WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY-PHILIPPINES

Mabini Extension Cabanatuan City

Graduate School
Master of Arts in Nursing

Social Issues/Problems
in the
Philippines
Submitted to: Prof. Ma. Theresa Z. Gamboa
Submitted by: Angelee M. Mandreza

Social Issues

 These are negative scenarios happening worldwide hindering the

development of a nation

 Is an issue that has been recognized by society as a problem that is

preventing society from functioning at an optimal level

Characteristics of a social issue or problem

It is important to understand that not all things that occur in society

are raised to the level of social problems.

 The public must recognize the situation as a problem.

 The situation is against the general values accepted by the society.

 A large segment of the population recognizes the problem as a

valid concern.

 The problem can be rectified or alleviated through the joint action

of citizens and/or community resources.

Social problem-solving

efforts can be done in two ways. First, the state makes a social policy
that truly accurate based on current data and information. Second,
these social problems can be solved by collective action by
communities so as to create a society that is more ideal conditions
Social Issues/Problems in the Philippines

Our country continuously facing the same issues from the beginning.
Issues WE never address which eventually gave birth to another
problem and to another problem. These social issues hinders our
growth to the point that we are not developing anymore.

1. Socio-economic issues

These are factors that influence how a particular group, or

socioeconomic class, behave within society including their actions as
consumers

1.1 Poverty

Poverty is said to exist

when people lack the
means to satisfy their basic
needs.

Poverty and inequality in

the Philippines remains a
challenge. In the past four decades, the proportion of households living
below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly

Malnutrition

Food supplies are stable but they are available mostly in areas where
people have enough income for food expenditures. The unequal
distribution of income in the country explains the seemingly low
demand for food in low-income places.

Bad living conditions

Because of poverty, many families are forced to occupy public and

private lands without the right to do so. And, because this land is not
theirs, it tends to overcrowd. Because of overcrowding, the
environment usually becomes unsanitary and heightens the chances
that disease will spread. Also, their houses are close together/
connected to each other, this makes it easy for fire to spread and giving
fire fighters a hard time to extinguish the flames due to the small
roads between these houses.
Poor Economic growth

The poor remain poor because they cannot borrow against future
earnings to invest in education, skills, new crops, and entrepreneurial
activities; they are cut off from economic activity because many
collective goods (such as property rights, public safety, and
infrastructure) are under-provided, and they lack information about
market opportunities.

Child Labor

According to the National Statistics Office, 3.6 million Filipino

children, aged 5-17, are child laborers. When the parents just don’t
have enough money to make ends meet they usually force their
children out of school and send them to work out on the streets,
haciendas or factories. Earning money for their food and shelter
became their sole purpose, no longer the education that should have
served to bring them a better future.

Crime/ Theft

Due to the hardships in life caused by poverty, many people can’t even
get enough money to live. This causes them to do whatever it takes to
be able to sustain their and their family’s need even when it involves
stealing. The researchers observed that the major reason for theft is
poverty. Because of poverty, the thieves need to steal to be able to live.

1.2 Unequal/Weak Educational System

A more critical eye needs to be cast on the Filipino education system.
At its best, it works very well; at its worst, it fails those who need it
most. Unequal for the educational system in the Philippines are not
standard form. Some public schools observe the quality education they
produce competitive students with the little source they have in hand.
Some are outdated, some could not cope in. Weak in the sense of the
slow phase it posses. Adaptability to adjust for the student learning is
limited

Poor allocation of budget in education

Despite of being the priority in the national budget (However, among
the ASEAN countries, the Philippines still has one of the lowest budget
allocations to education.), the infrastructure, equipment and supplies
of the public schools remains problematic. Students crowding are
common due to lack of classrooms.Lack of chairs, books, educational
materials and so on still unresolved in poor areas
Poor infrastructure planning

Comprehension of students lessen due to the unfavorable environment.

Humid during summer and flooded during monsoon season. The
school days were lessen because of the flooding. School buildings took
years upon finishing and some are still remain unfinished for many
reason. The budget is not release, problems with the contractors.

Poor curriculum planning/implementation

There is a large proportion of mismatch between training and actual

jobs. This issue arises at the tertiary level and causes a large group of
unemployed and underemployed.

1.4 Teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant of adolescence

aged 10 to 19. Those who are affected are the girl herself up to the
national society. The victims of teenage pregnancy are the girl herself,
her child, her parents and relatives and the national society as a whole.
It will also probably make her economically vulnerable.

Teenage mothers are more likely to be disadvantaged than their

partners. They will more likely be the ones to drop out of school and
face limited employment opportunities. Without employment, they
will face great financial difficulty and deal with the physical, emotional,
and social consequences of their unplanned pregnancy.The health of
both the mother and child would also be put to risk.On the other hand,
teenage fathers get pressured to support their partners and risk
dropping out of school

1.5 Poor Infrastructure

Infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges. In the Global

Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 of the World Economic Forum,
Philippines didn't fare well in terms of the quality of the overall
infrastructure. It ranked at number 91 among 144 countries. This can
be attributed to under-investment in infrastructure.

1.6 Unemployment
Lack of quality graduates

The quality of graduates has also steadily declined such that

professions requiring qualifying examinations such as medicine,
accountancy, library science, and others suffer high failing rates. In
nursing, for example, the passing rate in 1998 was 55.8 percent. In
2006, it went down to 45 percent and in 2010, it was a low of 39
percent. Thus, those who desperately need jobs but do not qualify in
their desired professions settle for work as domestic helpers or
nannies and blue-collar workers, either here or abroad. Still, there is
a greater number of the unemployed who are unable to take on
available jobs because they are not connected with what they learned.

Lack of experience

Inability to take on available jobs or seize opportunity. Because of lack

of related skills and experience, jobless workers or fresh graduates are
unable to take on careers that are available in the job market. Some
would think it's unimaginable to take a job that's too unrelated to the
course he/she finished in college. With little or no entrepreneurial
skills, many job hunters are unable or unwilling to establish own
business.

Apparently clueless job applicants

Its hard, if not impossible, to land a job if an applicant doesn't even

know where to start. Even if they're looking at a job description, some
of them are unable to figure out how to fill up a form, how to use
e-mail service or find the address of the recruitment agency.

Structural Unemployment
Structural unemployment occurs when there are shifts in the demand
among the industries. The workforce possesses skills for jobs that were
previously high in demand. With the shift in demand for jobs, supply
for the jobs that were previously high in demand outstrips the demand
for these jobs. As a result, many people become unemployed until
market equilibrium is reached, where supply equals demand.

Oversupply of graduates
The number of graduates have been increasing over the years. Getting
a degree is all too common nowadays. However, the labour force does
 not require so many graduates. Even the richest country can not
employ 100% of their people

Lack of job generation

One reason is that job creation has struggled to keep pace with an
ever-expanding population. In three of the past five years, the number
of people entering the job market has been greater than the number of
jobs created

1.7 Limited income generation

The country heavily relies on these funds. Their economic growth can
primarily be associated to the remittances from the overseas Filipino
workers, as well as the growth in the Business Process Outsourcing
(BPO) sector.

2. Socio-political issues

These are issues that regulated by political policy that affect whole
societies

Philippines has innumerable resources, including its diverse natural

resources. I could see that the Philippines could be so rich only when it
is managed properly: oil and coal reserves, marine bio-diversity, gold
reserves, and many more. Nevertheless, these resources were not
managed properly, so as to say that it is already gradually evaporating
before our eyes.

2.1“Decaying” Justice System

Only 3 out of 10 are convicted by public prosecutors. Of the 3, there is
no assurance they will even serve their sentence with the country’s
inefficient system, paving the way for criminals, including drug
offenders, to keep returning to their illegal activities. Mostly the fine
and sentence are light and not updated in the current time. Inequality
in the justice system is vastly occurring.

2.2 Corruption

is a form of dishonesty undertaken by a person entrusted with a

position of authority, often to acquire personal benefit.
 The Philippines suffers from widespread corruption from,
government/public sector, political corruption, police corruption,
judicial corruption, corporate corruption, within labor unions,
corruption in the education system, corruption in religion and
corruption in philosophy.

Through the following actions

Graft- using their authority for their own personal gain.

Bribery- receiving and giving in exchange for an influence or an action

in return

Embezzlement

is the act of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion (theft) of

such assets

Backdoor Deals-

unofficial transaction made in a contract to satisfy one’s personal

wants

Nepotism

is based on favour granted to relatives in various fields, including

business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities

Patronage

is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an

organization or individual bestows to another.

2.3 Poorly designed taxation and tax evaders

We have some of the highest income tax rates in the region.

The Philippine tax system currently has some of the highest income
tax rates in this region. Compared to our major ASEAN counterparts,
our corporate income tax is the highest at 30%, a rate that "turns off"
foreign investors who prefer to do business in our low-tax neighbors

Too many goods and services are not being taxed

In the Philippines, too many goods and services are exempted from
taxes. For instance, our value-added tax (VAT) law has 59 lines of
exemptions – more compared with the VAT laws of our
 neighbors. Example Proceeds of swindling, embezzlement, theft or
robbery are tax exempted

Our tax system is too complicated.

Our tax system is overly complicated and burdensome, especially for

small taxpayers. A 2015 study found that the Philippines ranked 127th
out of 189 economies in terms of ease of paying taxes (we ranked
below Iraq and Afghanistan).

Too many people are evading the tax system

Too many Filipinos can get away with not paying taxes. Obviously,
there are the tax evaders who are nearly impossible to catch and
prosecute given our overly strict bank secrecy law. In
addition,"compensation earners" or those who earn salaries or wages, end
up paying more in taxes than the self-employed and the professionals
(who have some ability to hide part of their incomes). As a result, from
2010 to 2013, compensation earners earned 60% of total incomes in the
country but paid as much as 80% of all taxes.

Rich Filipinos are not paying their fair share of taxes.

The Philippine tax system is only "mildly" progressive, and even

borderline "regressive" – in many instances, poor Filipinos effectively
pay a larger fraction of their income in taxes.

For example, tax rates on dividends and other forms of capital

incomes (which are earned mostly by the rich) are so low compared to
the tax rates of ordinary workers. Increasing these capital income tax
rates will certainly help make the rich pay more in taxes.

2.4 Human rights violation

Human rights violation in the Philippines targets majorly on the

depress, oppress, poor and exploited individuals, group and
community. They become the easy prey of the corrupt individuals as
they are uneducated or no voice in the society. The most common
human rights to be violated are the following

The young- child abuse, , human trafficking, child labor

Women - harassment, work inequality to men, battered wife, sex
abuse, human trafficking, exploitation

Indigenous people - discrimination, slavery, plundered ancestral

land, exploitation

Third sex - discrimination, stigma,

Lower class people - injustice, exploitation, freedom oppression,

inequality

Social media - bashing, body shaming, cyber bullying, invasion of

privacy,