Gov’t unveils updated PH development plan

The government has unveiled details of the updated Philippine Development Plan (PDP), which is targeted to provide better quality of life for Filipinos by 2016 through measures that would cut jobless rate, underemployment and poverty.

Economic Planning Secretary and National Economic Development Authority Director General Arsenio Balisacan on Monday said that under the latest PDP, the country’s poverty rate was targeted to go down to 16 to 18 percent by 2016, from 25.2 percent in 2012.

The underemployment rate, which economists said was a more serious problem than joblessness, is aimed to be reduced to 17 percent two years from now from 19.8 percent last year.

The unemployment rate is targeted to go down to 6.5-6.7 percent from 7.3 percent last year.

Overall economic growth is targeted to stay within the band of 7 to 8 percent.

Balisacan said the Aquino administration was bent on achieving inclusive economic growth through higher investments in skills training and infrastructure, implementation of employer-employee matching program, easing the process of setting up a business and rationalizing the regulatory regime.

He also said public investments in projects and programs that will boost priority sectors would be made. These sectors include information technology-business process management (IT-BPM), tourism, construction, manufacturing and logistics.

The sectors are considered priority in the belief these have the ability to create the most number of jobs if given ample support.

“Accelerating job creation requires building up of capital. Investments must continually rise for the economy to continue to grow, and this requires a stable and predictable market environment,” Balisacan said in a statement.

Based on economic developments in the first half of the Aquino administration, Balisacan said, several lessons were learned and would guide the policy directions through 2016.

One is the ability of good governance to attract job-generating investments, he said. Another is the need to tailor-fit poverty-reduction strategies to the peculiarities of communities, he added.

Balisacan also cited the need for measures that would help make concerned communities resilient to natural disasters. He noted the tendency of calamities to pull nonpoor households into poverty due to the resulting disruption to business and farm production.

Given these lessons, he said, the government would classify provinces/communities of the country under three categories. The anti-poverty measures differ across the categories, he said.

In provinces with the biggest number of poor population, he said, the government would invest heavily in skills training.

In provinces that are less populated and disconnected from commercial centers, he said, the applicable measure would be infrastructure development.

In provinces that are most prone to natural disasters, he said, the key strategy would be investments in measures that would help make them resilient to calamities. Michelle V. Remo