Urge candidates to help RP fulfill MDG

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) urged journalists to make the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDG) a benchmark when reporting about the 2010 National Elections.

In a forum yesterday at Quezon City, the independent news agency explained to journalists from Metro Manila-based news networks the importance of primary education, maternal health, and poverty reduction, which are part of the MDG that must be incorporated in the platforms of candidates vying for political posts. The journalists who attended the forum were from GMA News, ABS-CBN News, Philippine Star, Manila Times, Business World, Philippine Online Chronicles, Blogwatch.ph, and student journalists from Centro Escolar University.

“Make the important interesting, and the interesting, relevant,” said Malou Mangahas, executive director of PCIJ. She added that journalists must not simply highlight “motherhood statements” of candidates and instead, ask about their concrete plans for attaining the eight MDGs.

The MDG were drafted by all UN members states in 2000 and is comprised of eight goals that must be achieved by 2015, which are: (1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; (2) achieve universal primary education; (3) promote gender equality and empower women; (4) reduce child mortality; (5) improve maternal health; (6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; (7) ensure environmental sustainability; (8) and develop a global partnership for development.

“Least likely to be achieved”

PCIJ invited key resource speakers to explain about the MDG and the current status of the Philippines in attaining it.

According to former National Treasurer Liling Briones of Social Watch-Philippines, the Philippines is “least likely” to achieve universal primary education and the improvement of maternal health. She presented current data on the state of primary education under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, specifically on the declining enrollment of elementary school children and the poor performance of elementary school and high school students in mathematics and science.

“How can we have an intelligent nation if MDG Two is not achieved?,” Briones said.

She also presented statistics on the high number of deaths among pregnant women in the Philippines, which was at 162 per 100,000 live births in 2006. According to MDG Five, the rate must be at 52 per 100,000 live births in 2015.

Briones explained that decreased allocation in education and health care contributed to the country's poor performance in attaining MDG Two and Five. “Under her administration, Arroyo maximized her impounding powers (on the national budget) to allocate more budget on debt interest payment and the pork barrel fund of congressmen,” Briones stated.

“Statistics as partners of journalists”

Meanwhile, Jessamyn Encarnacion of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) highlighted the importance of using statistics as “hard evidence” to make a news story more informative and relevant for the readers.

“Statistics play a very important role in our society. It can help people come up with informed decisions and can be a precise measurement of good governance and national progress,” Encarnacion emphasized.

She also said that the NSCB does not only rely on the country's Gross National Product or foreign investments or foreign aid as a gauge of progress. “We also conduct studies on the 'happiness' of Filipinos to determine the quality of life of our people,” Encarnacion said on their recent “Gross National Hapiness” study, which revealed that Filipinos are “most happy” with their families and love life but are “least happy” with the government and with politics.

Encarnacion also showed the “Good Governance Index” (GGI) which showed the best performing and worst performing provincial governments in the Philippines. The GGI showed that of the 30 worst performing provincial governments in 2007, 19 incumbent governors were re-elected.

Media as millennium campaign partners

For his part, Minar Pimple, regional director of the UN MGD Campaign in Asia, said that media is an important partner in campaigning about the MGD.

He suggested that media “can do a scorecard on a politician” by using the targets and indicators used in the MGD. “Combining hard evidence and human interest in a story is the key for media to aid the citizenry in deepening democracy and for the government to work effectively in achieving the MGD,” Pimple explained.

Mangahas announced PCIJ's project on the MDG, which will give writing grants to journalists who will write stories about the MDG status of the Philippines, and the platforms or reactions of national and local politicians in achieving it. Journalists are encouraged to pitch in stories on the issue by the end of February 2010. Pitches or inquiries may be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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