IT IS a sorry given that the Philippines and its residents have been beset by poverty for decades now and there is no indication that these residents and the country would ever be relieved of poverty.
Several administrations have already taken the reins of government but the squalid poverty has not been removed from society: it even got worse year-to-year although there were minute periods during the Macapagal (the elder) presidency that life was moe comfortable. All the succeeding administrations failed in their attempts to free us from the bondage of poverty.
And now comes the World Bank study that there still exists a gaping income gap between the rich and the poor ones. Remember that reducing inequality is so critical to achieve middle class status for our country.
It even announced that the Philippines has one of the highest rates of income inequality in East Asia and came up with the computation that the top one percent of earners collectively capture 17 percent of national income with only 14 percent shared by the bottom 50 percent. Ah!
Just what is the PBBM administration doing to further reduce the poverty incidents? He had big, tough words during his inaugural address. Can he then deliver on his pledges?
The World Bank even underscored the fact that we have been plagued by poverty since birth and we have made no progress to step out of it. For how long will this plague continue to bother us?
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On a macro scale, despite the ayuda and the different forms of financial assistance from the national government, the poverty thresh hold has remained high due to increasing prices of basic commodities and fuel prices, unemployment and increasing incidents of illness in the family. Will this scourge ever dissipate?
I know that our economic managers are wracking their brains trying to solve our economic issues. I also recognize that the President is doing his best to arrive at solutions to our myriad of problems but the timeline seems to be in favor of more mouths to feed, more people to clothe and shelter and, more importantly, pluck them out of poverty now. Quo vadis, PBBM?