Pag-asa National High School

Rawis Legazpi City

SY: 2015-2016

Submitted by:
Sharmaine P. Blancaflor

Submitted to:
Ms. Cherry Lou Abaroa
Subject Teacher

Ms. Jessiebel Artiaga

Student Teacher
Poverty in the Philippines

Poverty has always remained a critical social problem that calls to be

addressed. Philippines latest poverty line for 2014 marks a monthly per
capita income of 10,534 pesos a year. [1] According to the data from the
National Statistical Coordination Board, more than one-quarter (25.8%) of the
population fell below the line the first semester of 2014, an approximate 4
per cent increase since 2013.[2]

The decline in poverty has been slow and uneven, much slower than
neighboring countries who experienced broadly similar numbers in the
1980s,[3] such as People's Republic of China (PRC), Thailand, Indonesia or
Vietnam. This shows that the incidence of poverty has remained significantly
high as compared to other countries for almost a decade. The unevenness of
the decline has been attributed to a large range of income brackets across
regions and sectors, and unmanaged population growth. The Philippines
poverty rate is roughly the same level as Haiti.[3]

The government planned to eradicate poverty as stated in the Philippines

Development Plan 2011-2016 (PDP). The PDP for those six years are an
annual economic growth of 7-8% and the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals(MDGs). Under the MDGs, Philippines committed itself to
halving extreme poverty from a level of 33.1% in 1991 to 16.6% by 2015.

Poverty Statistics based on Income and Expenditures

The Annual Poverty Indicator Survey, or APIS, is a survey held nationwide,

administered by the National Statistics Office, World Bank Mission, and the
United Nations Development Programme. It provides data on the different
non-income indicators related to poverty and is held every year except for
years when the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, or FIES, is being
administered.[4] The survey provides data on the socio-economic profile and
the living conditions of families in 78 provinces and all cities and
municipalities of Metro Manila. The Family Income and Expenditure Survey,
on the other hand, provides the same major and specified details of
expenditures but over a larger sample area extending to provinces and
municipalities across the Philippines.

Poverty and Food Threshold

Poverty Threshold, also known as Poverty Line, is the minimum income

required to meet basic food needs and other non-food requirements such as
clothing, housing, transportation, health, and education expenses.[6] Food
Threshold is the minimum income required to meet basic food needs and
satisfy the nutritional requirements set by the Food and Nutrition Research
Institute (FNRI) to ensure that one remains economically and socially
productive.[6] Recent estimates for the Poverty and Food Thresholds has been
consistently increasing. Food threshold, being the estimate for minimum food
expenditures, consistently comprise around 70% of the minimum income
requirement or poverty threshold.

Poverty Incidence and Subsistence

Given the poverty thresholds mentioned above, poverty and subsistence

incidences are computed by determining the proportion of the population
and the families whose per capita income are below the poverty and food
thresholds. Poverty Incidence is the proportion of the population with per
capita income less than the per capita poverty threshold.[6] Subsistence
Incidence, on the other hand, is the proportion of the population with per
capita income less than the per capita food threshold.[6] Poverty and
subsistence incidences for 2013 significantly decreased, indicating an
improvement in the proportion of the population that is below the poverty
line.

Poverty and Subsistence Incidence based on the Family Income and

Expenditure Survey (FIES) and the Annual Poverty Indicator Survey (APIS).
Latest data released by Philippine Statistics Authority, however, estimates a
25.8% poverty incidence for the first semester (January to June 2014). This is
an increase in poverty level from 2013. Subsistence incidence for the first
semester of 2014, on the other hand, shows an improvement with a 10.5%
estimate.

Depth of Poverty
Income Gap

Income gap measures the average income required by the poor in order to
get out of poverty (expressed relative to the poverty threshold).[6] Income
Gap is a measure of depth of poverty. In 2013, on the average, families
below poverty line need 27.4% the poverty threshold, or an additional
monthly income of Php 2,638, to get out of poverty.[1] This is a slight
decrease from 2012's income gap which requires an income of Php 2740 in
order to overtake the poverty line.

Income Gap in the Philippines for 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2013 based on the
results from the Annual Poverty Indicator Survey

Poverty Gap

Poverty Gap is the total income shortfall (expressed relative to the poverty
line) of families with income below the poverty threshold, divided by the total
number of families. It is also a measure of depth of poverty. The poverty gap
for the first semester of 2014 is 5.4%, a 0.2 unit increase from 2013 which is
5.2%.[1]
 Poverty Gap in the Philippines for 2006, 2009, 2012, & 2013 based on the
Annual Poverty Indicator Survey.

Rapid population growth

Given that the population of the Philippines is increasing at a rapid rate of

1.9% per year, this can be translated as an increase of more than 5,000
people daily in a country that already has an increase of more than four
million poor people since 1985.[8] In 1985, the absolute number of people
living in poverty was 26.5 million. This increased to 30.4 million in 2000 and
from 2006 to 2009, increased by almost 970,000 Filipinos from 22.2 million
to 23.1 million.[3]

As the Philippines has financially limited resources and a high poverty rate,
the rapid increase in population has become a problem because there is
insufficient resources to support the population, which leaves much fewer
resources to improve the economy. From 2003 to 2006, even though the
Philippines experienced above-average economic growth, the poverty
incidence increased as a result of its population growth rate.

Unemployment

Poverty reduction has not kept up with GDP growth rates, largely due to the
high unemployment rate, high inflation rate and wide income inequality. The
official rate of unemployment for 2012 in the Philippines was 6.5 per cent. [10]
 Labor Force Survey for 2014 and 2015

Education and Literacy

Families by Highest Grade Completed of the Family Head and by Income

Stratum, Philippines 2011

There is a great contrast between the achievement of tertiary education by

family heads belonging to the lowest 30% and the highest 70%. From the 3
to 24-year olds who attended school during the year 2010 to 2011, only 4%
of those under the poverty line were in college, while 18% of the highest
70% were in college. From the data concerning 6 to 24-year olds from the
lowest 30% who had not attended school during the year 2010 to 2011, the
two highest reasons for not attending were "lack of personal interest" at
28.9% and "high cost of education" at 26.8%.

Ways to End Poverty in the Philippines

The Philippines is one of the countries in Asia with the highest percentage of
poor people. It is obvious that those countries, the Philippines included, are
deeply saddled in a morass of bureaucratic corruption. Thus, there is sense
in the strategy to remove corruption as a problem in government before
launching programs to end poverty. But there is a drawback to this strategy.
It slows down the momentum to serve the poor. Corruption meansures are
on-going and it does take time to haul all corrupt officials and their
accessories to court and mete out the necessary justice. Thus, it is
incumbent for the government to get bolder and pour millions of pesos to
poverty-ending tasks that aim to provide an opportunity for every Filipino to
experience the basic amenities of life and get out of poverty, pure and
simple. And what are ways to accomplish these?

The government should continue with its conditional dole-outs of money for
its identified poor families, for this is a noble effort to reach out to the poor in
society and let the public money benefit those people in the poverty line.

Also, the government can tap international financial institutions, including

the United Nations, whose main work is to alleviate world poverty by pouring
in millions of dollars to developing countries to improve the lot of their
citizens. The Philippines is still a Third World country. It should get easy
approval from international programs designed to help end the poverty
curse. Poverty-ending projects like cooperatives, livestock and food
production, handicraft production, food banks, rural road projects, and other
small-scale projects can be started in villages and small towns all over the
country with the help of these international agencies. The Philippines must
accept that it is still a developing country after all these years due to
corruption that is endemic in all levels of its bureaucracy and which has
created a deep division between the haves and the have-nots in Philippine
society. It should therefore continue to look to international agencies for help
in terms of grants and loans to help the poor and bring them at par with the
rich in enjoying even just the basic amenities of life.

Vital to these projects to end poverty should be the continued efforts of

government agencies concerned to generate jobs for its jobless poor, provide
a place and build simple shelters for its homeless poor, create more
educational scholarships in high school and college levels for the children of
poor parents who, without those free-schooling opportunities, will render
them tied to a future of endless poverty.

The government should also ask its people to practice volunteerism and help
its poor countrymen. It must assert that the success of government
programs for the poor still rests with the full cooperation of its citizens. It
must encourage private institutions and agencies to re-focus their programs
to help the poor and the homeless in society. It must reward individuals and
groups who take extra effort to assist the needy citizens through tax
incentives and financial assistance.

And a lot more projects for the poor are just waiting for the government to
lay its helping hand on. And since a sincere and straightforward President is
currently at the helm of power in the country, there should be a rosy future
at last for its poor citizens.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_Philippines

http://anythingpinoy-edgar.blogspot.com/2010/09/ways-to-end-poverty-in-
philippines.html