“Infrastructure spending, worth about P1 trillion a year, is also pivotal to reducing the poverty level since government projects generate jobs for the poor.

The elusive trickle-down effect of economic growth is now in full force based on the latest figures released by the Philippine Statistics Authority that showed a 16.6 percent poverty rate from 23.5 percent in 2015.

In real terms, the figure should indicate that from 23.5 million Filipinos who were considered poor, the number was reduced to 17.6 million under the current dispensation.

The success was particularly stunning since President Rody Duterte had time and again professed that he is poor in economics and that it would be his managers who hold sway on economic policies.

The delegation of power was among the hallmark of the Duterte administration that also belies allegations of his supposed dictatorial tendency.

The government figures were notable since it showed that the improvement in the economic status of Filipinos was across the board, except for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where the poverty rate is still on the rise.

The region which is now called the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao is expected to catch up as development projects increase with the help of government and foreign institutions.

During the term of former President Noynoy Aquino, when the term inclusive economy was coined, the poverty level remained at a constant 23 percent to 24 percent for his entire six-year term despite healthy economic growth.

Noynoy had boasted a six percent average gross domestic product (GDP) expansion yearly under his term, but the agriculture sector where a third of Filipino workers are employed had failed to keep up and was even caught in a slump due to false priorities.

From 2011 to 2015 under Aquino, GDP growth averaged 5.86 percent, but during the same period, agriculture grew by a low 1.6 percent yearly that was lower than the population growth rate.

Growth of the sector under Aquino was second to last among past five presidents after the downfall of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Agriculture grew, on average, by 6.5 percent during Joseph Estrada’s truncated term, 2.8 percent under Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s, 1.9 percent under Corazon Aquino’s and 0.8 percent under Fidel V. Ramos. The latest figures showed the sector grew 3.4 percent in the third quarter.

About one-third of employed Filipinos toil in the agriculture sector and more than half of the poor rely on it.

The estimate is that more than 73 percent of the country’s poor reside in rural areas, where agriculture provides an economic lifeline and remains crucial to achieving inclusive growth.

The supposed inclusive growth, which was the catchphrase of the administration of Noynoy, never happened but instead the divide between the rich and the poor grew wider during his term.

Despite the huge stride in reducing poverty under Rody, the Philippines is still behind its neighbors in eradicating poverty.

Thailand’s poverty rate is about seven percent and Indonesia has 13.8 percent. Malaysia and Singapore have beaten poverty and nearly has no poor citizen.

Vietnam’s poor is about three percent of its population, while Cambodia has 13 percent based on data of multilateral institutions.

Economists said timely and efficient public spending translates to improved socio-economic opportunities and outcomes.

The infrastructure spending, worth about P1 trillion a year, is also pivotal to reducing the poverty level since government projects generate jobs for the poor.

The target is a 14 percent poverty rate by the time Rody steps down in 2022 that will put the country within striking distance of its neighbors in terms of poverty eradication, which was deemed impossible during the previous elitist regime.