This was the estimate given yesterday by United Nations’ Millennium Campaign Director Salil Shetty who was a guest at the regular Kapihan sa Sulo breakfast news forum at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City.

Shetty is on a campaign tour of countries to prod governments to win the race to reverse the tide of poverty. His tour is part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due for a mid-term assessment this year.

The MDG, which has a 10-year term, was signed and set by heads of state at the UN headquarters in New York City, New York, United States almost five years ago.

Shetty observed that "while the tiny percentage of global billionaires saw their fortunes rise even more in the past five years, the number of people falling behind in terms of poverty and deprivation remains big — a shameful scenario that must be reversed."

The Philippines is a signatory to the MDG, Shetty said, and it must reverse the tide of poverty to affirm and fulfill its commitment. "And it must report the progress of that commitment when the MDG signatories meet at the UN Headquarters in September 2005."

A Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), according to Shetty, noted that the Philippine government claim of a three percent drop from 27.1 percent to 24.7 percent in poverty incidence remains in dispute. The GCAP cautioned government officials against effecting "poverty reduction through statistics."

Futhermore, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reportedly estimated that poverty actually worsened from 2000 to 2003.

Shetty said that under the MDGs, eight major goals and 15 targets have been set in order to reverse the spread of poverty and deprivation.

In an initial statement from a government official report, it is very likely that the Philippines will see a "medium" probability of attaining the set MDG goals.