RP’s poor have cell phones, but not flush toilets

MORE than 30 percent of poor Filipinos own a cellular phone, but most of them do not have access to sanitary toilets and electricity, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).

In its report, “Characteristics of Poor Families in the Philippines,” the NSO said that a significant proportion or 36 percent of the bottom 30-percent income stratum of Filipino families own a cell phone.

The cellular phone is the second most popular household convenience with 64 percent of families in the country having at least one member owning one.

Television is the most visible household appliance in Filipino homes.

The NSO said that 82 percent of the upper 70-percent income stratum own a television set while it was 43 percent for poor families.

The report said that 36 percent of families in the bottom 30-percent income stratum do not have electricity in their homes compared to 8 percent among families in the upper 70-percent income stratum.

According to the NSO, regions with the highest percentages of families without electricity are in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) with 43 percent, MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) 33 percent and Zamboanga Peninsula, also 33 percent.

It said that poor families were more likely to use an unsanitary toilet than families who were not poor. Sanitary toilet refers to flush toilet (either owned or shared) or closed pit-type.

“The percentage of poor families without sanitary toilet at home is 24 percent compared to 5 percent among non-poor families,” the NSO said.

Unsanitary toilets

At the national level, the proportion of Filipino families using sanitary toilets is 89 percent.

Other families use open pit at 3 percent; drop or overhang, 1 percent; and the pail system, 1 percent. These types of toilets are considered unsanitary.

Meanwhile, 6 percent of families were without any toilet facilities in their homes.

The NSO said that heads of the poor families tend to be less educated compared to heads of families in the upper 70 percent of the income stratum.

According to the report, 65 percent of family heads belonging to poor families had at most an elementary education.

Thirty-four (34) percent of family heads belonging to the upper 70-percent income stratum had similar levels of education, or no grade completed or achieved pre-school, 2 percent; elementary undergraduates, 15 percent; and elementary graduates, 17 percent.

While 27 percent family heads in the upper 70-percent income stratum had attended college or higher level of education, only 5 percent of family heads in the bottom 30-percent income stratum had attained that level of education.  –DARWIN G. AMOJELAR Senior Reporter, Manila Times