Eastern Samar, Northern Samar register high level of achievement in its Poverty Reduction in 2003

By NEIL D. LOPIDO, (PIA 8)
July 2, 2006

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  – Among the provinces in Eastern Visayas, the provinces of Eastern Samar and Northern Samar registered high level of achievement in its poverty reduction efforts with the rate of progress of 2.3 and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Assessment of progress is the ratio of actual rate of progress to the target annual rate of progress. High rate of progress is greater than 0.9, Medium rate of progress is between 0.5-0.9, and Low rate of progress is less than 0.5.

Evangelin M. Paran, Regional Head of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) in Region 8 said that this high achievement could be attributed to the large reduction in their poverty incidence from 67.2 in 1997 to 41.1 in 2003 for Eastern Samar and from 40.8 in 1997 to 55.5 in 2003 for Northern Samar.

On the other hand, Paran said that the province of Biliran recorded the lowest achievement where its poverty incidence worsened from 44.9 in 1997 to 55.6 in 2003. Similarly, Leyte posted a slight increase in poverty incidence from 39.6 in 1997 to 42.3 in 2003.

In Eastern Visayas, while poverty incidence dropped to 43.0 percent, the region still wasn’t able to meet its target of 35.3 percent, lagging by 7.7 percentage points and if this trend continues, the region may not likely achieve its poverty reduction target by 2015, Paran explained.

Paran stressed that eradicating extreme poverty and hunger is one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) our government is committed to achieve as member of the United Nations. In Eastern Visayas, according to Paran, we aim to halve poverty incidence from 47.1 percent in 1991 to 23.6 percent in 2015.