the end of their terms, one can not conclude whether the percentage of poor families to the total population has actually declined given that various poverty measures were used. For instance, the first official poverty estimation adopted in 1987 indicates that the poverty incidence of families in 1991 was 55.8% while the new methodology adopted in 1992 places poverty incidence of families for the same year at 39.9%. Using the Aquino target poverty incidence of 45.4% for 1992, it can not be concluded for sure whether the government was successful in its poverty reduction efforts. A third methodology was also developed in 2002. The new official poverty statistics which show provincial estimates gives us a poverty incidence of families in 1997 at 28.1% compared to the old methodology’s 31.8%. It thus appears that there are lesser poor Filipinos not because government interventions have been successful but because the government has redefined who the poor are.

Given that the second poverty methodology was used in most of the Ramos years and that poverty incidence decreased from 39.9% in 1991 to 35.5% in 1994 and 31.8% in 1997, it may be deduced that the industrialization approach made substantial gains in reducing poverty incidence proving yet again that economic growth improves a country’s poverty situation. The Philippine Progress Report on the MDG’s likewise suggested that the years of fiscal surplus were during 1994-1996 and that since 1990, we have made significant improvements in reducing extreme poverty. However, external shocks such as the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the El Niño and La Niña weather phenomena had long-term consequences to the poor. This is evident at how poverty incidence of families increased from 28.1% in 1997 to 28.4% in 2000.

Consistent with the MDG’s call to halve extreme poverty by 2015, President Arroyo pledged to reduce poverty by half by 2010. Although the NSCB official poverty estimates that will reflect the poverty situation during the Arroyo administration are yet to be produced, the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey conducted by the NSO show that Filipinos fared better in 2002 than in 1999 in terms of employment, education and homes.

We have shown and international bodies such as the UN have recognized that the Philippines can win the war against poverty. The multi-dimensional face of poverty explains the various solutions the past leaders have initiated to address the same problem. The strategy the present administration has adopted is based on past efforts that were deemed effective such as micro-finance and the provision of low-cost medicines. However, the President’s poverty-targeted programs or any such programs for that matter will only be effective if all other government policies are in synergy.