As President Aquino promised in previous iterations of the State of the Nation Address (Sona), the government is quite optimistic that the poverty rate will be slashed by half by the middle of next year, before the turnover to the next administration. Under the updated 2011-2016 Philippine Development Plan, the government aims to cut the incidence of “multidimensional poverty” to 16 to 18 percent by the end of the Aquino administration, from 28.2 percent

Source: Sona promises: Has Aquino cut poverty incidence by half?