Ladies and Gentlemen: Ma-ayong buntag.
We convene this gathering at a time of renewed respect for Mindanao's national purpose and power.
We can recall times when gatherings such as this were held in the shadow of crisis -times when the future of this island-region was in doubt. Today, the people of Mindanao may share a greater optimism than has ever before been warranted.
Throughout the island-region, ports have risen, and roads are being built.
Agriculture has entered a new era of productivity and competitiveness, with farm exports producing a 10.97 percent increase in Mindanao's foreign trade earlier this year.
To sustain this surge of growth and confidence, the government has taken action that will bring together the fruits of our past efforts into a determined push forward. The President has articulated the direction: an integrated Mindanao economy, a united mega-Mindanao Region.
But as we work to achieve this objective, we must make it clear that, while Mindanao is stronger than ever before, our dangers have not diminished, and our vigilance must not waver.
Although we have labored hard against it, poverty is still the single most urgent threat to the island-region's continued growth:
- It poses the risk that prices might rise to such an extent that the consuming public cannot purchase the goods we produce.
- And it threatens the peace on which sustained growth and development are greatly dependent.
More than a third of Mindanao's families are poor. These families live under conditions of squalor - unable to afford decent housing, unable to pay debts, unable to work, or send their children to school.
- Around 34 percent of the people in this province alone are hungry, and many of them have no access to technology newer than the artesian pump and the plow.
- Meanwhile, amid rising fuel prices, a vast number of Mindanao's small farmers and fishers have found a large part of their increased income absorbed by the increased cost of production.
These are complex problems, with profound implications not only on policy, but also on politics.
One fact, however, is clear: their solution will require new strength, new roles, and new vision for the island-region's local leaders.
We at the National Anti-Poverty Commission maintain that the task of conquering poverty is mainly one of allowing the poor the resources to become productive and self-sufficient.
To do that, we must invest more in our own people: in their jobs, in agriculture, in asset reform, and in rural infrastructure, and we must do so at a time when we must fight for every opportunity and every peso we earn.
Among the toughest challenges we face in carrying out that task is the fact that it is ultimately the burden of small local government units that often work under difficult circumstances.
That is why at heart of the Commission's agenda for Mindanao's local governments is leadership:
- Inspired leadership that moves the basic sectors and private business toward a common objective;
- Dynamic leadership that understands the need for a firm partnership with national government;
- And strong leadership that produces tangible results
You have that kind of leadership in this province, and in this city.
But if we are to continue with our progress, and allow the poor a just share of the benefits of recent economic recovery, we must work together with even greater coordination and accuracy.
The Community-Based Monitoring System -- which we are advocating with the generous support of the UNDP - will allow us to collect real-time information on poverty down to the household level.
Once completed on a national scale:
- It will form a strong foundation for the programs of our national agencies, and allow us to target exact locations for development projects.
- It will determine where -- and why -- so many of our people live below the poverty line.
- And it will allow the effective convergence of national programs and local government efforts in places where poverty is unchecked.
It is no coincidence that communities that possess the best in research and information attract new investments, and are able to provide more opportunities for the poor.
Local leaders who understand the workings of productive, knowledge-driven progress are able to build active local economies, with more citizens working and contributing to growth.
But the link between leadership and the community-based approach to the collection of vital information is not only essential at the local level, it is even more crucial on a national scale.
Inaccurate information can handicap the progress of a city or province, but it can, if allowed to prevail in national policy, result in nationwide programs that do not serve the purpose of a just and equitable society.
The UN Economist, Jeffrey Sachs, said, "The poor do not have the ability - by themselves - to get out of poverty."
This partly explains why, in spite many years of aggressive implementation, our national policies have been unable to make significant gains in the fight against poverty.
And so I congratulate the leaders of this province who have acknowledged these basic facts through an agreement -- in principle -- to carry out CBMS on a wider scale. I urge each of you to invest in this effort, and I propose that we seek more ways to strengthen the cooperative ties between local and national programs.
To replace hunger with abundance, and poverty with prosperity, we must continue to go forward together: faithful to our cause, grateful for our progress, and confident that we shall succeed.
Daghang salamat ug Mabuhay ang Zamboanga del Sur.
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