Citing the global economic crisis and the projected P294 billion government deficit for 2010, former President Joseph Estrada Sunday said the next Philippine president should focus on social services and job-generating mechanisms to allow the country some elbow room in facing harsher times ahead.

Estrada made the statement following the recent published report of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves of the projected P294 billion government deficit for 2010.

“The next president should set his priorities on increased assistance to the poor and unemployed and expand in triple digits the budgets for social services,” Estrada said.

He stressed the importance of government attention to social services that will provide adequate food and medical services, saying that public schools must be accessible to poor students who have to drop out of schools due to lack of money for transportation.

The popular opposition leader pointed to three “must” priority programs for the incoming administration to help cushion the impact of the dire economic projections for 2010 and beyond.

Estrada listed food security, enhanced health program for the poor, accessible school buildings within walking distance from barangay centers where a big number of out-of -school children of poor families, who cannot afford transport costs, live.

“Such priority programs aim to soften the harsh economic conditions as a result of the government’s projected P294 billion shortfall, can only be doable if implemented hand-in-hand with a stringent and no-nonsense peace and order measure,” Estrada said.

A strong food security program, according to Estrada, will give food on the tables of 70 percent of the country’s population living who now live below the poverty line.

He said 90 percent of poor Filipinos do not enjoy the benefit of even a pre-school education, making it hard for them to reach college, which he pointed out, is another root cause of poverty.

“Children of middle-class families benefit from three years of pre-school before starting Grade 1 and finishing Grade 7 before being allowed to graduate from grade school, and compare these figures to children of poor families bereft of pre-school education.
Such figures easily establish the wide gap between the rich and the poor,” Estrada said.