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Thursday, February 24, 2005
Editorial: Developing consumer capability
One national daily recently carried a headline that said 45 percent of Filipino families are poor.
Basis of the report is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) survey undertaken in 2000 that claimed that, “nearly half of Filipinos lived in poverty” and earned hardly $1 a day. The poverty incidence was only 35.6 in 1997, but rose to 45.4 percent in three years.
Poverty is defined as a deprivation of essential assets and opportunities to which every individual is entitled.
The report noted that poverty incidence fell dramatically from 59.1 in 1991 to 35.6 percent in 1997. The essential poverty threshold in 2000, the year of the ADB survey, was P32 a day, which at the time was US$0.72.
The 72 cents, the report continued, was in stark contrast to the international poverty level of $1 a day, which at that time was worth P11.20.
“Compared with its Asian neighbors, the $1 a day poverty incidence in the Philippines was higher than the average for East Asia and the Pacific with 10.4 percent, not including the People’s Republic of China, which had 7.6 percent and higher than the average of Southeast Asia of 5.8 percent.”
On the other hand, the report said that the overall headcount of poverty in the country—the number of Filipinos living below the poverty line—decreased by 10.5 from 1985 to 2000.
The ADB said that the poverty headcount in the country is a result of very high population growth. In 2000, we had 76.5 million, a growth rate of about 2.36 percent.
However, given the number of Filipinos who have gone abroad to work, and the rise in the amount of money that these overseas workers are sending to the Philippines, it would be safe to believe that in the past couple of years, the number of Filipino families living below the poverty level has considerably declined.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has acknowledged in its year-end report that OFW remittances amounting to billions of dollars have greatly helped keep the country’s international dollar reserves at very safe level.
There are, in a sense, developing middle level families in the countryside that are now living in new and better appointed homes.
While it is true that the overall headcount has decreased over a 15-year period, the same appears to have been cancelled by the actual number of poor Filipinos, or the magnitude of poverty, that has risen by four million due to very high population growth.
The ADB noted that poverty in the rural areas is much more pronounced than in the urban centers.
But it should be noted, too, that the number of families in the countryside that have acquired better quality of life or have improved their standard of living, has also considerably increased.
This is largely due to the increasing number of family members who are overseas workers, and sending monthly dollar remittances home.
(February 24, 2005 issue)
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