THE POOREST PROVINCES

IN PH
Cai Ordinario

There are 16 provinces that have

40% of their population living below
the poverty threshold
MANILA, Philippines - Despite the
government's efforts to improve the
lives of Filipinos in the countryside,
in the first 6 months of 2012 there
were 15 provinces & 1 city that have
over 40% of their population living
below the poverty threshold.
The
1st Semester 2012 Poverty Statistics
released by the National Statistical
Coordination Board (NSCB) on Tuesday,
April 23
, showed that most of the poorest
provinces are located in Mindanao
while the least poor were located
mainly in Luzon.

Below is a map showing the poverty incidence -- a

percentage of the region's population -- nationwide.

"The regions with the lowest poverty incidence in

the first semester of 2006, 2009, and 2012
continue to be the National Capital Region,
Calabarzon, and Central Luzon. As of the first
semester 2012, ARMM (Autonomous Region in
Muslim Mindanao) consistently figured in the
bottom poorest cluster of the regions with a
poverty incidence among families between 42%
and 47% in the first semesters of 2006, 2009, and
2012," said NSCB Secretary General Jose Ramon
Albert.

The 15 poorest provinces in the country in the first

6 months of 2012 were:
Lanao del Sur - 68.9%
Apayao - 59.8%
Eastern Samar - 59.4%
Maguindanao - 57.8%
Zamboanga del Norte - 50.3%
Davao Oriental - 48%
Ifugao - 47.5%
Sarangani - 46.5%
Negros Oriental - 45.3%
Masbate - 44.2%
North Cotabato - 43.9%
Northern Samar - 43.7%

Who is poor?
The government considers a Filipino family poor
if monthly earnings are less than the poverty
threshold. In the 1st semester of 2012, poverty
threshold for a family of 5 was at P5,458 per
The
same
family
required
only P1,681 in 2006
month
to meet
basic
food needs.
and P2,042 in 2009 to leave the ranks of the
poor.
If non-food needs -- such as clothing, housing,
transportation, health, and education expenses,
and others -- are added to the threshold, cut off
in 2012 went up to P7,821 earnings a month.
Natural disasters like typhoons kept many poor
Filipinos below the poverty line. NSCB's Albert
said disasters were "a threat to development."

The government conducts poverty surveys every 3

years.

CCT not enough?

The NSCB said the implementation of the
Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, the
flagship anti-poverty effort of the Aquino
government, was not able to significantly improve
the income inequality in the country in the first
semester 2012.
One of the reasons cited for this is that the CCT
budget allocated for the period accounted for only
25% of the amount needed to eradicate poverty.
The NSCB estimates the total cost of poverty
eradication, exclusive of targeting costs, is P79.7
billion for the first semester of 2012.
The CCT budget was only P39.4 billion for the
fullyear 2012.

Income inequality
The income divide between the have's and havenot's remain wide, the data showed.
"We observe that the bottom 20% of families have
a share of about 6% of the total national income,
whereas, the upper 20% of income distribution,
have a share of nearly 50% of total national
income," Albert said.
"The total income of the top 20% of Pinoy families,
in other words, is approximately 8 times of the
total income of the bottom 20% of Filipino families
in the first semester of 2006, 2009, and 2012," he
added.

Income inequality
The NSCB explained that income gap measures
the amount of income required by the poor in
order to get out of poverty, in relation to the
poverty threshold itself.
This may be used as a hypothetical benchmark for
the amount needed to eradicate poverty as a
whole, assuming expenses are focused solely on
assistance rather than on targeting costs such as
operations and implementation.

SOURCES
http://www.rappler.com/business/27276-poorest-p
rovinces-philippines
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http://static.rappler.com/images/philippines-pov
erty-map-21030424.
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