The Philippines, which take pride in being one of the United Nations' (UN) most faithful members, has been busy with its own stock-taking since two years ago. The government has so far released two reports tracking its progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), mostly with a positive tone. Yet some other concerned citizens and experts are doing their independent validation, and Social Watch Philippines is one of them.
This report summarizes the latest attempt of Social Watch to track the Philippine progress. It has harnessed independent experts, people's organizations and nongovernment organizations, and sectoral representatives to make an honest assessment not only of the commitments under the MDG, but also those made in two key forums convened by the UN 10 years ago -- the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen, and the Beijing Women's Conference; as well as the Geneva 2000 World Summit on Social Development or Copenhagen+5.