President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. tasked National Anti-Poverty Commission to engage residents of depressed and remote communities to tackle poverty.
In the first en banc meeting of the NAPC at Malacañang Palace, the President ordered the anti-poverty commission to determine the needs in such areas.
“I think, that the NAPC should be doing. Hanapin natin kung saan talaga ‘yung problematic na area and then engage natin lahat ng ibang departamento para the other departments can come in,” said Marcos.
He also emphasized the importance of coordination between government agencies and local government units.
“I think it all comes down to the same thing…marami tayo, like the NAPC, is a dedicated organization agency to look at the incidents of poverty and what are the things that can be done,” the President said.
Marcos added that each government unit should know its function to serve efficiently. Marcos cited that a baseline should be created to further differentiate the tasks at hand.
NAPC lead convenor Lope Santos III bared NAPC’s future plans in addressing poverty.
“When we assumed office (in) February this year, we immediately conducted consultations with all members of NAPC, the leagues of LGUs,
the national government agencies, and the basic sectors and we immediately defined the urgent tasks at hand in accordance with the
mandate of NAPC which is a coordinating and advisory body of the agency,” Santos said.
Santos added that the adoption and formulation of the Local Poverty Reduction Action Plan in accordance with the Magna Carta of the Poor
will be done by October this year.
Santos also said they have come up with the National Anti-Poverty Action Agenda, which would be called N3A.
“N3A shall be aligned with the PDP (Philippine Development Plan) 2023-2028 and focusing on the strategic direction and flagship
programs to address multidimensional poverty concerns, social economic, ecological, and governance,” Santos added.