+ - / Duterte's Anti-Poverty Initiative and + BISAYAFILMS - : "a commentary"

 Part 1: THE PRESS RELEASE

NAPC earns support for anti-poverty initiative

Secretary Noel K. Felongco of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) has signed three separate agreements with local government officials in Southern Leyte to carry out the Sambayanihan Serbisyong Sambayanihan and Kasambayanihan programs designed to combat poverty.

Southern Leyte Governor Damian G. Mercado, Maasin City Mayor Nacional V. Mercado, and Macrohon Mayor Alan Jose K. Aroy affixed their signatures on memorandum of agreements committing the LGUs to help NAPC projects.

According to the Philippine Statistics Office, Southern Leyte has a poverty incidence among families of 22.8 percent in 2018. Maasin City is the commercial and religious center of the province. Macrohon town is a fourth-class town adjacent to Maasin City.

“While poverty incidence has reduced from 31.7 percent during the census of 2015, we expect a sharp rise during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Felongco.

NAPC has developed Sambayanihan: Serbisyong Sambayanan or “SAMBAYANIHAN.” This is the agency’s five-year development framework for 2019-2023. 

The framework aims to provide guidance for the NAPC’s efforts, including the convergence of the government’s anti-poverty programs, projects, and services, in carrying out a climate-responsive, culture- and gender-sensitive, and convergent and participatory anti-poverty strategy.

These include the following:

·       Providing informal settler families (ISF) and the urban poor basic services and access  

to climate-responsive dwellings, livelihood, and employment.

·       Developing innovative infrastructure and financing mechanisms for the rural poor.

·       Strengthening rural-urban agro-economic value chains.

·       Securing the health and general well-being of poor communities. 

·       Enhancing food security.

Among others, the LGUs has agreed to provide NAPC volunteers with an action center for the Sambayanihan and Kasambayanihan projects in the LGUs.

The three LGUs have also agreed to support the formation of consultative bodies, assignment of LGU focal persons to coordinate with NAPC secretariats and action teams.

Felongco expressed optimism that with full LGU support, the agency can achieve its goals by 2023.

Part 2: + BISAYAFILMS -