Despite government reports of economic growth, the Philippines has not made much progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger.
   This was the reaction of a number of observers from the academic and media sectors in the wake of a National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) report released recently during a program held at the Manila Hotel and at which no less than the Philippine president confirmed the report, promising economic abundance in the near future.
    The Philippines Midterm Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was produced by NEDA with support from the United Nations Country Team in the Philippines. According to the report (cited hereinafter as Midterm Report), halfway through the 2015 target year to achieve the MDGs, the Philippines has made considerable progress in poverty reduction,

                          Unstoppable Population Boom
    The midterm report cited that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, referring to individuals whose incomes cannot support a minimum food basket, showed a decrease from the 1991 baseline figure of 24.3 percent to 13.5 percent in 2003. But these are 2003 figures! The number of children born to poor families has tremendously increased in the last three years.
     Granting for the sake of argument that there has been a measure of economic growth, such event should have put the Philippines on track to achieve the MDG poverty target. However, nothing is farther from the truth.
     The unstoppable population boom in the country has set back the fruits of economic development. This is because the population increase occurs among the have-nots and not among the haves.

                         Corruption in the Highest Places
     Time after time, cases of graft and corruption in the highest places are being discovered, revealing, as it were, that the much-touted economic growth is by nature private, not public; exclusive, not inclusive; personal, not mass-based; and that its fruits are being consumed by the high and mighty, not by the lowly and weak.
     Indeed, of what use is any kind of economic growth if economic injustice continues to prevail? Of what empirical

Page 6