Rep.
Salceda also said that he has authored a bill “ to liberate
It’s inequality, not
poverty
Published March 8, 2017, 10:00 PM
By Gemma Cruz Araneta
Gemma Cruz Araneta
Seamlessly fluent, our eminent guest speaker declared that the
problem is not poverty but inequality due to the fact that, in this
country, only 2,200 people control 80 percent of the Philippine
economy. There is so much money, so much wealth that FDIs
(Foreign Direct Investments) are not needed, but the 2,200 who
possess 80 percent of the wealth prefer to invest outside the
country, in real estate projects, enormous commercial centers,
even vineyards in Europe. Investments, the guest speaker
insisted, should be made here, in the fields of education, health,
infrastructure, and science. He added that President R. Duterte
is serious about promoting “science for change”; there are 280
scientists for every 1,000 Filipinos, so we must take advantage
of that incredible ratio.
That was last Tuesday at the weekly meeting of the
Agribusiness and Countryside Development Foundation, an
affiliate of the Management Association of the Philippines
(MAP). The guest speaker was Rep. Joey Salceda of the second
district of Albay, vice chairman of a number of congressional
committees – appropriations, climate change, economic affairs,
local government, ways and means, among others. I think he
has Pres. R. Duterte’s ear.
Rep. Salceda gave a Power Point presentation about agriculture,
financing, recovery, budget and appropriations, but he fast-
forwarded a number of slides because he wanted to explain the
tax reforms of the Duterte administration. He made perplexing
statements: “If you tax the rich, you’ll hurt the poor. This
country subsidizes the rich…you have to return [the money
from taxes] to the poor. …Tax the rich and transfer it to the
poor…the rich don’t pay as much as they should…. The more
you are regulated, the more profitability…”
As I quote Rep. Salceda, I do not mean to take his statements
out of context and turn them into bullets that hit you between
the eyes. During the open forum that followed, I said that he
was being downright subversive, talking about “inequality”
which implies an infirmed distribution of wealth. If we were
still in the 1960’s, he would surely be branded a Communist and
thrown in jail. He gave me a stern look but did not object to
what I said.
He spoke in praise of the OFWs who he said are no longer
splurging on “made in China” things but investing heavily the
education of their progeny after which they spend for insurance,
housing, and entrepreneurial activities. As we know, OFWs
have been contributing to the economic stability of our country.
farmers” from burdensome loans of the Land Bank. Then he
disparaged those who have been placed in charge of the
Department of Agriculture for not doing anything.
Before Rep. Joey Salceda arrived, the members of this Tuesday
group shared information about their own projects. Princess
Kumala Elardo of Patikul said their “from armalites to ipads”
projects have converted what used to be a “no man’s land” to a
blossoming economic zone. One of their main products is
“suling suling,” coffee grown in Sulu. They now supply URC
and Ecostores in the National Capital Region. A Filipina expat
from Germany brought samples of her products. She has several
hectares of the world’s smallest cucumber; a single plant is
productive for ten years. She sells them raw and also
processes them into pickles, prunes, and cosmetics. Quietly
powerful, Filipinas are creative and enterprising.
An Australian spoke about plantation forests which “take
pressure off the native forests” because these can be harvested
after ten years, exported or sold to the domestic market.
However, communities have to be organized around plantation
forests to assure that market demands are met. Plantation forests
are ideal for reforestation.
Mr. Gonzalo Catan talked about the benefits of green charcoal
manufactured by his company, Mapecon. Another member
explained how important professional managers are to small
farmers and the use of environment-friendly bamboo and
cacahuate to combat soil erosion. The cultural heritage of wine
was the concern of yet another member who is promoting tuba,
basi, and other native brews.
Mr. Ernesto Ordoñez former lynchpin of an anti- agricultural
smuggling team, is currently working on a water map of the
Philippines. He was assigned to welcome the ineffable Rep.
Joey Salceda and he did so by quoting from the Bible,
Corinthian 1:3: “I thank God for you.” (ggc1898@gmail.com)
Philippines - Poverty and
wealth
Poverty remains a serious problem in the Philippines, which is
the only populous country in East Asia in which the absolute
number of people living on less than $1 a day remained constant
over the 1981-1995 period, according to figures compiled by
the World Bank. That body estimates that even if the Philippine
economy posts a 6 to 8 percent growth through 2005, it will still
not be possible to bring the poverty level below 15 percent.
Economists believe that it may take some 20 years of
continuous economic reforms and implementation of social
programs before the country can match the single-digit poverty
figures of its more wealthy neighbors. In general, widespread
poverty in the country is a direct result
GDP per Capita
(US$)
Country 1975 1980 1985 1990 1998
Philippines 974 1,166 967 1,064 1,092
United States 19,364 21,529 23,200 25,363 29,683
GDP per Capita The gap between rich and poor regions widens even more. To
(US$) address this, the National Economic and Development
Country 1975 1980 1985 1990 1998 Authority calls for higher spending on infrastructure and social
China 138 168 261 349 727 services.
Indonesia 385 504 603 778 972
SOURCE: United Nations. Human Development Report 2000;
INEQUALITY. The National Economic and Development
Trends in human development and per capita income.
Authority says the government needs to ramp up spending for
of inappropriate and unresponsive economic policies,
infrastructure and social services to address widening
mismanagement of resources, corruption, and failure of the
government to implement anti-poverty programs. inequality. File photo by AFP

Economic policies from the 1960s to the 1980s focused on a

MANILA, Philippines – Inequality in income among regions
capital-intensive, import-substituting strategy, which bred
in the Philippines has widened, prompting the National
inefficient industries and contributed to the neglect of the
Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to push for
agricultural sector. Policies promoting industrialization favored
reforms.
the development of urban areas to the detriment of rural areas,
most of which remained underdeveloped. At the outset, urban
areas, especially Metro Manila, cornered In a briefing on Thursday, May 30, Socioeconomic Planning
major infrastructure and social projects, thereby attracting most Undersecretary Adoracion Navarro said the inequality in gross
of the investments and jobs in the manufacturing and industrial regional domestic product (GRDP) per capita, or the average
sectors. In contrast, living standards in the rural areas continued income of people in a region, has widened from 2009 to 2018,
to decline, leaving most of the peasant communities to subsist according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
on a hand-to-mouth existence.
Starting in the mid-1980s, policies adopted by the government The richest among all regions is the National Capital Region
moved toward a more open, market-friendly economy. (NCR), where the GRDP per capita as of 2018 stood at
However, as government continued to pursue industrialization, P253,893, a 40% jump from the P181,748 in 2009.
the country's foreign debt ballooned and most of the
government's resources went for debt and interest payments.
The poorest is the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
This greatly hindered the govern-ment's ability to finance
(ARMM), with its GRDP per capita barely improving from
infrastructure and social programs for the neglected sectors of
P14,052 in 2009 to P14,657 in 2018. (READ: How the
the population.
TRAIN law worsened poverty, inequality)
The mid-1990s witnessed a significant increase in income
inequality. Only the top 10 percent of the population increased
Navarro also stressed that regions with very low GRDP per
its share of total income, while the remaining 90
capita are also the regions with large agricultural bases. She
Distribution of Income or Consumption by Percentage said the government has to give greater focus to improving the
Share: Philippines productivity of agriculture and fisheries in the regions.
Lowest 10% 2.3
Lowest 20% 5.4 "We have to integrate small farmers and fisherfolk into larger
Second 20% 8.8 business enterprises. This is apart from other strategies like
Third 20% 13.2 farm diversification, which will help farmers venture into
Fourth 20% 20.3 commodities with higher value and market potential," Navarro
Highest 20% 52.3 said.
Highest 10% 36.6
Survey year: 1997
Note: This information refers to expenditure shares by Within regions, Eastern Visayas and Central Visayas recorded
percentiles of the population and is ranked by per capita the highest income inequality, with a Gini coefficient of 0.465.
expenditure. A Gini coefficient of zero means perfect equality, while values
SOURCE: 2000 World Development Indicators [CD-ROM]. nearer to 1 express maximal inequality.

The ARMM registered a Gini coefficient of 0.28, which is the

IN CHARTS: Rich lowest among all regions. The numbers show that while
inequality within the ARMM is low, it may mean that most of

Philippine regions get

the people there are equally poor, as it had the lowest GRDP
per capita.

richer, poor ones NEDA also found that regions with the lowest GRDP per
capita such as the ARMM and Caraga had
barely improve faster population growth rates.
"As widening disparities may be more a result of high rate of
population growth in some regions than poor economic
performance per se, stakeholders especially local government
units must also support the government's family planning and
reproductive health program," Navarro said.
What is the government doing to address inequality? Navarro
said it is pouring cash into infrastructure and social services.
In the government's public investment program, the ARMM
will be getting the most projects at 1,913, amounting to P99
billion. The ratio of public investment to its GRDP is at
63.89%, the highest among regions.
However, in terms of amount, the NCR will still get the
highest funding at P905 billion with 900 projects.
Public investment to GRDP ratio in NCR is at 5.26%, the lowest
for all regions. The national average is at 10.84%.
"The government has to continually increase its efforts in
pushing for regional and rural development. We need to
improve connectivity across regions and enhance the
efficiency of transport, communications, and overall logistics
network. Poor regions must catch up fast," Navarro said.
Aside from improving connectivity, NEDA gave these
recommendations to boost economic growth in the regions:
 improve agricultural productivity, efficiency, and
income, especially among small farmers
 promote greater diversification and strengthen the
commodity value chain
 strengthen efforts to enhance the competitiveness of
local industries, especially small and medium
enterprises
 improve access to social services, especially in rural
areas
 strengthen resilience against natural and man-made
disasters and risks
– Rappler.com
Rich-poor
divide in PH
widening
By: Michelle V. Remo - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 12:32 AM July 10, 2013
The gap between the country’s rich and poor is widening, with
high-earning individuals enjoying significantly faster growth in
incomes compared with people from the middle- and low-income
classes.
This is according to data from the National Statistical
Coordination Board (NSCB), which showed details of the
country’s national income accounts that support the perception
that the benefits of the robustly growing Philippine economy
were enjoyed more by the rich than the poor.
NSCB Secretary General Jose Ramon Albert said in one of the
NSCB’s latest papers that people from the high-income class,
which account for between 15.1 and 15.9 percent of the country’s
population, enjoyed a 10.4-percent annual growth in income in
2011.
In comparison, incomes of people in the middle-income segment
grew by only 4.3 percent, and incomes of those in the low-income
group by 8.2 percent.
With the incomes of the rich growing faster, income inequality is
expanding as a consequence.
“We find that those from the high-income class have incomes
rising much faster than those in the middle- and low-income
class,” Albert said in the paper, which used data covering 2010
and 2011.
“While such an examination of income is rather simplistic, it
points to issues about income inequality, and the need for
government and society to address these disparities, and ensure a
path toward inclusive growth,” he added.
10x poverty line
The paper defined high-income individuals as those who belong
to households that earn more than 10 times the poverty line. The
NSCB placed the poverty line for a family of five at P7,821 a
month as of the first semester of 2012.
Middle-income individuals are defined as those belonging to
households earning from twice to up to 10 times the poverty line.
Low-income individuals are members of households earning
twice the poverty line or less.
ADVERTISEMENT
member-countries of the United Nations—had become difficult
Data from the NSCB also showed that the high-income
to achieve. The government, nonetheless, has not yet officially
households accounted for more than half, or 60 percent, of the
given up on the goal.
economy’s income as measured by the gross domestic product.
Economists said that the government would have to spend more
The balance of 40 percent of the economy’s income was shared
on education and that the country needed to attract more
by the bulk, or about 84 percent, of the country’s population.
investments that would provide jobs for the poor to significantly
Albert said that there was basis for criticisms that economic
reduce the poverty incidence.
growth in the Philippines was less meaningful for the majority of
P40B for the poor
the population than it was for the few high-income people.
Government officials, in response, have said that poverty-
However, he echoed statements of other government economic
reduction efforts are being intensified. They cited the
officials that making the benefits of economic growth trickle
government’s allocation of P40 billion for this year alone for the
down to the masses would take time.
conditional cash transfer program.
Officials have said that the Philippines needs to sustain a robust
Under the program, selected poor families are granted subsidies
growth rate of 6 to 7 percent, or even higher, for about a decade
in exchange for sending children to public schools and for
in order for economic growth to make a significant dent in
making them undergo regular check-ups in public health centers.
poverty-reduction efforts.
Officials said that over the long term, the education benefits of
“A number of people have noted that economic growth has not
the program were expected to give jobs to and lift poor people
yet translated into poverty reduction…. We seem to be in a hurry
out of poverty.
to find changes, but changes take time,” Albert said.
He said poverty reduction was a challenge that both the Read more: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/441817/rich-poor-
government and the private sector should address through divide-in-ph-widening#ixzz5wMROFIBa
Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on
sustained efforts, including investments. Facebook
Last year, the Philippine economy surprised the world by
growing 6.8 percent, one of the fastest growth rates in Asia during
the period and beating the government’s target of 5 to 6 percent. What is the current
The expansion accelerated in the first quarter of this year to 7.8 distribution of wealth in the
percent, making the Philippine economy the fastest-growing in Philippines? How many
Asia. people live in wealth or
High poverty rate poverty?
Despite this, the Philippines has one of the highest poverty rates
among emerging Asian economies. According to Rappler, this is the current
income class distribution by household number
The poverty incidence stood at 27.9 percent as of the first
in the Philippines. What surprises me about
semester of 2012, almost unchanged from the 28.6 percent in this is the sheer number of low-class income
2009. households, which means that even though we
have a lot of people here in the Philippines we
Officials acknowledged that the goal of bringing down poverty have less purchasing power than our
incidence to 16.6 percent by 2015—a target committed by the neighboring countries.
Philippines under the Millennium Development Goals of
If you also look at this graph, it shows that
although we have 70+ million more people
than Malaysia their GDP is less than ours by a
small amount. This could mean that we have
not been lifting people out of poverty at a fast
pace, and we need more structural changes to
improve livelihoods from Filipinos everywhere.