Philippine Star

Despite claims of economic gains in recent years by the Arroyo government, a survey shows that 27.6 million Filipinos – or roughly one out of three – are now living in poverty.

Economic officials said higher prices, calamities and rapid population growth have pushed more families below the poverty line, with even more families falling below the so-called food line.

Data from the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) revealed that poverty incidence in the country continued to spiral out of control despite the overall improvement in the macro-economy.

The NSCB said 3.8 million more Filipinos fell into poverty in the last three years, bringing the actual number of poor Filipinos to a total of 27.6 million in 2006 compared to only 23.8 million in 2003.

Over the three-year period, the NSCB said the number of poor Filipinos rose by 16 percent as poverty incidence went up from 24.4 percent in 2003 to 26.9 percent in 2006.

As total population grew at an annual rate of over two percent, economic growth failed to catch up, plunging more families into poverty – from four million families in 2003 to 4.7 million families in 2006, an increase of 16 percent.

The latest NSCB data indicated that the Arroyo administration would not meet its poverty reduction target under the Medium Term Development Plan where poverty incidence was targeted to drop from 28 percent in 2004 to at least 19 percent by 2010.

According to the NSCB, the rise in poverty happened in the wake of the increase in the value-added tax from 10 percent to 12 percent – a tax that everybody has to pay for every basic necessity purchased for the household.

Other aggravating factors were the increase in jeepney fares in June 2005 as well as the series of destructive typhoons that severely affected agricultural production.

In 2003, the NSCB reported that a family of five needed at least P4,177 a month to support itself and stay out of poverty. By 2006, however, this has risen by 22 percent to P6,274 a month.

NSCB secretary general Romulo Virola said a family of five in Metro Manila needs to earn even more than this, as the survey indicated that families here would have to earn at least P8,569 every month to steer clear of poverty.

Under the law, the “poor” referred to individuals and families whose incomes fall below the official poverty threshold or could not afford to sustain their minimum basic needs for food, health, education, housing and other social amenities.

Weighed down by rising costs, expanding population and the inability of the economy to expand fast enough, the NSCB reported that 27 out of 100 families have fallen below the poverty line in 2006 compared with only 24 families out of 100 in 2003.

According to the report presented by Virola, the picture becomes even bleaker when examined in terms of subsistence levels, referring to families and individuals whose income cannot support even their food requirements.

More poor people

According to Virola, the number of people below the so-called food line increased by 1.4 million or 14 percent from the 2003 level of 10.8 million to 12.2 million people in 2006.

This meant that not only are there more poor people in 2006 than in 2003, there are also more people who cannot afford to buy enough food, let alone pay for shelter, education and health expenses.

Virola reported that according to the 2006 survey, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao remained the poorest region in the country, followed by the Caraga region composed of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Norte and Surigao del Sur.

According to him, Tawi-Tawi was the country’s poorest province with eight out of 10 families below the poverty line.  He said the incidence of poverty in the province increased by 44.2 percentage points between 2003 and 2006.

The Apayao province in the north followed Tawi-Tawi in terms of rapid impoverishment, with poverty incidence rising by 40.7 percentage points from the 2003 level.

In contrast, the Batanes province on the opposite side of the map reported zero poverty incidence, Virola said.

In a statement, Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos said higher prices had “hindered access” to basic commodities and pushed more people below the poverty line.

“The high population growth rate of two percent also makes it more difficult to reduce poverty,” Santos said.

As a whole, the survey indicated that the fewer but wealthier segment of society took a bigger chunk in terms of economic gains while the majority had to be contented with a smaller amount of gains, according to Santos.

“Everyone got a piece of the economic gains although the poorer segment got a smaller slice of the pie,” he said.

Dolores Castillo, assistant secretary of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, said the government remains confident it can fulfill the United Nation’s millennium development goal of trimming poverty by half to about 16 percent in 2010.

“However ambitious these targets may seem, they are achievable as long as we sustain our momentum towards higher economic growth and ensure equitable distribution of wealth,” Castillo said.

Inflation, however, has been rising steadily this year. Data released yesterday showed inflation at 5.4 percent in February, the highest since October 2006.

– Des Ferriols, Ted Torres