I humbly extend my warmest congratulations to President Xi Jinping on his re-appointment as general secretary of the Communist Party of China and for the success of the 20th National Congress of the CPC.
PDP Laban was able to establish a special affiliation with the CPC mainly because of the strong bond between former President Rodrigo Duterte and President Xi. This relationship was formalized through an agreement executed in 2017 where both political parties committed to deepening exchanges and cooperation to ensure sound and stable progress of the China-Philippines strategic relationship, among others.
PDP Laban has always been in awe of the way President Xi and the CPC steered the political, economic, and social development of China. It is not an easy task to govern a country of 1.45 billion people (comprising of less than 1/5 [18.5 percent] of the world’s population). Therefore, it is very important for the world that China succeeds in terms of socio-economic development.
A 2022 report from The World Bank and The Development Research Center of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, “Four Decades of Poverty Reduction in China, Drivers, Insights for the World and the Way Ahead” tells us that the eradication of extreme poverty in China is of global importance. Between 1981 and 2017, on average, there were almost 34 million fewer poor people in the world each year, and about 24 million of them came from China. Last year, marking the 100th anniversary of the CPC, China announced the eradication of extreme poverty. Over four decades of sustained growth, a once poor and backward country in Asia lifted about 800 million people from extreme poverty.
We have much to learn from China in terms of poverty reduction. From our experience, sustained GDP growth alone is not an assurance of poverty alleviation. There was sustained GDP growth (6.2 percent yearly), for example, during the time of President Noynoy Aquino. However, when he stepped down from office 21.6 percent of Filipinos remained poor.
We should take a deeper study of the poverty reduction strategy of China and its synergy and interplay with growth. Achieving economic growth will not automatically lead to poverty alleviation but poverty reduction strategies may help in developing rural areas and help poor people participate in economic activities, thereby bridging the gap between urban and rural areas.
Presently, the Philippine government’s central poverty reduction and social protection strategy is a targeted approach under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. From 2008 to 2021, the government has already spent a total of P780.71 billion on this program. However, a recent Commission on Audit report found that about 90 percent of the household beneficiaries for seven to 13 years remained below the poverty threshold. These findings are particularly bothersome, as the CoA report tells us, because of the enactment of the 4Ps Act, which limits the stay of the beneficiaries to 7 years. The DSWD is mandated under the law to delist a beneficiary from the program after the end of the 7th year regardless of whether they have crossed the poverty threshold. There will be numerous adverse consequences to this, especially for households reliant on 4Ps for their children’s continued schooling.
Given that the pandemic took a toll on the poverty reduction strategy, it is of primary importance for the economic managers of President Marcos to review the effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the 4Ps program since one of the main development objectives of the Marcos administration is to reduce poverty incidence from 23.1 to a single digit in 2028. This should be taken into context too with the recent Pulse Asia Survey showing the public rating the President’s performance on poverty reduction at a poor 39 percent.
The Philippines have always been reliant on western models in terms of socioeconomic growth and poverty reduction. Perhaps it is high time that our leaders learn from China’s experience and practices over the past four decades and find out what made China outpace the rest of the world in alleviating poverty and uplifting the well-being of its people.