Socioeconomic Planning Secretary ROMULO L. NERI speaks before attendees to the Launching of the Second Philippines Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), at the Manila Hotel last week. He said the government continues to prioritize policies and programs conducive to the achievement of the MDGs. These include, among others, pursuing implementation of sectoral plans; protecting and empowering the poor and vulnerable groups; adopting sustainable forest management; focusing on waterless communities; facilitating security of tenure and improving access to housing by the poor; and strengthening and geting, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.