Eradication of Poverty in Philippines

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Executive Summary

Poverty is a significant social problem that has plagued the Philippines over generations. However, the country has put measures or policies in place to help with the eradication of the problem. To begin with, the Filipino government implemented universal access to quality tertiary education in August 2017. This was aimed to o higher education by subsidizing all tuition fees from all technical-vocational institutions (TVIs) and higher education institutions (HEIs) run by the Philippine government. It focuses on increasing the rate of participation in all socioeconomic classes in tertiary education by providing adequate funding. With this program, the country can reduce drop-out rates and help with poverty eradication in the process. In addition, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) was founded by the Filipino government to polish individual skills, including vocational and technical ones.

Moreover, the Philippines contains the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) under conditional cash transfer (CCT). The program is used to enhance human development by giving cash grants to the poorest families to improve nutrition, health, and education. The program is majorly guided by two objectives, including social assistance and social development. Moreover, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program helps the Filipino government fulfill its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are concerned with eliminating severe hunger and poverty, promoting gender equality, decreasing child mortality, and achieving universal primary education.

In addition, the country established a Universal Health Care Act in February 2019, ushered in by President Rodrigo Duterte. This was aimed at offering healthcare support by providing quality, affordable, and easily accessible treatment services to all citizens by enrolling every Filipino automatically into the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP). The UHC law was intended to protect Filipinos from financial risk, which would help reduce poverty incidence in the country.

Furthermore, the Philippines has been able to create a National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act of 2010 to develop a multilevel risk management system. This follows the fact that poverty in the country has been driven by problems such as floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, landslides, typhoons, earthquakes, and COVID-19. The DRRM provides guidance on solving underlying vulnerability causes in disaster management. This helps reduce and manage the risks of disasters through the adoption of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework (NDRRMF).

The Philippines also acknowledges the importance of economic growth in poverty eradication. As a result, the country has made efforts to invest in agriculture, industrial development, and natural resources to aid with economic growth. The country uses the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP) to propagate, foster, further implement, and develop organic agriculture practices in the Philippines to create a sustainable and competitive organic industry, thereby enhancing better income and poverty reduction. Second, in support of industrial development, the country has increased investments in MSMEs and considers them a pathway toward economic recovery and growth. Moreover, the country utilizes its natural resources to enhance exports and enhance foreign exchange, which helps generate more income for the nation.

Education is the most significant approach to poverty eradication as it helps equip individuals with competitive skills relative to the job market. This makes it easy for people to easily get access to opportunities and elevate themselves from poverty in the process. The country should increase its efforts in data collection investments to be able to gain sufficient information on beneficiaries to prevent funds wastage and misallocation. To increase the effectiveness of the Universal Access to quality education act, the country should invest in information collection to help determine the credibility of beneficiaries. This can be achieved by creating an assessment team to administer interviews and set standards for beneficiary selection.

Eradication of Poverty in Philippines Policy Paper Analysis

Poverty is considered to be both an individual issue and the overall society with the capability of dampening economic growth. It is a situation directly associated with the inability to afford necessities and linked with problems such as unemployment, poor health care, lack of education, and urban decay. The Philippines is fairly affected, with a current rate of over 18.1% of the total population with living conditions below the poverty line (World Bank, 2022). Moreover, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s gains in eradicating poverty have been reversed as the disease led to a decline in economic growth. Nevertheless, the Philippine government has put in place policies or strategies in place to continue its efforts in poverty reduction.

Greater Access to Education

Education is regarded as one of the main pathways to escaping poverty. This is because individuals who have higher education attainment are inclined to get better-paying jobs. For this reason, greater access to education will enable people to elevate themselves from poverty. According to Reyes (2021a), the participation difference in the Philippines between the poorest and the richest deciles is 25.8% at the tertiary level, 16% at the secondary level, and 3.3% at the elementary level. As a result, the poor are inclined to have less access to education opportunities, and this problem is more evident at the tertiary and secondary levels.

In the Philippines, more focus has been on increasing educational opportunities for poor citizens. To begin with, the country implemented the Universal Access to quality tertiary education act in August 2017 (Lim et al., 2018). The act works to help students have easy access to higher education by waiving all tuition fees from all technical-vocational institutions (TVIs) and higher education institutions (HEIs) run by the Philippine government. It focuses on increasing the rate of participation in all socioeconomic classes in tertiary education by providing adequate funding. The program associates all first undergraduate degrees available in every tertiary education institution. In addition, the act increases the availability of income-contingent loans to the poorest. However, the act is faced with a concern that it will encourage the exit of students from private and public providers.

The Universal Access to quality tertiary education act combats the longstanding tendency of increasing fees in higher education. With its support, the country can reduce drop-out rates which will foster poverty eradication as individuals will gain competitive skills required in the labor market (Lim et al., 2018). The act’s main supporter, Philippine Senator Benjamin Aquino IV, suggested that the poor will be able to have chances or opportunities towards a brighter future hence escaping poverty.

In addition, the Philippine government founded a free Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to focus on polishing skills, including vocational and technical ones. It was established on account of the Republic Act 7796, also referred to as the Technical Education and Skills Development Act of 1994 (RPDBM, 2022a). The act works under a vision of being a transformational leader towards improving and developing the technical skills of the Filipino workforce. This will provide its citizens with the necessary skills in various jobs, providing higher chances of employment and career growth locally and abroad.

The Philippine education sector received 774.4 billion Philippine pesos in 2022, which is equivalent to 15.4%, which is a 3.4% increase from 2021 (RPDBM, 2022b). This follows the government’s demands that the education sector must be allocated the largest share of the national budget to support these programs directed toward increasing educational access to the poor. The government provided pre-primary and primary education with 292.8 billion pesos, 248.2 billion pesos for secondary education, 114.1 billion pesos for tertiary education, and 14.3 pesos for technical vocational education (RPDBM, 2022b). Moreover, the sector is given 20.1 billion pesos to be directed toward New School Personnel Positions to fill 10,000 human resources more for teaching and non-teaching positions (RPDBM, 2022b). These positions provide employment opportunities, thereby increasing the chances of poverty elevation in the country.

The Universal Access to quality education act utilizes collaborations with other systems that would help with the recognition of complementary roles of private and public institutions in the education system. Moreover, the act contains an Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic (IRR) framework to aid in ensuring the proper application, distribution, and utilization of government funds in education (Purigay, 2020). This is done by ensuring social justice in the program to reduce wastage and misallocation of funds. However, the program funds do not entirely reach poor families. This follows the fact that it subsidizes tuition fees for all students enrolled in public higher educational institutions (HEIs). Public HEIs constitute technical-vocation education and training (TVET) programs, local universities and colleges (LUCs), and state universities and colleges (SUCs) with both poor and rich students (Lim et al., 2018). This means that the act also provides substantial amounts of money to non-poor students indicating a waste of funds.

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps)

The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is a national government measure directed towards human development by providing the poorest citizens with conditional cash grants to improve nutrition, health, and the education of children. The program is modeled after conditional cash transfer (CCT) schemes in African countries and Latin America, which have helped lift millions of families from poverty all over the globe (Diaz, 2021). The 4Ps program supplements the household’s income by providing cash transfers which enable some of them to go past the poverty threshold. The 4Ps are majorly governed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). It is guided by two objectives, including social assistance and social development. Social assistance involves providing monetary support to extremely poor families to cater to their immediate needs. On the other hand, social development works toward ending the cycle of intergenerational poverty through investments made in the education and health of poor children (Diaz, 2021). This is done using programs such as deworming school children with 6-14 years, family development sessions, children enrollment in secondary, elementary, and daycare schools, and health checkups for children between 0-5 years and pregnant women.

In addition, the 4Ps program aids the Philippine government in accomplishing its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This is particularly associated with eliminating severe hunger and poverty, promoting gender equality, decreasing child mortality, and achieving universal primary education. The grants provided by the 4Ps program have been able to reduce the incidence of poverty by 1.3 % points (RPDSWD, 2021). The program provides families with two types of cash incentives, including health and education grants. The grants provide a minimum of 6000 pesos per year for families that have no children aged below 18 years (Blanquisa & Berdin, 2022). However, each family with 3 children enrolled in senior high school is provided with a maximum of 27,000 pesos every year (Blanquisa & Berdin, 2022). These cash grants are distributed to beneficiaries via the Landbank of the Philippines or through alternate schemes of payment like rural bank transactions and Globe G- Cash remittance if not feasible.

Household beneficiaries can receive the provided grants only if they follow certain conditionalities. These conditions indicate that children between 0-5 years must have frequent preventive health checkups as well as vaccines, while those aged 6-14 years will have to take deworming pills twice every year. Additionally, children between 3-18 will have to be enrolled in school and maintain their attendance rate to at least 85% of the class days per month (Diaz, 2021). Moreover, guardians or parents must participate in family development sessions, including topics associated with nutrition, health, and responsible parenting.

The Filipino government provides 115.7 billion pesos to support and help run the program to ensure poverty eradication in the country (RPDBM, 2022b). The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program requires huge financial support to be able to carry out its roles efficiently. As much as the Philippine government provides a share in the annual budget, it is not enough to supplement the running of the program. This makes it challenging to provide beneficiaries with the adequate amount needed to sufficiently meet all the family needs. For this reason, the program relies on loans from outside countries, such as the United States, which adds to the country’s debt weight. Moreover, the 4Ps program was designed to help only the poorest families, excluding middle-income groups. This makes it challenging for the program to gain support from other social classes.

In addition, the program faces the problem of leakage resulting from the misallocation of funds, mostly due to cash grants being directed to non-poorer families. With this issue, the program ceases being regarded as an effective measure for poverty eradication and becomes a retribution program involved with the transfer of wealth from the income of hardworking business people and workers to non-productive individuals (Diaz, 2021). This can also contribute to the country’s growing fiscal deficits, unending inflation, the increased tax burden for the private sector, and the accumulation of more debt.

Even with all these problems, the 4Ps program uses collaborations and partnerships with CSOs, NGOs, and the private sector to aid in reinforcing activities aimed at identifying the correct household beneficiaries and help avoid the misallocation of funds. Moreover, the collaborations help empower the participation of volunteers in capacity building, knowledge management, and program complementation to aid in the development of the community (RPDSWD, 2021). The program also engages in regular monitoring, planning, and evaluation to help the program adapt to changes that might arise and anticipate problems hence improving its effectiveness.

Health

Illness can be regarded as a major cause of increased poverty rates mainly because of the cost encountered while seeking healthcare. According to Mapa (2022), household out-of-pocket payment (OOP) in the Filipino healthcare system continues to increase, totaling over 379.7 billion pesos as of 2019. Furthermore, the healthcare system suffers inequalities that might limit healthcare access to the poor, forcing them to make informal payments to the providers to receive treatment services. This will force families to spend more than they are supposed to, resulting in increased poverty. In addition, health care services to the poor can be too far, bringing forth transportation costs and increased. The majority of poor Filipino families spend approximately most of their income on food. However, with limited access to healthcare services, the money intended for food is redirected to be spent on treatment, pushing them into poverty.

A strong healthcare system helps enhance the health status of the entire population in any country. This is particularly beneficial to the poor who experience problems with sickness and limited access to healthcare services. In addition, a strong healthcare system helps shield the poor from the severe effects of out-of-pocket expenditures with the capability of driving more families into poverty. To enhance healthcare support for Filipino citizens, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the establishment of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Bill into law in February 2019, welcoming vast reforms into the country’s healthcare system (Aranas et al., 2020). The Universal Health Care Act was founded to help give affordable and quality health care to all citizens by enrolling every Filipino automatically into the National Health Insurance Program (NHIP). The prominent features of the UHC service population expansion and financial coverage over various healthcare systems amendments.

Support provided by the UHC enables warranted fair access to affordable and quality healthcare services to all Filipinos and protects them from financial risk, thereby decreasing poverty rates in the country. Therefore, the UHC helps guarantee readily available healthcare services to all citizens while shielding them from unnecessary expenditures that would drive low-income families into poverty (RPDBM, 2021a). As much as the healthcare provided is not completely free, the UHC Act ensures that families living in poverty can easily access the provided services.

Furthermore, the Filipino government formed a Health Technology and Assessment Council (HTAC) under the UHC law to help improve the effectiveness of the country’s healthcare. The overall objective of the HTAC is to guide the country’s Department of Health as well as the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation. The HTAC council comprises health experts with roles to support health developments, including vaccines, technology, and other advancements. To support all these programs, the government allocated 252.4 billion Philippine pesos to the healthcare system in 2022 (RPDBM, 2022b). This signifies the country’s commitment to addressing health problems in the country and restoring economic and social stability, which will, in turn, help improve the lives of its citizens and curb poverty in the process.

The Filipino healthcare system experiences challenges such as the inadequate number of the healthcare workforce and rising demographic imbalances, which hinder the accomplishment of set UHC goals in public health. To address this problem, the country has invested in employing motivated and highly skilled health professionals with responsibilities aimed at delivering and implementing quality health services through the Human Resources for Health Network (HRHN) in 2006 (Philippines Health Department, 2022). The program focuses on deploying the majority of the healthcare professionals to Local Government Units (LGUs), mainly in low-resource regions in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAS) that lack the capability of hiring or retaining their workforce.

The Filipino government ensures to provide funds for the program to tackle the issue of the inadequate healthcare workforce. In 2022 the Filipino government allocated 17 billion pesos to the HRHN to help facilitate the hiring of 26,035 healthcare workers (RPDBM, 2022b). This program will use the allocated funds to deploy healthcare professionals, including midwives, nurses, doctors, nutritionists, pharmacists, physical therapists, and medical technologists. The precedence or priority will be given to high-poverty, low-income, and geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAS). This creates employment opportunities for individuals from poor families, giving them a chance to elevate themselves from poverty.

The UHC law allows individuals to choose their preferred primary healthcare provider they are comfortable with and trust. Moreover, the act uses the Technology Assessment Committee, which helps in determining benefit inclusions hence promoting patient involvement in vital decisions (Lambert, 2021). This involvement helps improve the effectiveness and responsiveness of the program by allowing individuals to directly influence choices related to their health.

Shocks

Among Filipinos, poor families are most exposed to price and financial shocks as well as natural disasters. Attempts to fight these shocks result in deeper debt rates hence forcing them into poverty. This means that not all families are consistently poor, as some are pushed into the situation only when faced with these shocks (CFE-DMHA, 2021). The Philippines is among the countries located in the Pacific Ring of Fire indicating that the nation encounters various forms of natural disasters, including floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and earthquakes.

In addition to these natural disasters, the country faced the effects of COVID-19 in 2019. Before the onset of COVID-19, the Philippines exhibited a booming economy motivated by a strong labor market, consumer demand, and overseas remittances, which were all strengthened by the trends of the growing middle class, demographics, and urbanization increase. The country was able to consistently grow its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) up to 2019, which stood at a growth rate of 6.12% and dropped by 15.64% due to the effects of the pandemic (Macrotrends, 2022a). This was contributed by the measures set for the pandemic and community quarantine that resulted in a decrease in investment, consumption, tourism, exports as well as remittances. As a result, a majority of Filipinos lost their employment which enhanced poverty growth rates in the country.

To mitigate such shocks in the country, the Philippines Congress endorsed the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Act in 2010 to develop a multilevel risk management system. The (DRRM) provides guidance on dealing with the underlying vulnerability causes to aid in reducing and managing the risks of disasters through the adoption of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Plan (NDRRMP) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Framework (NDRRMF) (UNDRR, 2019). In addition, the program directs efforts to reinforce and recognize the capacity of the local government units (LGUs) and the national government, along with partner stakeholders. This is to help build disaster resilience in communities as well as to regulate measures and arrangements for reducing the risks of disasters, such as climate risks, and promote disaster response capabilities and preparedness at every level.

The NDRRMP focuses on four areas, including disaster preparedness, disaster prevention, and mitigation, disaster response, as well as disaster rehabilitation and recovery, all of which conform to the structure of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). In addition, the NDRRMP is consistent with the NDRRMF, which operates as the main principal guide to disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) efforts of the nation. The framework aims to develop a country containing communities that are adaptive, safer, and disaster-resilient in efforts to enhance sustainable development. The Filipino government provided a share of 20 billion pesos in 2022 from the national budget to help fund NDRRMF and increase its effectiveness in disaster management. Furthermore, it allocated 6.4 billion as a quick response fund to help with the expenses needed to aid in the response and recovery of disaster-affected communities (RDPBM, 2022). Moreover, the framework covers a shift in plan from reactive DRRM to a more proactive one.

One of the strengths of the Philippines DRRM is that it has heavily invested its resources in the provision and construction of facilities like sea walls and river dikes to help in disaster reduction. Moreover, it has put in place non-structural measures, such as warning systems for volcanic eruptions and floods, that will help in timely planning and preparedness for effective disaster management. Furthermore, the program provides proper training and necessary equipment for volunteer workers to help supplement the manpower required in the event of disasters. Additionally, the DRRM utilizes public education and training campaigns to promote disaster coordination and foster public awareness, which helps in process efficiency.

One of the limitations of the DRRM is that LGUs and line agencies in the program cannot effectively accomplish disaster management activities. In addition, the program contains poor coordination among stakeholders, including LGUs, national government agencies, volunteers, civil society organizations as well as the private sector (Agub & Turingan, 2017). This has been largely contributed by the shared authority within the DRRM structure, which promotes the dispersion and scattering of responsibility and resources, thereby reducing the efficiency of emergency management activities.

Economic Growth

Economic growth is regarded as the most powerful tool in eradicating poverty as well as improving the quality of life in any developing nation. This is because growth in the economy creates solid circles of opportunity and prosperity to help with poverty reduction (Cudia et al., 2019). With economic growth, the Philippines will be able to provide job opportunities for its citizens, especially the poor. The country witnessed a decline in the unemployment rate in 2018, which stood at 2.34%, which was a 0.21 drop from 2017 (Macrotrends, 2022b). Moreover, its unemployment rate recorded in 2019 was 2.24%, a decline of 0.1% from 2018 (Macrotrends, 2022b). However, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country experienced an unemployment rate of 2.25% in 2020, which indicated an increase of 0.28 from 2019 (Macrotrends, 2022b). Despite this drop, the country was able to reduce the unemployment rate in 2021 by 0.11%, which stood at 2.41% (Macrotrends, 2022b). As a result, economic growth will enable the country to reduce unemployment rates, thereby eradicating poverty in the process. The Philippines enhances its economic growth using agriculture, industrial development, and natural resources.

Agriculture

Agriculture is considered the backbone of any country’s economic growth. The Philippines’ agricultural sector promotes food security in the country, employs almost 40 of its labor force, and contributes over 20% to the GDP enhancing economic growth (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2022). The government of the Philippines allocated 121.5 billion pesos to this sector to help the effectiveness of its activities (RPDBM, 2022b). Compared to other industries, the agriculture sector constitutes the highest employment poverty incidence, with around 28.4% of poor workers (Reyes, 2021a). In addition, the agriculture sector has the lowest labor productivity, which is 182,545 pesos per worker (Reyes, 2021b). In efforts to improve economic growth through agriculture, the country implemented the National Organic Agriculture Program (NOAP) in 2010. The program operates with a total budget of 5 billion pesos to be able to support actions toward improved agriculture production (RPDA, 2018). The government contributed 519 million pesos in 2022 to help in the effective running of this project (RPDBM, 2022b). The main aim of the program was to propagate, foster, further implement, and develop organic agriculture practices in the Philippines to create a sustainable and competitive organic industry. This will be able to help promote better income and reduce poverty levels. Moreover, the program provides a governance structure and covers operational production policies and market support, post-production support, labeling, extension, LGU support, and research and development. In addition, the Philippines also launched corn, rice, livestock, and high-value crops, which would all help increase agricultural production in the country.

The NOAP utilizes public-private partnerships and continuous policy, legal, and institutional reforms to help with the successful running of the program. It also ensures complete integration with development initiatives which helps the program adapt and grow with the emerging and relevant technological methods that help in increasing production (RPDA, 2018). These activities help strengthen the operations of NOAP, thereby improving its effectiveness. However, the program lacks production support, inadequate extension and capability-building activities, poor market systems, and policy gaps. These hinder production and market growth hence affecting the economic growth of the country.

Industrial Development

Another way the Philippines enhances economic growth to aid in poverty eradication is through industrial development. Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines occupy more than 99.5% of the total business in the country (RPDA, 2022). These MSMEs can employ over 5 million workers and contribute approximately 40% of the country’s GDP (RPDA, 2022). For this reason, the Filipino government considers the MSMEs policy to be a key pathway towards economic recovery and growth in the country hence providing sufficient support to ensure their stability and survival. To enable this, the nation allocated 23 billion pesos to the Department of Trade and Industry, which increased by 5.2% from the 2021 share of 21.9 billion pesos (RPDA, 2022). In addition, the country uses the OTOP Next Gen to empower and capacitate the MSMEs, which helps strengthen them and increase their competitiveness. The program does this by supporting local communities to develop the skills that will enhance the production of profitable goods as well as a market expansion that will help create jobs and fuel local economies.

The project specifically assists MSMEs in product development, capacity building, intellectual property assistance, technology updating, access to finance, brand equity and development, and marketing platforms and promotion. Additionally, the project deals with tangible goods such as home and fashion arsenal, agricultural-based products, arts and crafts, processed foods, as well as skills-based services. In addition, the country continues to strengthen considerable potential rural enterprises that will enable employee creation and promote economic growth. In support of this purpose, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) established the Rural Agro-Industrial Partnership for Inclusive Development and Growth (RAPID Growth), which targets to support agriculture-based products to make them productive, innovative, and competitive (RPDBM, 2022a). This will enable them to satisfy the challenges of the universal market. Furthermore, the program focuses on rural enterprises in the provinces that have high poverty incidence.

One of the strengths of MSMEs is that they have very low starting costs and promote innovation. This is because their structure is not limited by established conventions, thereby providing more freedom for creativity and innovations as they are not severely confined by strict rules and set corporate structures. However, the policy faces limited business operations and cannot comply with global standards as well as government regulations which may result in a significant business loss (Francisco & Canare, 2019). Moreover, the MSMEs policy lacks adequate human resources to help with its activities towards enhancing economic growth.

Natural Resources

Furthermore, the country uses its natural resources to promote economic growth. The country has an abundance of cropland, minerals, coastal and marine resources, and timber. These natural resources constitute 40% of the entire country’s wealth which largely contributes to the consistent GDP growth (Philippines Statistics Authority, 2022). The country invests these natural resources to enhance exports and enhance foreign exchange, which helps generate more income for the nation. In addition, increased mining and quarrying activities help provide employment opportunities to the poor as they make. This follows the fact that 19.0% of the poor work in the mining and quarrying industries (Reyes, 2021a). To support the activities under natural resources, the Filipino government allocated 27.1 billion pesos to the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) (RPDBM, 2022b). This will help enhance programs under DENR to enhance income generation from natural resources.

The mining industry is faced with sustainability issues as the extracted minerals are non-renewable, meaning they might take long before they replenish. However, the DENR contains measures through the Philippine Strategy for Sustainable Development (PSSD) involved in ensuring proper pricing of the country’s natural resources to improve profitability. Moreover, the PSSD establishes a system directed towards the rehabilitation of degraded or exhausted ecosystems to prevent the depletion of minerals. This will, in turn, help with the preservation of natural resources.

Conclusion

In conclusion, poverty is a significant social problem that has plagued the Philippines over generations. Despite the measures or policies in place to help with the eradication of the problem, education proved to be the most effective approach to poverty eradication. This is because education equips individuals with the necessary skills required in the various sectors of the job market, such as health, construction, agriculture, and industry, among others. As a result, people will be able to easily land job opportunities and help them escape the chains of poverty. Moreover, education instills skills that can motivate individuals to create jobs if no employment opportunities are available. This will help them increase their incomes and thus escape poverty.

Recommendation

The Filipino government should invest information in determining the appropriate beneficiaries of the Universal Access to Quality Education Act. This can be done by involving all stakeholders in the creation of an assessment team that will be used in process evaluation. The team will have to administer interviews and set program standards to effectively determine credible individuals for program support. This will help curb the problem of wastage and misallocation of funds to non-poor individuals, thereby improving the effectiveness of the Universal Access to Quality Education Act.

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