Successive crises drop two million Filipinos to poverty

At least two million Filipinos became poor in the aftermath of unfortunate events that hit the country in the last four years, a study commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) showed on Friday.

The study, titled Tackling Poverty and Social Impacts: Philippine Response to the Global Economic Crisis, attributed the number of poor Filipinos to the three shocks that hit the Philippines—the rise in food prices from 2007 to 2008, the global financial and economic crisis from 2008 to 2009 and the Typhoons Santi and Pepeng and Tropical Storm Ondoy hitting the country in 2009.

These shocks, according to the report, sharply sank the economy’s productive sectors in 2009 such as agriculture (from -0.3 to -3.4 percent), industry (0.7 to -6.1 percent) and manufacturing (from 1.4 percent to -7.8 percent).

Production in the services industry remained steady for the past two years at -2.5 percent.

Arsenio Balisacan, an author of the report, noted that the productive sectors resulted in high underemployment, which reduced the mean income of Filipinos by 2.1 percent and increased poverty by 1.6 percent in the process.

Not enough

The government’s responses to the shocks, according to the study, proved to be wanting because projects and activities tended to be mere doleouts instead of making people capable in building productive assets.

At the height of the crisis in 2008, the government came up with an Economic Resiliency Plan, which included a pump-priming program with a total budget of 4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) and increased spending for job creation, technical programs, cash transfers and food subsidies.

GDP represents the amount of goods and services produced locally in a year.

“Responses drawn by the national government were heavily implemented across the country despite the fact that various communities have varied needs. There was poor attention to quality, especially in the run-up to elections,” Balisacan pointed out, saying that the government actually spent two pesos for every peso that it gave to the poor.

The study, however, recognized that the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program was an effective vehicle for addressing short- term poverty and long-term human development.

The CCT, locally known as Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, is a development and poverty-reduction strategy that provides cash assistance to extremely poor households to allow the family members to meet certain human development goals such as health, nutrition and education, provided that they comply with certain conditions.

The conditions included: Children 3 to 5 years old must attend day care/pre-school at least 85 percent of the time; children 6 to 14 years old must attend school at least 85 percent of the time; children from zero to 5 years old must get regular health check-up and vaccinations; children 6 to 14 years old must undergo deworming every six months; parents must attend responsible parenthood sessions; and pregnant women must get pre-and post-natal care and be attended to during childbirth by a skilled/trained birth attendant.

Unacceptable reality

But for the UNDP country director for the Philippines, Renaud Meyer, having two million more poor Filipinos at this point is simply unacceptable notwithstanding the global crisis.

“Whether there is a crisis, the Philippines has a lot of resources. It is a middle-income country and it is in
Asia, which is the fastest-growing region in the world. But despite of all the resources and skills available, why is it that the Philippines is not doing well in achieving the MDGs?” Meyer asked, addressing reporters during a press briefing held at Discovery Suites in Ortigas, Pasig City (Metro Manila).

“It just shows that the government should address the fundamental issues of governance and social protection schemes by making the MDGs as its roadmap to progress,” he said.

Meyer was referring to the eight time-bound Millennium Development Goals—halving extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.

At least 190 member-countries of the United Nations, including the Philippines, agreed to achieve the goals by 2015. –Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter, Manila Times