Less poor after NSCB tweaks poverty formula

Using a revised computing method, the number of poor Filipinos is expected to significantly drop when data covering the Aquino administration start to filter in simply by reducing the computation of those under poverty line from those earning P41 per person per day to just P37 per person per day. The amount is supposedly the cost for a Filipino on average to meet all basic needs, which is highly unrealistic.

The National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) applied the revised formula to a 2009 survey it released yesterday which showed that the incidence of poverty still worsened from 2006.

Research group Ibon, however, said using the new NSCB formula, the number of poor Filipinos in 2006, for instance, was reduced by some 4.6 million.

The revisions for estimating poverty reduce the number of poor Filipinos to just 23 million in 2006, from the original count of 27.6 million based on the old methodology, according to Ibon.

The data released yesterday showed 26.5 million poor Filipinos in 2009 from 26.4 million in 2006.

Improvements to scientific me-thodologies are welcome but the new methodology seems unrespon-

sive and detached to everyday realities, it added.

According to IBON, it is better to err on the side of conservatism rather than paint an overly optimistic picture especially in the case of the Philippines which has seen rapid growth amid rising joblessness and low incomes.

The new administration of President Aquino has pledged to pursue economic growth to greatly reduced the number of poor Filipinos.

NSCB secretary general Romulo Virola said the revised formula, which he said included “refinements” in the official poverty estimation, was approved by the NSCB executive board last Feb. 1.

He said its main features included the use of a provincial food bundle developed based on an indicative national food bundle the use of benchmark for non-food basic needs.

“These enhancements were to ensure that province-specific characteristics are captured in the estimation of provincial poverty statistics, the food bundle chosen for the province is “superior” over another bundle based on preferences, that is, the former will provide the least cost but with same level of utility and the poverty measures are comparable across space and over time,” Virola said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano Paderanga also defended the revision in the methodology in estimating the local poverty incidence saying the government, in its effort to provide timely, reliable and relevant statistics for decision-making, has introduced refinements in the current method.

He said the NSCB executive board, over the past decade or so, came up with activities and resolutions aimed at revisiting and then revising the estimation of poverty statistics.

He added the Technical Committee on Poverty Statistics, created in 2003, was tasked to review and assess the issues and problems of current poverty indicators and provide expert advice on an efficient system of national poverty estimation.

The proposal of a refined method was validated through various consultations and forums in local government, regional and national levels, he said. –Daily Tribune