I AM no fan of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who I would like to see out of office sooner rather than later, but I do not understand how some Filipinos seem to rejoice at the misery of their poor countrymen by quoting poverty figures out of context.
If the number of Filipinos living on $1 a day is true, then I would expect to read thousands of my countrymen dying of hunger everyday.
A Filipino living on $1 a day in the countryside may be better fed than his urban counterpart making $5 a day. A rural resident may not even have a peso in his pocket but he could have adequate sustenance from what the land provides.
He needs not buy vegetables, chicken or pork which he plants and raises in his backyard. His clothes may come from one of the door-to-door boxes sent by luckier relatives abroad.
I am aware of the hard times Filipinos are in today but please do not rub salt in their wounds by making them believe that they are really much worse off than how they already think they are. That’s cruel.
– Francis Sarmiento, Ontario, Canada (via e-mail)
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July 8th, 2008 at 1:21 am
If we state poverty line at P200,000.00 per family a year, which is below international standard as the figure is already outdated having been drawn more than a decade ago, that will put our poor at about 60 or more percent of the population.
As Francis has put it, Filipinos in the countrysides mostly subsist on kind so P200 thou should consider cash and kind.
One time I had observed a meeting of one People’s Organization (PO) in a rural area where one of the agenda happened to be about poverty.
Farmers were talking about poverty line at P3,000.00 per family a month or P36,000.00 a year! And their assessment still put the figure of the poor at about two thirds (2/3) of their barangays!
July 12th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
You are right. It is bad to make Filipinos feel worse about their situation even if we know that they are surviving. However we have to take note of the fact that even if these Filipinos have the necessities they need to survive, these basic needs are not enough for a filipino to reach his maximum potential. These basic needs do not provide a filipino his/her education or job.
Also, I don’t think that qouting poverty figures out of context is bad, it just shows reality of life. We all know that being poor is not funny but we, each and everyone of us should know the fact about the poverty of the Philippines. The truth hurts but it wil always be the truth that will develop our country.
April 21st, 2007 at 8:24 am
Not quite last joey. While it’s not at the top, it’s not quite on the bottom either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_countries_by_GDP
April 21st, 2007 at 3:52 am
Unless you visit Tondo, Manila and views of Smoky Mountain aka “Garbage Site”, then by all means People in that area are definitely well “below” the poverty level. It is not unusual that you see “poor” people everywhere. I’ve seen homeless people in Brazil, Mexico, China…Nothing is as devastating as Tondo, Manila. The Government has cast these people away from Society. The first time I went back, I saw atleast 1 million impoverished people - less than a week in Manila. I see kids, elderly people pick out food from the garbage as their everyday meal. I see homeless people washing their clothes in the middle of the street during traffic hour due to left over rain in a puddle from the night before. Back in the 60’s and 70’s - we were the envy of every Far East Asian country - now we are the last, with Vietnam surpassing us in the near future.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
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