PBBM focused on reducing poverty in midst of political friction
The Maguindanao provinces remain in deep financial distress. The territory continues to suffer from high poverty rates, ranking among the top 10 poorest provinces
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Daily TribuneThe Maguindanao provinces remain in deep financial distress. The territory continues to suffer from high poverty rates, ranking among the top 10 poorest provinces
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s drive to reduce poverty in the country includes ending the incidence of hunger in isolated areas of Mindanao.
That hunger in Mindanao is an embarrassment—at a time when the national budget is in the trillions of pesos and the corruption that he himself uncovered is in the billions.
The Marcos administration is prioritizing corridor-based strategies that integrate infrastructure, logistics, and governance reforms to ensure that Mindanao’s growth directly contributes to national transformation and long-term resilience.
Addressing poverty in Mindanao requires target-driven convergence strategies, equitable human resource distribution, and localized talent retention. As the administration approaches its goals for 2028, breaking systemic regional disparities involves several critical focus areas.
Human Capital and Workforce Alignment
1. Skills Mismatch: Address high underemployment by aligning technical education and localized training with regional industry demands.
2. Institutional Capacity: Deploy specialized civil servants, health professionals, and educators to remote and underserved island and upland municipalities.
Governance and Convergence Frameworks
1. National-Local Synchronization: Utilize combination mechanisms like the National Anti-Poverty Commission to harmonize local development plans with line agencies.
2. Targeted Investments: Direct capital toward agricultural modernization, logistics, and labor-intensive micro-industries native to Mindanao’s economic corridors.
As noted by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS), capacity development initiatives aligned with local skills profiles are critical to maximizing human capital potential and raising living standards.
What did then Secretary of Budget and Management Amenah Pangandaman do for Mindanao?
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2023 Official Poverty Statistics, Lanao de Sur registered a notable reduction in poverty incidence, dropping from a historical high of 71.9 percent in 2018 down to 17.1 percent in 2023, officially removing it from the country’s top 10 poorest provinces.
Conversely, the Maguindanao provinces remain in deep financial distress. The territory continues to suffer from high poverty rates, ranking among the top 10 poorest provinces.
The Disconnect Between National Budgeting and Local Reality
While Secretary Pangandaman’s tenure (July 2022 to November 2025) focused heavily on national-level reforms-–implementing the New Procurement Act and digitalizing the public financial management system-–this macro-level progress frequently failed to impact local areas due to three distinct barriers:
1. Mandate Barriers: The DBM’s primary role is to allocate funds and release allotments to line agencies. It does not directly execute local infrastructure, health, or social welfare projects on the ground.
2. Absorptive Capacity: Local government units (LGU) and regional line agencies in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) often struggle to fully utilize allocated funds due to a lack of highly technical personnel capable of meeting complex procurement requirements.
3. Political Hurdles: Institutional friction between national agencies and local frameworks often delay the deployment of resources, meaning increased budgets do not automatically equal poverty reduction.
4. Steps to Inject Financial Expertise Into Regional Leadership
To bridge the gap between national funding and local execution, structural adjustments must prioritize the deployment of top-tier financial talent to high-poverty regions:
Mandate Financial Credentials for Oversight Roles
For high-poverty regions, strictly require a director-level for regional corporate finance managers, certified public accountants and/or lawyers, and still better, CPA/lawyers for CoA regional directors, considering that the auditing service is quasi-judicial; and a Budget Director III level to handle budget offices.
Email: arturobesana2@gmail.com
