By Ana Olivia A. Tirona, Researcher
MORE FILIPINOS were driven into poverty in the first half, according to the local statistics agency.
The proportion of Filipinos whose income fell below the per capita poverty threshold rose to 23.7% from a revised 21.1% three years earlier, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) told an online news briefing on Friday.
This meant the number of poor people rose by 3.87 million to 26.14 million in the first half, it said.
The subsidence incidence among Filipinos — the proportion of those whose income fell below the monthly food threshold — rose to 9.9% from 8.5% three years earlier.
The poverty incidence among Filipino families — the proportion of those whose income fell below the poverty threshold — went up to 18% from 16.2%.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the coronavirus had halted government efforts to ease poverty, even if its medium-term goal of lifting 6 million Filipinos out of poverty by 2022 was met four years ahead of schedule in 2018.
“Regions with stricter quarantines tended to see larger increases in poverty compared with regions under less stringent quarantines,” he said in a statement.
The poverty incidence in Central Luzon, Calabarzon and Central Visayas increased by more than 4 percentage points, while the rate for the National Capital Region increased by 1.2 points, he said.
On the other hand, five regions with fewer restrictions recorded lower poverty. These were the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Eastern Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Davao Region and the Cordillera Administrative Region.
The Bangsamoro region’s poverty incidence fell by 17.4 points, reflecting the progress made in peace efforts, Mr. Chua said.
Ser Percival Peña-Reyes, associate director at the Ateneo de Manila University Center for Economic Research and Development, cited the effects of increased poverty on productivity. He also cited worsening hunger and the widening financial and digital exclusion that could worsen income and wealth inequality.
The subsistence incidence among families — the proportion of those in extreme poverty — worsened to 7.1% from 6.2%.
The per capita poverty threshold in the first half was P14,498 a month compared with P12,638 three years earlier.
Meanwhile, the monthly poverty threshold for a family of five was P12,082 versus P10,532 in the first half of 2018.
The per capita food threshold was P10,071 a month in the first half compared with P8,849 three years earlier. For a family of five, the monthly food threshold in the first half was P8,393 versus P7,374.
Uncertainties brought by the pandemic and economic scarring make it challenging for the government to cut the poverty rate, which had improved before the coronavirus hit, said Robert Dan J. Roces, chief economist at Security Bank Corp.
“We expect a slow and gradual improvement in the poverty stats in the meantime with the shift to looser curbs,” he said in a Viber message. “In the long-run, stability in growth leading to job creation may be the catalyst for a substantial and meaningful improvement in the poverty rate.”
Mr. Reyes said the government “really needs to stick to their game plan,” noting that it is “going in the right direction but it needs more magnitude.”
“Investments should be put in resources we can muster,” he said. “The good thing about our debt, as it should be really, is that it is being channeled to our vaccination rollout.”
The gradual economic reopening would be boosted by election spending and could help lift economic activity that should improve poverty statistics, he added.
Mr. Chua said the government in its final months would “vigorously pursue the economy’s full recovery to restore jobs and bring more people out of poverty.”
