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| Ilocos Norte Governor Imee R. Marcos during a Capitol Express event in Dingras, Ilocos Norte (PGIN photo) |
By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
With
aggressive programs focusing on poverty
alleviation, the province of Ilocos Norte reached the lowest poverty incidence
rate in Region 1 at 15% in 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said
in a report.
PSA defines poverty incidence
as the proportion of families (or population) with per capita income less than
the per capita poverty threshold to the total number of families (or
population).
Alejandro Rapacon, PSA-Laoag
City officer-in-charge said the latest report could be attributed to dollar
remittances sent to families back home by Ilocano overseas workers and
immigrants, more local jobs generated by the province’s booming tourism
industry and strong political will from government officials to promote
investment and job generation here.
“I am proudest of our poverty
reduction program but I will continue to work to improve the lot of the
remaining 15%
poor,” beamed Ilocos Norte Governor Maria
Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos who welcomed this figure in light of her recent
recognition as one of Superbrands Marketing International’s
Outstanding Governorship Awardees.
According to PSA, Ilocos
Norte has been “consistently included in the least poor cluster of provinces in
the first semester of 2012 and 2015.
“The remittances from other
countries, more local jobs generated by our booming tourism sector, opening of
BPO companies and political will of our elected officials made Ilocos Norte the
least poor province in the region,” said Mr. Rapacon.
In 2010, Ms. Marcos’ administration faced the challenges of
soaring poverty and unemployment rates in which she employed massive
transformation efforts in the province.
On top of her priority
development agenda is poverty reduction, which gave birth to “Manang Imee’s
Capitol Express”, a one-stop shop outreach program bringing government services
closer to home. As part of the scheme, people of Ilocos Norte need not to go to
the Provincial Capitol to avail its services but a team from the Capitol
offering various programs on agriculture, health, education, jobs and
livelihood, among others reach out to all Ilocanos in every municipality or
village.
As a result, Ilocos Norte has
also exceeded poverty, employment, education maternal health and reforestation
in line with the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations
Development Programme, citing the significant decrease of 24% poverty rate in
2010.
Describing education as the
“traditional pathway out of poverty,” Ms. Marcos also noted that the heavy and
continuous investment in education in the province is beneficial to the
lowering of the overall poverty incidence rate of Ilocos Norte.
With this, more than 3,000
young Ilocanos across the province have availed of the scholarship grants
offered by the provincial government.
“Walang maiiwan sa
pag-unlad,” vowed Ms. Marcos as she said she is determined to continue the
overall development and progress of the province on her third and final term as
governor of Ilocos Norte.
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