Gov’t data obscure continued hunger, poverty for many Filipinos in last 5 years — study

(Philstar.com), 8 Jul 2021

MANILA, Philippines — Figures released by President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration fail to capture the reality that many Filipinos continue to experience poverty and hunger five years into his term, new research shows.

“Social Development Reform in the Duterte Administration,” a study published by the Ateneo School of Government, uses “self-rated indicators and qualitative data [to] provide counterpoints to claims and narratives made by the state about the strides it has made” in the areas of poverty, hunger, education, and social services.

Self-rated indicators, according to researchers Carmel Abao and Jayeel Cornelio, are “useful as a way to measure the impact of government interventions on ordinary Filipinos.”

For example, in the case of poverty, government data taken on its own might indicate steady improvement but researchers noted that self-rated poverty — which “has gradually been declining since the 1980s” — has “shown signs of reversal” in the last five years.

“An upward trend, in other words, characterizes self-rated poverty under Duterte’s presidency,” they said, comparing the 48% of Filipino families rating themselves as poor in 2020 to the lowest annual average of 44% recorded when the president came into power in 2016.

“Closely related to self-rated poverty is the experience of hunger among Filipino households,” Abao and Cornelio said. “While the government claims that it is ‘well on its way’ to achieving zero hunger, it admits too that the pandemic has arrested the entire effort.”

Self-rated hunger, they said, was at 9.3% in 2019, the lowest in over a decade. But by 2020 the figure had more than doubled, averaging at 21.1% and even hitting a peak in September at 30.7% of Filipino households.

“President Duterte may be very popular and official poverty rates may be going down, but these do not erase the reality that many Filipinos continue to feel and experience poverty and hunger—especially under the pandemic,” the researchers said.

‘Pandemic, community pantries expose lacking social services’

The researchers also flagged what they called the Duterte administration’s “very minimal” health budgets in the last four years.

“When the pandemic hit in early 20[2]0, even the combined budget of the Department of Health and Philhealth—amounting to PhP 165 billion—was not enough to meet the challenges of the health crisis,” they said.

“By March 2020, Congress passed RA 11494 (or the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act”) which gave the President additional powers to deal with the health crisis, including the power to realign funds already approved under the 2019 GAA.”

They also noted the “persistent” allegations of corruption in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. throughout the pandemic which prompted investigations in both chambers of Congress.

In an interview on the study posted by the Ateneo Policy Center on Tuesday, Abao also questioned whether pandemic aid was able to reach all those in need.

“If it’s true that everyone was reached, why are there long lines at community pantries? There is a need for a pantry because many have not yet been reached by the government,” she said in Filipino.

“We cannot ignore this kind of context.”

The emergence of community pantries, Abao and Cornelia wrote in their study, highlight “government inadequacy and alleged corruption.”

“Government tried to stop these pantries from flourishing through red-tagging and harassment, but these efforts have failed in the face of citizens’ resolve to help neighbors in need.”

READ: Harassment of community pantries leads to clamped operations | Plot twist: From community pantries to police-run ‘Barangayanihan’

— Bella Perez-Rubio