“Poverty alleviation is the over-arching framework for all government initiatives,” President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo says.
The President’s poverty-alleviation programs include better access to healthcare for the poor, more jobs, livelihood programs, and education. Among the other anti-poverty initiatives of the government include the Food for School Program, cheaper medicines through the Botika ng Barangay, microfinance, the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), and the Tindahan ng Bayan programs.
The President has directed all government agencies to allot 1.5 percent of their budget for programs that will cushion the impact of the global economic crisis on the Filipino people especially on the poor.
The success of these programs was attributed to the availability of additional resources generated by the expanded value added tax (EVAT). (PIA)
