Poverty in Philippines

  Poverty in the Philippines is a major obstacle to the success of future generations of the Filipino. But we can break the Philippine poverty cycle and reduce unemployment in the Philippines.

         Because it poses such a significant threat to political stability, poverty in the Philippines is a very serious problem. It is mainly a rural problem, and tends to be worse in the southern Philippine islands of Visayas and into Mindanao. However, Luzon and the northern islands have a considerable number of Filipino people living below the poverty line.

           In fact, almost a third of all of the population of the Philippines lives below the poverty threshold, which is a number inconceivable to most people in America and western Europe.According to the most recent data collected by international sources concerning poverty in the Philippines, 44% of the population survives on less that $2 US per day!

             From one perspective, poverty is a function of total output of an economy relative to its population--GNP per capita--and the distribution of that income among families. In the World Bank's World Development Report, 1990, the Philippines was ranked at the lower end of the grouping of lower middle-income economies. Given its relative position, the country should be able to limit the extent of poverty with a reasonably equitable sharing of the nation's income. In fact, the actual distribution of income was highly skewed (see table 12, Appendix). Although considerable underreporting was thought to occur among upper-income families, and incorrect reporting from lack of information was common, particularly with respect to noncash income, the data were adequate to provide a broad overview.

            The World Bank report concluded, and many economists associated with the Philippines concurred, that the country's high population growth rate was a major cause of the widespread poverty, particularly in the rural areas. Implementation of a government-sponsored family-planning program, however, was thwarted by stiff opposition from the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church (see Population Control , ch. 2). Church pronouncements in the late 1980s and early 1990s focused on injustice, graft and corruption, and mismanagement of resources as the fundamental causes of Philippine underdevelopment. These issues were in turn linked to the concentration of control of economic resources and the structure of the economy. Land ownership was highly unequal, but land reform initiatives had made little progress.

            In urban areas also, the extent of poverty was related to the concentrated control of wealth. Considerable portions of both industry and finance were highly monopolized. The most profitable investment opportunities were often in areas in which tariff or other forms of government protection ensured high profits but did not necessarily result in rapidly expanding employment opportunities. In her election campaign President Aquino pledged to destroy the monopolies and structures of privilege aggravated by the Marcos regime. She looked to the private sector to revitalize the economy, create jobs for the masses of Filipinos, and lead the society to a higher standard of living. The state-protected monopolies were dismantled, but not the monopoly structure of the Philippine economy that existed long before Marcos assumed power. In their privileged positions, the business elite did not live up to the President's expectations. As a consequence, unemployment and, more importantly for the issue of poverty, underemployment remained widespread.

               Poverty in the Philippines is a very serious matter. Government leaders try to put an end to this problem. But even though they put so much effort to end this, still because of their greediness, selfishness and of their own self interest, they tend to forget what they were supposed to be working for - eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.

       For years, poverty was a reason most government leaders were elected. They attract people by their captivating slogans on how they can eliminate poverty in our country. Because they lack more affection in helping their fellowmen, poverty was never abolished. Poverty remains the most critical social problem that needs to be addressed. There may be a lot of reasons why poverty has always been the mouthpiece of every individual who aspire to be a government leader. It maybe because of unemployment, rapid growth population but economy plays a bigger role in the issue of poverty. Economic growth hardly dented the country's high unemployment and underemployment rate. And because of this unemployment that they experience, they have no source of income thus disabling them to cope up with their everyday needs.

        As time goes by, more people experience poverty here in our country. There may come a time that most people here will experience hunger that will lead to death. Leaders may say that they are trying their best to eradicate this extreme problem that Filipinos are facing but actually, they talk more and do less. Our economy is not in it's stable condition. There will be more unemployed in the years to come. There are a lot of solutions but will less action this problem will never be solved.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_Philippines

http://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.focusonpoverty.org%2Fcategory%2Fpoverty-in-the-philippines%2F&ei=IUk_UIisD-XtmAWbo4HYCg&usg=AFQjCNG2bTrvfbl0wAxYeshNroPHUvfWhw&sig2=ZowtTDeJVA2bAwCfXQ1xWg

http://www.nscb.gov.ph/poverty/default.asp