Poverty Eradication Part 1

Source Image: media.children.org
Dear Government,

22.3 million Filipinos are living in poverty and extreme poverty. These Filipinos only eat 1 to 2 meals a day.  Let us solve this problem first and foremost, Everything else is secondary.

While most government officials, politicians and netizens fight over matters regarding drugs, EJK, impeachment, 4-day work week and others.  22.3 million Filipinos are having a problem on where to find their second or third meals of the day. For me, this is a more pressing issue than anything else.  For 2 out of every 10 people you see on the street are either looking for food to eat or finding a job to feed them.

By definition, poverty line is the minimum threshold government computed for a family of five to meet the very basic needs of food, shelter, housing, transportation, health and education.  This poverty line threshold computed by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is now at P10,969 per month ($200/Month). On the other hand, the computed national food threshold for a family of five is at P7,638 per month. This P7,638 per month is the minimum requirement for a family to be able to have 3 regular meals in a day.

Today’s Philippine population stands at 103.7 million Filipinos.   Out of this, 21.6% or 22.3 million Filipinos lives under poverty or in extreme poverty.   To explain again, Poverty threshold stands at slightly less than P11,000 a month for a family of five, while Extreme Poverty are Filipino families who are earning less than P7,638 per month (for food). Extreme Poverty Filipinos cannot feed their whole family with 3 square meals a day, their numbers are growing by the day, now at 12 million or 1 out of 10 Filipinos.

TABLE 1. Philippine Poverty and Extreme Poverty

PHILIPPINE POPUATION	103.7 Million (2017)
FILIPINOS LIVING BELOW POVERTY LINE	22.3 Million (21.6%)
Poverty Line threshold definition: Minimum income required to meet basic food needs and other non-food requirements such as clothing, housing, transportation, health, and education expenses
EXTREME POVERTY LINE	12 Million of the 22.3 Million (Extreme Poverty)
Extreme Poverty Line definition: Filipinos who cannot afford to have 3 meals a day.
HIGHEST POVERTY	59% of ARMM Population are Below Poverty Line
HIGHEST EXTREME POVERTY	30% of ARMM are in Extreme Poverty
HIGHEST SECTOR OF POVERTY	Farmers, Fishermen and Children of Families below Poverty line

In terms of gauging our Country against the rest of our regional neighbor, the Philippines is the 3^rd poorest country in the whole Southeast Asian Region.  Our country is third to Myanmar and Laos PDR in terms of below poverty line percentages to population.  What is noteworthy to analyze is that Indonesia, Vietnam , Laos, Cambodia all came from half of their population being within below the poverty line levels (50% or more) several years ago, but because of an effective poverty eradication campaign, almost all of them are now single digits in terms of poverty versus population percentages.

Here are their poverty to population numbers now: Indonesia (10.9%) Vietnam (7%), Laos (23%), Cambodia (14%).  What is even more incredibly magnified is not only how fast our neighboring countries eradicate poverty in their own countries but on the other hand how slow the Philippines is to reduce our poverty.   The Philippines poverty eradication strategies is on record the slowest in Southeast Asia with an average of 0.17% decreases in poverty per year as compared to the 2%-3% average ranges of other ASEAN countries.  

TABLE 2. Poverty by Southeast Asian Country

Population Below Poverty Line (2017)

Below $1.90/Day or P96.90/day income

Part 2.

Philippine Poverty Eradication Strategies and Why is it not Effective

My Conclusion and Recommendations