Province of Siquijor - UNDP in the Philippines

• The ratio of girls to boys in elementary
education was 0.94, which is very close to
the desired ratio of 1. Moving to higher educational
levels, the ratio slightly increased
in favor of girls, with 1.03 in secondary and
1.05 in tertiary. The results indicate that
there is gender equality in school participation.
However, although the proportion of
seats held by women in positions in municipalities
and the province is only 27.0 percent,
it was assured that women are given
equal opportunities in the electoral exercise.
• Proportion of households with access to
safe drinking water was 95.1 percent.
• Proportion of households with access
to sanitary toilet facilities was 85.6 percent,
which is still higher than the 2015
national target of 83.8 percent. The remaining
14.4 percent will be attended to
in the next 5 years.
Not-so-good news
• There were 48,030 persons, or approximately
58.8 percent of the total province’s
population, who are living below the poverty
threshold. This figure is relatively higher
than the national poverty rate of 32.9 percent
in 2006. In addition, the magnitude of
the population living below the food threshold
was 35,357, which is equivalent to 43.3
percent of the total population.
• Employment rate was only 82.0
percent of the total labor force, which
means that 18.0 percent are not employed.
This partly explains why more
than half of the population in the
province was living below the poverty
threshold.
• Proportion of children aged 13-16
who are enrolled in high school was only
70.1 percent. This means that a relatively
large proportion of children within this
age range are not attending high school.
The reasons for low participation rate
should be explored further and the root
causes of the problem should be addressed.
This report could help the province in
prioritizing interventions that would help
attain their MDG targets. Government
programs should be implemented specifically
to address poverty, unemployment
and hunger in order to achieve 2015 MDG
target on the eradicating extreme poverty
and hunger. Furthermore, since it is also
widely recognized that educational status
is directly linked to poverty, problems concerning
education should be addressed.
There is also a need to ensure adequate
living conditions among the communities
by designing appropriate interventions
in the province such as implementation
of a housing program or other programs
such as provision of safe drinking water,
installation of sanitary toilets through
LGU-Household Cooperation, Bayanihan
Housing Project for informal settlers and
for those living in makeshift housing.
Status Report on the Millennium Development Goals Using CBMS Data Province of Siquijor
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