SOCIETAL

ISSUES and
PROBLEMS
 more access to health services. To ensure the effectiveness of
The Philippines has a fairly high poverty rate with more than
16% of the population living below the poverty line. Becausehealthcare,
of the Act will form the Health Technology and
the many people reliant on agriculture for an income andAssessment Council (HTAC). The Council will consist of health
experts who will assess health developments, such as
inequality in wealth distribution, about 17.6 million Filipinos
struggle to afford basic necessities. From 2015 to 2020, thetechnology,
rate vaccines and other advancements. Additionally, the
Philippines will allocate more funds to PhilHealth, which will
of poverty declined from 21.6% to 16.6%. Philippine President
Rodrigo Duterte aims to reduce the rate of improve the quality of service and lower the cost of medicine.
poverty to 14% by 2022. Through its strategy, AmBisyon7.Family2040, Aid:
the Philippine government plans to eradicate extreme poverty8. To further efforts to support citizens, the government
by 2040. implemented the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) in
Furthermore, the government has implemented various 2007. The 4Ps is is a conditional cash transfer program for
impoverished households. The program gives households grants
programs and reforms to reduce poverty by targeting education,
healthcare and the overall economy. Here are five ways the so long as they meet certain requirements, including keeping
program is combating poverty in the Philippines. the children in school, having regular health check-ups and
having parents or guardians attend Family Development
Sessions. The 4Ps program benefits about 20 million Filipinos,
9 million of whom are children. Therefore, th
9.e program reaches about 20% of the population with the goal
of greater poverty reduction.
10.Economic Improvement:
11. With the goal of reducing poverty by strengthening
economics, President Duterte signed the Rice Tariffication Law
in February 2019, amending the Agricultural Tariffication Act
of 1996. The Law places a 35% tariff on imported
12. rice with the goal of prioritizing local rice production for the
Despite the increasing number of poor Filipinos, the government says it is still on track to meet its poverty reduction
targets.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the nation's poverty incidence rate goal for 2022 — the
proportion of Filipinos whose per capita income is insufficient to meet basic food and non-food needs — will remain
at 15.5% to 17.5%.

By 2040, the government hopes to achieve zero poverty nationwide.

"So far, we are sticking to this target," Chua said, according to the Manila Times. “There are 3.9 million more poor, so
we have to work hard to at least bring them out of poverty. We end this year on track to early recovery. Our growth
prospects are encouraging. As we collectively strive toward our 2040 vision, the poor will be at the center of our
recovery and development strategy.

“No one will be left behind," Chua promised.

nflation quickened to a five-month-high of 4 percent year-on-year in March, as expensive oil wrought
by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spilled over to domestic transport, food and utility prices.
The Washington-based World Bank on Tuesday (April 5) warned that high food and fuel prices may
increase the number of poor Filipinos, but President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers said the
goal to reduce the poverty rate to 15 to 17.5 percent remained within reach despite the prolonged
COVID-19 pandemic and the indirect impact of the Ukraine-Russia war.

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he rate of increase in prices of basic commodities matched the 4 percent posted in October 2021, and already hit the upper end of
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) 2 to 4 percent target range of manageable price hikes. Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data on
Tuesday showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, consumer prices rose 1 percent in March compared to February levels.

National Statistician Dennis Mapa told a press conference that four-fifths of the inflation gain last month was contributed by three
sectors which had been impacted by costly fuel.

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Eradicating poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice and the key to unlocking an enormous human
potential. Still, nearly half of the world’s population lives in poverty, and lack of food and clean water is killing
thousands every single day of the year. Together, we can feed the hungry, wipe out disease and give everyone in the
world a chance to prosper and live a productive and rich life.
Proportion of Poor Filipinos Registered at 23.7 Percent in the First Semester of 2021
Reference No.:
2021-522
Release Date:
17 December 2021
PovertyThe First Semester 2021 poverty incidence among population, or the proportion of poor
Filipinos whose per capita income is not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs,
was estimated at 23.7 percent. This translates to 26.14 million Filipinos who lived below the
poverty threshold estimated at PhP 12,082, on the average, for a family of five per month in the
first semester of 2021. On the other hand, subsistence incidence among Filipinos, or the
proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet even the basic food needs, was
registered at 9.9 percent or about 10.94 million Filipinos in the first semester of 2021. On the
average, the monthly food threshold for a family of five for the same period was estimated at PhP
8,393. (Figure 1, and Tables 2 and 4).

Among families, the First Semester 2021 poverty incidence was estimated at 18.0 percent, which is
equivalent to around 4.74 million poor families. Meanwhile, the subsistence incidence among
families was recorded at 7.1 percent, or around 1.87 million food poor families in the first
semester of 2021. (Tables 1 and 3).
had increased to 40.9 percent (1.36 million persons) from 26.5 percent
(831,000) in early 2018. The monthly per capita poverty threshold increased
26 percent from P12,830 to P16,148. The poverty threshold of Cebu province
and the highly urbanized cities of Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue are more or
less the same. However, while poverty incidence exhibited significant
increases in the cities as well, it remains at 22.4 percent, 17.4 percent and
17.6 percent, respectively. Incidentally, Siquijor, the tiny island province with a
population of 103,000, saw its poverty incidence decline from 13.4 percent to
5.8 percent.

Cebu appears to be one of the provinces hardest hit by the pandemic,

particularly due to the two-year absence of foreign tourists. Loss of income,
coupled with rising prices, make a recipe for poverty. Before we add the
devastating impact of Typhoon "Odette," Cebu also suffered its deadliest wave
of Covid-19 from July to September last year. PSA death statistics show that
2,819; 4821; and 3,121 persons with residence in Cebu province died in July,
August and September, respectively, for a total of 10,761. Total deaths during
the same period in 2020 were 5,430.

Registered deaths in Cebu province from January to October 2021 — 23,378

— exceed the total number of deaths — 20,107 — in 2020. The Delta variant
came and killed. The national trend is similar: Registered deaths in the
Philippines from January to November was 25 percent higher than deaths in
the entire 2020.