REDUCING POVERTY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Philippines was once known as one of the richest countries because of its
high economy. We are rich in minerals, even in terms of agriculture and
fisheries. People are paying taxes, high taxes to be precise. So why did our
country, the once one of the richest countries, became down low on the
ladder being one of the lowest or should I say, poorest country?

Poverty has risen. Everywhere you go, anywhere you look, theres poverty.
Crimes committed anywhere at any time, why arent they afraid? Lots of
police officers, lots of security guards, but what is happening? What are they
doing? No people are moving for their country, no person is willing to take a
stand for his own country. Officials wont move unless you give them money.

Everyone wants to survive in poverty, thats why theyre only thinking of

themselves and their family. Rules and laws broken. Why? Because they
need to break it in order to survive, they need to steal because they cannot
afford even a piece of bread. No one cares. Not even the government gives a
thought about them. Its all because of corruption. Yes, corruption. In the
first place, our country wouldnt be below the line of poverty if no one has
ever used the peoples money for their own benefit.

How are we going to minimize poverty? First, we need to eliminate

corruption. Rodrigo Duterte may be good in this kind of thing, what he wants
is to eliminate crime rate first. But I think that crime rate is so high because
of the poverty itself. Poverty is the cause of all our problems. And poverty
comes from corruption. We cannot say that Duterte wont be corrupting our
country, but I can say that he might not be as corrupt as the past
presidents, he knows that our country is in deep poverty and I guess he will
hear people out in order to solve this problem. However, Duterte may not be
a corrupt president but his subordinates and other people in the government
surely are. He should give importance on monitoring his people and make
sure that no under the table transactions are going on, even those officials in
public schools or any lower government sector especially those pertaining to
education. Those corrupt should be punished. Imprisoned, for they are the
ones who caused this disaster. They are the root of poverty. Duterte being
known as a brave and fearless man, I hope he can train, lead, discipline, and
monitor his subordinates well and punish those who committed corruption.
Let them be afraid in order to follow, and they should follow in order to build
our country back up again.

Kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan. This famous quote from Rizal has been
greased. The children in our country witnessed poverty from birth and
unfortunately, maybe until their death. Where is the so called hope in our
children if this has always been the scenario? Most of them dont even get to
graduate high school. Whats wrong with the educational system? The
government should focus on this, because they may have the ability to save
our countrys economy. They will be our own high quality human resources if
they are given proper education. Yes, the government provides free
schooling for the poor. But it is not enough. They lack school supplies,
furniture, and other facilities. Even in public school, corruption happens.
Those who have higher positions use their power. So the government should
choose properly who should and shouldnt stay in their place. Those who are
not doing their job properly should be replaced. There are many unemployed
citizens (which is another problem) in our country. Im pretty sure that there
are lots of people qualified for the positions better than those corrupt
employees. If this problem will be solved, I think that the educational
problem will be at least, minimized.

If proper education is given to Filipino children, then they may have the
ability to work, to be employed, gain salaries, and rise from poverty.

But as I have mentioned above, we can clearly see that there are a lot of
unemployed citizens in our country. Another factor that results to high
poverty rate. Many job fairs but less employment, so even most graduates,
that might be our countrys finest, decides to work abroad for better salary
which results in brain drain, another problem for our country. The
government should enforce a law that the public and private sectors in the
country should prioritize the graduates (if they are qualified) in giving a
position for employment. Let them take a step towards a better economy,
for a better country. I dont think foreign employees are willing to help us for
a better economy, they are willing to get a benefit just for their own so I
think, we should learn to prioritize our own people in terms of employment.
This way, people who are suffering from poverty will be reduced.

I think colonial mentality should also be considered as a problem. Filipinos

are so overly obsessed in buying products which originated from other
foreign countries. Theres nothing wrong with buying imported products
every once in a while, but being obsessed in collecting those are just a no-
no. It is a loss in our economy and a gain for other foreign countries. I hope
my fellow Filipinos will know how to value our own products. We can help
other hard-working Filipinos by buying and acquiring services from them. Let
us help each other to gain what we should gain. This might be a little off-
topic, but by doing this can actually help reduce the poverty of our fellow
Filipinos little by little.

So I think that is one way to reduce or minimize poverty. Eliminate or

reduce corruption, manage educational system, prioritizing our own people
for employment, and learning to appreciate what is ours.

NICOLE ANNE PEREZ

BSA 1B