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…

UNITED NATIONS—After an economic assessment of some 50 countries, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has come up with a “concrete action agenda” to accelerate progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) yesterday announced a million Filipino families have received cash assistance from its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

CEBU, Philippines – A twelve-man team from the World Bank and AusAID has lauded the government’s anti-poverty program for being efficient and the best ongoing initiatives.

MANILA, Philippines – The burden of solving the country’s poverty problem will soon rest on the shoulders of President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and members of his Cabinet. Experts say the job may depend on stemming corruption.

YESTERDAY’s press conference immediately after the proclamation of President-elect Noynoy Aquino was a demonstration of his mastery of the national condition.

While going abroad to work is generally believed to bring financial blessings, at least 60 percent of families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) remain poor, Catholic Church officials said on Wednesday.

About 11 million Filipino households remain without access to the banking system, Bangko Sentral Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said Monday.

A think tank backed by the state-owned University of the Philippines said proposals to again increase the sales tax or the value added tax (VAT) to 15 percent from the current 12 percent to resolve the back-to-back budget blowouts last year and this year of around P300 billion a year may further increase the number…

Calamities to blame MANILA, Philippines—Poverty incidence is likely to have remained at one-third of the total population in 2009 as efforts to lift income levels were negated by natural calamities and the global recession, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

MANILA, Philippines – Some 12.2 million poor Filipinos nationwide would receive food assistance from the government following the signing of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Food Donation Act of 2009, acting Social Welfare Secretary Celia Yangco said.

Davao City: The World Bank (WB) has rated the antipoverty program in Mindanao as satisfactory. This came after the WB team reported recently here the result of its month-long assessment of the Department of Agriculture’s Mindanao Rural Development Program (DA-MRDP).

One of the things outgoing President Gloria Arroyo got right is the work done by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). The Social Welfare department under Arroyo has been one of the few National Government Agencies (NGAs) being lauded for its performance in providing aid for the country’s most bereft citizens.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite recent economic strides, the majority of the country’s population is still poor, with the ranks of  the impoverished, seemingly continuing to outpace economic gains.

THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is recommending the expansion of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program to benefit more poor Filipino households.

CEBU, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development defended its Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) from accusations that it is being used by local candidates for their election campaigns.

WASHINGTON – Filipino politicians have one of the worst records in Southeast Asia for stiffing the poor, coddling the rich and indulging themselves, The Washington Post said.

MANILA, Philippines – As Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manuel Villar and Liberal Party presidential bet Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III have both been promising to service the poor once elected, the amounts spent by the top two campaign spenders exceed the budgets of government agencies helping the poor, the watchdog Pera’t Pulitika has observed.

THE poverty incidence in the Philippines has risen over the past two years following the global economic crisis and a series of devastating storms last year, according to a joint report by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund released Friday.

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).

The SWS reported there are less Filipino families who feel poor, a level last seen 23 years ago even as hunger remains near record high. But before anybody starts jumping up and down for joy like chimpanzees in a banana plantation, read how SWS explained the seeming contradictory findings.

… but hunger incidence still near all-time peak THE NUMBER OF FILIPINO FAMILIES who feel poor has fallen to a level last seen 23 years ago but hunger remains near the record high, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said, tracing the dichotomy to significant belt-tightening.

THE ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK HAS RAISED ITS growth projection for the Philippines for 2010, citing improved global economic conditions that should boost foreign investments and demand for the country’s exports.

CEBU, Philippines – Nacionalista Party senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla said lingering poverty and hunger hamper the country’s goal to provide access to primary education for millions of school-age children despite the existing law on free elementary and high school education.

The screeching opposition came out crowing the other week over an observation by the President’s economic adviser, the redoubtable Governor Joey Salceda, that hunger has gone up from 11.4 percent in 2002—the year before President Arroyo took office—to 20.3 percent by 2009.

Earlier this week was International Women’s Day. While the Philippines has made great strides in the area of women and children’s rights, there is a lot of work to be done. In need of address are human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of Filipino women and children. In 2009 the US government put the Philippines…

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang admitted yesterday that hunger incidence has increased since President Arroyo assumed power in 2001, but said this could be the “only major sore spot in a sea of good news about the President’s economic legacy.”

PALACE ADVISER SAYS MANILA, Philippines — An economic adviser of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo lamented that the rich got richer while the ranks of the poor swelled even further amid heady economic growth in the last nine years.

Salceda: Rich also became richer MANILA, Philippines—The rich have gotten richer, but the ranks of the poor have expanded amid the economic growth since 2001, an economic adviser of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines – A government think tank worries that the series of natural and economic calamities that visited the country last year has led to an increase in poor children that it now estimates to be higher than the 2006 estimate of 12.8 million. It did not give any dimension of the rise.