By Mario Casayuran

The Duterte administration’s aim to reduce poverty to 14 percent is ‘’doable,’’ neophyte Senator Imee R. Marcos said Saturday.

Marcos said this could be done ‘’as long as attention is given to agricultural production, rural development, and land reform because 60 percent of the country’s poor is in the agriculture sector, with 40 percent located in Mindanao.”

The former Ilocos Norte governor issued the statement as President Duterte is scheduled to deliver his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday (July 22) in the scheduled joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives marking the start of the 18th Congress.

In stating that the poverty reduction program of President Duterte was possible, Marcos recalled how Ilocos Norte cut the number of its poor from 23 percent to only seven percent of its population when she was governor.

“I hope a new agriculture secretary is named soon to immediately address plunging rice farmgate prices and stagnant rice consumer prices that should be going down because of cheaper rice imports,’’ she said.

The lady lawmaker also said that social protection must also be addressed, with a review of the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or conditional cash transfer) program and the proper funding of Social Security System (SSS) and Philhealth.

This month, the Commission of Audi (COA) said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD, the government agency to implement the 4Ps, has an unliquidated P10.8 billion funds.

The COA said this situation affects other government priority projects that require funds.

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution to poverty,” Marcos explained.

“It will take focus and hard work, a macro-view of how government programs are interlinked, legislative support, and disaster anticipation and preparation amid the unpredictable El Nino and typhoon season,’’ she added.