(RPG-012) “HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX”

How should the government measure its success or failure in delivering public services? There appears to be no common standard measure, but for all intents and purposes, known standards such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Minimum Basic Needs (MBNs) and the Human Development Index (HDI) should more than suffice.

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Appearing to be prudent both obviously determined to subtly remind, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sponsored a “Stand Up for Poverty” event, encouraging the people to convey to the government the importance of meeting its MDGs. Is the UNDP somehow sensing an apparent disregard of these goals?

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I know for a fact that some local government units (LGUs) notably Makati City are targeting the attainment of the MDGs, the MBNs and the HDI, but their numbers are very few, indicating an almost complete disregard of these objectives.

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It is also disgusting to note that the government does not appear to be measuring the attainment of the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) from the LGU level, indicating that the numbers reported are just plain estimates, and are not based on actual performance data from below.

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In theory, the planning and the measurement of the MTPDP should have been based on the MDGs, since these are national commitments that should have been included in the national plan, but this does not appear to be the case.

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Other than the patchwork of standards that could be derived by combining the three measures that I earlier mentioned, there is no way really of telling whether the government is already succeeding or not in its targeted goals. Going back to the basics, one real measure should have been the actual reduction of poverty, but there appears to be no real targets in this goal as well, aside from the fact that it is also confused with poverty alleviation.