Politicians and academics everywhere have raised the same question and came up with varied answers, and many have been successful, including some Asian countries particularly Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, in responding to the problems of poverty in their countries.

In our case, they blame everything and everybody except themselves for their own misadventure.

Now, a least known government entity, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, is calling on Congress for the enactment of laws that would give more teeth for a stronger national poverty alleviation program.

The pro-poor legislations that the commission is pushing are scholarship program for the children of the poor, the promotion for greater awareness on the international humanitarian laws, and the strengthening of the disaster risk management capability of the country, among others.

Commission Secretary Domingo F. Panganiban is hopeful the passage of a Land Administration Act, the National Land Use and Water Act, and amendment to the Social Security Law, among others, would likewise alleviate poverty in the country.

In the book, "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations," the author, David S. Landes, professor emeritus of history and economics at Harvard University, writes of the creation of wealth, the paths of winners and losers, and the nations’ cultures that lead to – or retard – economic and material achievements.

Nations, he says, prospered through the interplay of a vital, open society focused on work and knowledge, which led to increased productivity, the creation of new technology, and the pursuit of change.

That was true to nations that prospered in the past and that same roads to prosperity are still being followed today by nations that are creating new wealth for their people; the laggards are those who have failed to follow or duplicate such formula for success.

Compatibly, the focus on work and knowledge and the creation of technology as source of a nation’s wealth have been mentioned lately by one of the country’s more perceptive political leaders.

I am referring to the promotion of science and technology being espoused by Senator Edgardo J. Angara who said that "it will become a central focus of our public spending" as provided in the 2008 budget.

Angara is chairman of the Senate committee which covers the three clusters of departments namely, the Departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reforms, and Environment and Natural Resources, the Commission of Higher Education, Dept. of Science and Technology, Dept. of Trade and Industry, and the Dept. of Tourism.

Promoting science and technology, he explained, would become a central focus of our public spending, as these fields would generate over 4 million jobs in the next five years.

This is the reason it was imperative, he emphasized, to develop and train high-level scientists and technologists, and to make it a reality, he is recommending one Philippine Science High School in every region of the country.

Surely, poverty has many causes and one of them is poor or lack of education.

The hope is for our leaders to find not only relief from its symptoms but to cure it – or better still to prevent it.