National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary Noel Felongco, joined by BARMM officials, Asst. Exec. Sec. Abdullah Cusain (left) and NAPC focal person Yusop Muhammad (right), hold a press briefing in Cotabato City. (Photo from the PIA)
The National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) wants to help the Bangsamoro government cut poverty in the region through the NAPC’s five-year development plan.
The program, known as the “Sambayanihan Serbisyong Sambayanan” or SSS, will provide the development framework from 2019 to 2023 and deliver fundamental social services to the poorest communities in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), said NAPC chief Noel Felongco.
Felongco explained that the program “aims to carry out a climate-responsive, cultural and gender sensitive, convergent and participatory anti-poverty strategy to attain the country’s poverty reduction target,” referring to the government’s AmBisyon Natin 2040 plan.
Felongco cited the government’s target to fast-track economic development to minimize overall poverty from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 14 percent or lower by 2023.
“The challenge is to ensure that all of these basic needs are accessible to the people in the BARMM,” he added.
Based on the situational analysis conducted by the NAPC, the 10 basic needs of the Filipinos, to be addressed by the five-year program, were food, water, shelter, work, health care, education, social protection, healthy environment, peace and people’s participation.
BARMM Assistant Executive Secretary Abdullah Cusain noted that majority of the population in BARMM were farmers and fisherfolk, thus, “If we can improve agriculture and fisheries, it is one way of hopefully reducing poverty here.” (Jojo Mangahis)