A.

SDG #

- #1

B. Chosen contested Issue in the Philippine Context:

- Poverty

C. Why is it a contested issue? Explain.

- The Philippines has been facing the challenge with poverty for a very long time now. In

which the challenge with poverty is yet to be resolved. Probable solutions had been

made, but it is yet to show any results of ending poverty.

D. Your stance:

- The idea of ending poverty by the year 2030 is enlightening, however, poverty in the

Philippines cannot be resolved by the year 2030. The Philippines and the other

countries had been trying to resolve poverty, but the continuous increase of the

population, limited job opportunities, and the unequal opportunities being given are

some of the factors that hinders the countries in resolving the challenge with poverty.

Poverty in Reality

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 Word Count (2039)

Introduction

Through the course of history, the world, and all of the nations have been facing

various challenges and problems. The challenges that the world had been facing over

the years has been directly affecting the people and the different countries as a whole.

The economy of the Philippines had improved over the years, in which the livelihood of

the Filipino people has been reaching new heights. However, the improvement of the

economy of the Philippines, does not translate with the situation of the people suffering

from poverty. The number of people suffering from poverty is much greater than those

people who are living with a stable life. Poverty in the Philippines is the result of the

politicians, the leaders of the countries personal desires in which they do not lean their

attention on poverty. The Government is more focused on other factors aside from

poverty because they do not want to offer their help willingly. The Government offers

their help if they find that they would receive benefits in return of their help. According to

Jimenez (2020) Corruption steals from the poor as there are less resources available for

public services and development programs. The corruption of the government even

went to the lowest form of action in which they would even steal the funds of the aid for

poverty and from programs that could potentially help in the economic growth of the

country. The United Nations had taken action to resolve and find a probable solution to

the concerns and challenges that the Philippines and the other countries are commonly

facing. The objective of the United Nations is to set universal goals to resolve the

challenges being faced in terms of economic, political, and environmental issues. The

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) were adopted by all United Nations Member

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States to act and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. (UNDP,

2015). The universal goal of ending poverty in the Philippines and in other

countries cannot be achieved if the corruption of the government does not stop.

Body 1

Poverty in the Philippines is yet to be resolved, and it is the mainstream problem

that the country is facing. The hierarchy of economic status in the Philippines is

important because of the privileges that they would receive. The people that is grouped

in the higher and middle class, receives the privilege to have opportunities to further

succeed in life. Unfortunately, the people in the lower class, the people suffering from

poverty is being excluded of the privileges that the middle and higher class has. The

people suffering from poverty are being excluded from opportunities in terms of

livelihood, food, shelter, and denied as a part of the society itself. According to

Robinson (2018) The Asian Development Bank has listed low economic growth, High

inequality level, and the continuous increase of population as the leading causes of

poverty.

The leading factors of poverty is the reason why the Philippines and other

countries are having a hard time ending poverty. The Philippines and the other

countries face similar challenges with poverty. With the rise of inequality, the economic

growth of a country is being limited and hindered. The people suffering from poverty are

not being given the opportunity to have social stability because they do not have the

means to obtain it. The people suffering from poverty are not the ones at fault, if given

the opportunity, the people suffering from poverty can lift their selves out of poverty.

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Dealing with poverty can mean a lot of things for the country, a lot of great things that

could further develop the society and the economy of the country.

Providing equal opportunities to the people under poverty can instantly have a

positive effect for the country. Everyone in the society is deserving to have means to lift

up their life to greater heights. The ones in the middle and higher class are not being

limited to opportunities, the same manner should be done to those who are in the lower

class who are under poverty. According to Galang (2018) Filipinos who are poor

actually have jobs. However, they struggle with poverty because they are employed in

poor-quality jobs. Having the lower class active in the society means that there would be

more workers that would be contributing to the income of the society in which money

would flow more smoothly. Unfortunately, due to the current economy of the country,

the number of workers from different companies are being limited because of the

capability of an employer to provide salaries for a large number of workers. The lack of

education for those in the lower class is also a factor why there is inequality between

the different economic hierarchies. The people under poverty do not have the means to

have formal education. According to Pennington (2017) In 2013, 19.2% of the survey

respondents had said, “insufficient family income” was their main reason for their

absence from school. The people who are under poverty does not earn the same as

those in the middle and higher class. The hard - earned money that they receive for a

day is barely enough to get past a single day. According to Batha (2016) The workers

are working for an average of over 70 hours a week, yet only a fraction are reported

receiving above the minimum monthly wage.

Body 2

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 The Philippines is bound to reach greater heights, however, poverty is hindering

the Philippines to reach greater heights. The Philippines is the fastest growing economy

in the Asia Pacific and has a very great potential because of the quality and the ability of

workers of the country. The growth of the Philippines is being hindered because the

challenge with poverty still remains and not much progress had been made because the

poverty level in the Philippines are very high in which a lot of workers are working in

informal sectors. The economy of the Philippines had improved over the years.

According to Thapa (2017) The Philippine economy has been performing well. In 2015,

its strong economic growth is because of the domestic demand, in which it covered for

the fall in exports.

Despite of the economic growth that the Philippines is experiencing, poverty remained

untouched. There has not been much change in the country’s high poverty level in

which it has contributed to emigration (Thapa, 2017).

The government is at fault for the continuous rise of poverty level. There are

many ways in which poverty can be resolved, but the government remains ignorant

when it comes to ending poverty because of the fact that they would not be persecuted

with their wrong doings (Castillo, 2011). The corruption of the government has been

present for a very long time now. The culture of corruption from the government has

been widely, but silently promoted in which other powerful non – government people

has also embodied the culture of corruption. The culture that has been promoted by the

so - called leaders of the country is the outmost cause of the hindrance of the economic

growth of the Philippines and in ending poverty.

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 The first actions that the government must do is to eliminate the culture of

corruption. According to Bello (2010) Without corrupt officials, there would be no poor

people. Corruption is one of the main reasons why poverty is still at an all time high. The

diversion of resources must be stopped in which the resources would directly go to

those people under poverty. The use of the Anti – corruption platform is the one that is

needed not only for the government, but for the country as a whole. The culture of

corruption that has been embodied to different powerful people cannot be eliminated

instantly but applying a system that would force them to eliminate the culture corruption

would be greatly effective against all of them.

Body 3

What the government fails to understand is that ending poverty is one of the

major ways to effectively guarantee the further development of the economic growth of

the country. The personal interest of the government officials must be set aside. The

government officials are given the power to lead and make the right decisions for the

country as a whole. They do not have the right to steal and cheat their way into the

system just for them to fund their personal desires. The people under poverty are in

much need of help and support to uplift their situation. The government should stop

taking advantage of people who are working hard every single day just make ends

meet. Those hard - working people are serving them with their absolute best abilities

and they are rewarded in unacceptable ways. According to Jennings (2017) Corruption

reinforces poverty by diverting resources that could help the poor.

The situation of poverty cannot be resolved unless the government fully stops

manipulating the system. Inequality must be eliminated and give equal opportunities for

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everyone to succeed in life. The life of an individual who has everything would not

matter if the expense of having everything is stealing and taking full advantage of those

who are struggling for their lives. Corruption greatly affects poverty, but poverty does

not affect corruption (Rahayu, 2012). The Government should start to invest on poverty

reduction programs with their full support if the goal is to really end poverty.

The system being provided to help the country reduce and end poverty would be

pointless if the government would not use and comply with the system. Ending

corruption is the key to ending poverty all around the world. Ending poverty would mean

that there would be no one who is homeless, no one would die out of hunger, no one

would be in fear because of the abuse of those in power, everyone would have a fair

share of opportunities, and the economy of the country along with the right system and

culture would be embodied for the next and future generations to come. Everyone

would have the means to have education, to learn, and to have a future to succeed in

life in which there are no limitations to what a person would visualize their life with.

According to Nichols (2020) A factor of systemic poverty is a lack of access to education

in impoverished areas.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Poverty cannot be resolved right away, especially with the corrupt

government officials and corrupt non – government people. Poverty would not end if the

corruption of the government continues. Corruption would not do any good for the whole

country, it would only do any good for those who are abusing their power to have

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personal desires. Everyone has the right to have a fair share of opportunities to succeed

in life, if not for the economic hierarchy, there would be no inequalities. Nobody should

be degraded of their rights, and no one has the right to take advantage of a person’s

rights. The Philippines and the other countries still has a long way to go in fully ending

poverty. The main focus of the government and the people is how to reduce poverty in a

slow but effective phase. The world would enjoy the effects in the near future if poverty

were able to be put to an end. Real change is what the world needs right now,

especially with all of the challenges that everyone is facing. Now is the time for

everyone to come together and be as one to achieve the universal goal of having a

probable solution to the challenges that the whole world is facing. A world without

corruption would produce very strong relationships with different countries and with

different cultures. The trust in the governance of every country would be brought back if

corruption would be put to an end. The confidence of the people with the respective

leaders would be brought back because of the commitment that they would have in

doing what is the best for the whole country. The world without poverty is a very

beautiful sight to see in the near future. A world wherein no one will be in pain, a world

that has everyone working together, a world that everyone visualizes to have, and a

world that the life of everyone is valued.