Duterte team aims for 30 percent cut in Philippine poverty

Incoming President Rodrigo Duterte's economic team is aiming to cut the Philippines' poverty rate by at least 30 to 35 percent within his six-year term, focusing on projects to lift the rural poor.

Incoming Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told a media briefing of Duterte's economic team Monday in southern Davao City that they plan to reduce poverty rate, now afflicting 25.2 percent or a quarter of 100 million Filipinos, by 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent each year until 2022.

Incoming Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno says the government will spend within the first year about 1 trillion pesos ($21.5 billion) or nearly a third of total government budget, on simultaneous small- and medium-scale public infrastructure projects like farm-to-market roads and schools that are easier to do within a year.