III. Development Goals and Objectives
By 2004, the country's communities shall have met their basic needs and built their
capacities for self-reliance, genuine participation and involvement in effective governance, as
well as equitable access to development opportunities.
A. Health, Nutrition and Population
The country is envisioned as a gender responsive society comprised of empowered
and productive Filipinos of all ages with access to health, nutrition and population management
services that are essential to achieve full human potential leading to a sustainable improvement in the
quality of life. In pursuing this objective, the requirements of population growth shall be balanced with
the capacity of the country's resources in general and the natural environment in particular.
B. Education and Manpower Development
In order to cope with resource constraints, the country's investment in education and
training of its people shall increasingly depend on an active partnership between the government and
the private sector. This partnership will pursue a sustainable process of human resources development that is gender-sensitive as well as more effective social capital formation towards the
improvement of the quality of life.
Learning opportunities at all levels whether formal, nonformal and informal, made
available under this partnership, shall strive to provide highly functional education and training. Such
learning will equip Filipinos with the range of skills, knowledge, attitudes, and values that will
empower them to live and work as productive individuals, develop their potentials and function effectively
in society.
The role of sports, culture, media, and the arts in instilling positive Filipino values and in
shaping national consciousness and promoting national unity will be better anchored at the
community level.
Given the demands of globalization, the government-private sector partnership envisions
more relevant user-driven education and training programs within the context of a
rationalized structure of governance and institutions, distribution of responsibilities, and allocation of
resources across levels, programs and geographical areas.
C. Shelter and Urban Development
By 2004, the shelter and urban development sector shall have a functional National
Urban Development and Housing Framework characterized by a viable market-oriented housing
finance system with sufficient sources of long-term mortgage finance, on-budget subsidies, a rationalized
shelter agencies' operation, a redefined relation between the national and local governments
and greater LGU ownership in urban management and shelter delivery, parity with other critical
social or economic sectors as a priority of government, and an internal institution which can enable
the preceeding and sustain it beyond the year 2004. There shall be an improved targeting
mechanism focused on the bottom 30 percent. Policies shall ensure that women and female headed
households are not marginalized.
Concretely, key result areas and corresponding goals/targets are as follows:
1. Urban policy. Formulation of a functional National Urban Development and
Housing Framework for the plan period 1999-2004.
2. Housing production and access.
Provision of socialized housing packages to meet
the (apparent) demand of 41,630 households.
3. Affordability. Improved affordability of shelter up to the
3rd decile, as measured by median price-to-income ratios.
4. Localization. 54 priority cities with updated comprehensive city plans and shelter programs.
5. Quantity of investments (in the
sector). As measured by increased share of
housing investments to GDP and Urban infrastructure per capita.
6. Quality of
investments. As measured by improved quality of housing stock and security
of tenure. Specifically focused on increased percentage of permanent housing and
decreased percentage of unauthorized housing.
7. Regulatory
environment. Minimized transaction costs and barriers to entry, as measured
by decrease in permit delays, foreclosure delay and the extent of rent control. Also,
increased compliance with provisions of the Urban development and Housing Act (UDHA).
8. Other indicators. The share of the housing credit portfolio and the land development
multiplier (price of developed land/price of raw land), among others, will also be monitored for
distortions in the demand and supply-sides of housing.
D. Social Welfare and Community Development
By 2004, gender-fair communities shall have been fully developed with their basic
needs met, their capacities for empowerment built, and equitable access to development
opportunities particularly for the more disadvantaged sectors, especially the bottom 30 percent of the population.
IV. Policies and Strategies
In the medium term, the following policies and strategies shall be implemented to
address the foregoing challenges and attain the social sector's development goals and objectives:
A. Present gains shall be preserved and access to basic services and development
opportunities shall be enhanced by:
1. Ensuring funding, operationalization, and monitoring of both existing and
pending priority social sector legislation;
2. Allocating resources to basic social services, such as basic education, primary
health care and nutrition, and welfare
protection which have a greater impact on reducing
poverty;
3. Giving vulnerable groups preferential access to social services and safety nets;
4. Targeting geographic areas and population groups where social development needs
are greatest;
5. Developing and utilizing more innovative delivery and financing mechanisms for social
service provision, such as home-based care for health, and
non-conventional/alternative learning systems such as distance and
mobile education;
6. Harnessing the complementary roles of government, the private sector, civil society and
the community in the development of human capacities, through the principles of
convergence and multisectoral collaboration; and
7. Strengthening the capability of LGUs to effectively deliver devolved social services.
B. The shortfalls and inequities in social expenditures shall be addressed by:
1. Ensuring that basic social services are allocated at least 20 percent of the national
budget;
2. Encouraging more private sector participation through the adoption of more cost-effective
social service delivery and financing mechanisms and the phasing out of
regressive subsidies. This may include the provision of support directly to targeted vulnerable
groups rather than through institutions (e.g., the adoption of a voucher system for tertiary education
and the implementation of the NHIP, in coordination with various
sectors); and
3. Ensuring that basic social services are protected from budget cuts that may
come with economic restructuring.
C. Human resources, vulnerable groups, and society and culture at large shall be
prepared for further globalization and modernization by:
1. Supporting greater opportunities for middle level skills development and higher
education to further enhance the qualifications of workers; encouraging
supplementary training from the workplace to maintain supply of high-level labor force; retooling
or upgrading the skills of returning migrant workers to prepare them for
reintegration; enhancing employment facilitation
strategy especially to returning migrant workers
to effectively match labor skills with actual market requirements; and training leaders for
the government machinery and professions to manage knowledge-intensive
production and services;
2. Promoting strategies for the protection of workers' rights and welfare;
3. Fostering bilateral and international cooperation to promote acceptable labor standards
for Filipinos who choose to seek employment abroad;
4. Providing self-limiting safety nets to mitigate the adjustment costs that come
with economic restructuring; and
5. Strengthening the role of families and communities in addressing the needs of their
members, particularly in times of stress and crisis brought about by modern living.
D. Social cohesion and social capital formation shall be achieved by:
1. Developing a strong, working national language within the context of multilingualism
and multiculturalism;
2. Addressing the root causes of violence and conflict so that human rights, peace and social
development, which are interrelated and indivisible, are achieved and maintained;
3. Encouraging opportunities for popular participation by enhancing the roles and
potentials of families, communities, NGOs and people's organizations;
4. Providing mechanisms and support to enhance access, flow and feedback of
information among civil society, government and business, utilizing all available forms of
communication and information for transparency;
5. Seeking unity in diversity by respecting ethnicity while pushing for national unity;
6. Harnessing culture, the arts and media as the main vehicle for inculcating moral
principles in the people's daily lives and targeting families as basic units for evolving
national ideology;
7. Developing a greater awareness of and pride in indigenous culture, wisdom and ethics,
as well as upholding progressive traditions under changing circumstances;
8. Correcting traditions and beliefs that negate the principle of equality between
sexes; and
9. Strengthening incentives and the system of merits and rewards for persons and
organizations exemplifying virtue, professionalism, and societal contribution, so as to
create role models and leaders.
Subsectoral policies and strategies
The following subsectoral policies and strategies shall likewise be pursued in the
medium-term:
A. Health, Nutrition and Population
1. Transforming the health care delivery system into one that is more dynamic, efficient,
effective and responsive to devolution by:
a. Focusing public sector efforts on the prevention and control of leading
communicable, noncommunicable and lifestyle related diseases as well as conditions arising
from environmental and occupational hazards;
Strategies:
-
Upgrade the management infrastructure of public health programs;
-
Invest in new programs to address emerging health problems; and
-
Increase spending for efficiently-managed health promotion and disease
prevention programs.
b. Enhancing support capacities for the devolved facilities, e.g. , strengthening regional
and field health offices, streamlining the Department of Health Central Office and
setting partnership arrangements with local government units;
c. Developing a health facilities program, which will prioritize upgrading of hospitals in the
periphery including devolved district and provincial hospitals; and
d. Increasing people/community participation in health and nutrition activities and
decision-making and sustaining people's health awareness through intensified advocacy
and information, education and communication campaigns.
2. Improving the system to increase scope and access to health institutions through
the improvement of health care financing, particularly National Health Insurance Program
and other modes of payment of health care.
Strategies:
-
Grant fiscal autonomy to DOH and other public hospitals;
-
Secure funding for priority public health programs, subject to the test fiscal
viability; and
-
Aggressively enroll members into the NHIP especially in cities, particularly by
attracting them with improved benefits.
3. Enhancing the capabilities for standards development, regulations and licensing and
augmenting human and fiscal resources in the field units of the DOH.
4. Promoting traditional and alternative health care and its integration in our national health
care delivery system as mandated by RA 8423 "Establishing the Philippine Institute for
Traditional and Alternative Health Care".
5. Greater and more effective coverage of national and local public health programs.
6. Increasing the leverage for the formation and effective performance of local health
networks (i.e., district health systems).
7. Implementing the following nutrition action agenda:
N ationwide salt iodization
U niversal micronutrient supplementation
T otal commitment to appropriations and credit facilities for
nutritionally-at-risk households
R einforced capabilities for policy formulation, advocacy, resource generation
and coordination for
nutrition program management
I nfrastructure facilities for increased food security
T horough information, education and communication campaign
I ncentives to business to encourage investments in nutrition
O rganized management of nutrition programs in SRA areas
N onwage benefits package in collective bargaining agreements
8. Attaining efficiency, effectiveness, simplicity and economy in the efforts towards combating
substance abuse.
9. Integrating population variables including migration and urbanization into development
policies, plans and programs at all levels.
10. Mobilizing resources for the Philippine Population Management Program (PPMP).
11. Mainstreaming gender and development into PPMP components.
12. Assisting couples/parents to achieve their desired family size within the context of
responsible parenthood and consistent with Article II, Section 12 and Article XV, Sections 1-4 of
the Constitution.
13. Ensuring high quality standards for all legaaly accepted reproductive health services,
and allowing the market to supply such services and related information to the public.
14. Ensuring that adolescents are provided with appropriate information, knowledge,
education, and services on population and reproductive health.
15. Promoting population-sensitive environmental management of human settlements.
16. Expanding/strengthening of policy and program consultation.
B. Education and Manpower Development
Across education levels
1. Institutionalizing a system of resource allocation in the public sector that gives priority to
the most basic learning needs and targets the most underserved or marginalized groups and areas.
2. Widening the utilization of tested and cost-effective nonconventional/alternative
learning strategies and delivery systems.
3. Adopting an effective fund mobilization scheme based on the concept of matching grant
involving various stakeholders especially LGUs, private sector, and other stakeholders to ensure
the adequacy of financial support to all levels of education and/or priority programs and institutions.
4. Delineating responsibilities on programs by institutions across all levels of education and
training in accordance with the principle of trifocalization.
5. Improving the system of monitoring and evaluation at all levels by developing appropriate
sets of indicators and generating adequate region-and-gender-based data/information.
6. Integrating principles of human rights in all levels of education and training with the aim to
mold young minds and future leaders to respect the dignity and human rights of every person
regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or
social origin, property, birth or other status.
Spatial development
1. Instituting new development initiatives in elementary, secondary, and nonformal
education, and livelihood-oriented informal education in the following priority areas: ARMM,
Western Mindanao (IX), Central Mindanao (XII), CAR, and Southern Mindanao (XI).
2. Enabling middle-level skills development institutions to cater to the manpower needs of
growth centers such in the CALABARZON, Northern Luzon Quadrangle, Subic-Clark Belt,
Cebu-Iligan-Cagayan de Oro Growth Triangle, Davao-EAGA and Southern Mindanao, as well as
the skills requirements of the Strategic Agriculture and Fishery Development
Zones (SAFDZs) .
3. Establishing centers of excellence in higher education to develop research and development
capability and priority disciplines that will cater to the knowledge-based industries in
NCR, Cebu and Davao and other strategic locations.
Basic education
Policies
1. Closing the access and quality gap between private and public schools, urban and rural
areas, and focusing on the needs of disadvantaged groups.
2. Focusing on teacher development in both pre-service and in-service stages.
3. Hastening decentralization of educational management.
4. Making the curriculum learner-centered and relevant to the globalization thrust.
5. Establishing a selective modernization program for the physical, structural, managerial
and instructional dimensions of educational provision.
6. Making the basic education structure and program adequate and responsive to the
requirements of the labor market and higher
levels of learning.
Strategies
For policies 1, 2, 5 and 6
1. Expanding resources for basic education.
2. Improving the teachers' competence and promoting an effective incentive system, especially
a system to support the career path of teachers.
3. Strengthening the assessment system as a mechanism for a more comprehensive
measurement of system performance and for assisting curriculum development and instructional delivery.
4. Supporting the improvement of the teaching process and learning environment.
5. Promoting the gradual expansion of the application of information technology, with the
assistance of the private sector.
For policies 3 and 4
1. Focusing capacity building on school-based management.
2. Devolving responsibilities of providing all levels of basic education services to LGUs
and communities.
3. Enhancing the relevance of the curriculum through the use of appropriate language of
instruction, development of gender-sensitive and indigenized curriculum and preparation of
locally-adapted learning materials.
4. Aligning the content and pedagogical approaches of science and mathematics education
with the national and regional thrusts of globalization.
5. Strengthening career consciousness and guidance counseling programs in basic education
for an early appreciation of the merits of occupational choices in both middle level and
higher education.
Tertiary education (MLSD and higher education)
Policies
1. Accelerating the delivery and implementation of flexible, market-oriented, and
user-driven tertiary education and training system and programs.
2. Hastening the modernization and streamlining of publicly-funded tertiary institutions to
make them cost-effective.
3. Rationalizing the allocation of funding for tertiary education institutions across
programs, functional areas (based on the three fundamental functions of HEIs, i.e. instruction,
research, and extension), as well as geographic areas.
4. Increasing support for priority disciplines and programs in both middle-level skills
development and higher education, as identified in the tertiary manpower development plans.
Strategies
1. Establishing a system of direct channeling and managing funding assistance to deserving
students and linking it to the policy of mandatory national service for recipients of state-funded
tertiary level programs.
2. Undertaking a comprehensive review of enabling laws of public tertiary institutions to
bring about institutional responsiveness, academic freedom, fiscal autonomy, program
relevance, and greater accountability and efficiency.
3. Broadening the scope and institutionalizing a system of recognition, accreditation and
equivalency of work experience and prior learning.
4. Promoting the increased participation of the private sector in the financing, management
and delivery of middle-level manpower development and higher education.
5. Imposing a moratorium on the conversion of schools into technical-vocational schools
and state colleges and universities pending the adoption of appropriate guidelines.
Culture, arts and media
Policies
1. Utilizing arts, culture and media in promoting national unity while preserving cultural diversity.
2. Accelerating the development of a strong working national language within the context
of multilingualism and multiculturalism.
3. Encouraging artistic creations and cultural activities side by side with developing informed
and appreciative audience.
4. Raising public consciousness and the esteem of other people on Philippine cultural heritage.
5. Making development-oriented communication more accessible to the urban poor, rural
and grassroots communities, as well as the marginalized sectors.
Strategies
1. Fostering greater understanding, respect and appreciation of the arts, history and culture of
the various cultural communities.
2. Fostering local community initiatives and greater collaboration among the academe and
public and private sectors in the promotion of the arts, culture and the role of media.
3. Enriching museums, libraries, and archives and preserving structures and sites important
to Philippine culture and history.
4. Utilizing culture as an instrument of diplomacy.
5. Developing cultural industries including the preservation of Philippine traditional arts in
support of economic development.
6. Encouraging the use of local dialects in public service messages and public affairs programs
to make media more accessible to the wider range of audience.
7. Utilizing and expanding the use of various forms of media including electronic and
indigenous as creative channels in the inculcation of values and propagation of responsible
citizenship, leadership, moral recovery, gender and development, increased productivity and a culture
of peace and unity.
Sports
Policies
1. Enhancing access to and developing mass-based sports and local communities instead
of competitive or spectator sports.
2. Evolving a more cohesive, responsive and competent machinery for the effective
coordination and implementation of sports and recreation activities based on widely acceptable
sports development plan.
Strategies
1. Mobilizing private resources to support the training for excellence in the regional, national
and international competitive sports.
2. Reviewing the organizational structure, management and mandates of the existing public
sports agencies and their linkages/partnership with private sector.
C. Shelter and Urban Development
Policies
External