Namuac Academy

Academic Concept Paper

Combating the Main Causes of

Poverty in the Philippines

October 12,2021

Submitted by:

Gerald Ganotice

Submitted to:

Mr. Jeffrey Narvaez

Introduction
Poverty is unrelenting and implacable enemy with a collection of weapon of child death,
starvation, disease, illiteracy, violence, child trafficking just to mention a few. It furthermore can
be seen as a circumstances where some groups with similar characteristics continuously undergo
deprivation with respect to fundamental necessities such as shelter, food, healthcare, education,
access to communication tools, clothing among other. Moreover, others describe poverty as
people pr families with earnings under a certain threshold level regardless of their standards of
living.This definition comprises low level of earnings, inaccessible healthcare facility, poor
hygienic condition, lack of portable drinking water, high level of illiteracy rate, poor security and
protection from preventable crime among others (Nii K., 2002). Poverty is a world phenomenon
even though is more endemic in developing countries than the developed world. Poverty and
inequality have been recurrent challenges in the Philippines and have again come to the fore in
the wake of the current global financial crisis and rising food, fuel, and commodity prices
experienced in 2008.Other reasons for the relatively moderate poverty decline include the high
rate of inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors; and unmanaged population
growth. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the causes of poverty in the
Philippines and give recommendations for accelerating poverty reduction through sustained and
more inclusive growth. The study will provide an overview of the current status of government
responses, strategies, and achievements and will identify and prioritize future needs and
interventions. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) accomplishments to date will also be
assessed. It will examine implications of the current financial crisis on poverty and recommend
ways to move forward. The study is based on analytical work using current literature and the
latest available data, including the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey(FIES).

Need for this Study

Effective development planning requires a smooth, timely flow of quality information from the
people as feedback for effective planning and implementation. This information flow must start
from the villages and local government units and continue to the higher levels of government—
regional offices, national line agencies, and multi-agency bodies and structures—to ensure that
policy making and programs at different levels sufficiently respond to the actual needs of
households and communities. It is also important that adequate information flows from the
state’s upper echelons down to the lower units of governance. Because of decentralization,
different types of data are being demanded by policy makers, local executives, researchers, non-
government organizations, and other stakeholders. Most of them require more disaggregated
data, while others need panel household data to analyze chronic and transient poverty to have
more relevant programs for the poor (Reyes 2002). In the current state of information flows, the
local government units often do not use statistics generated by the national agencies; they either
fail to collect data from their constituents or the data collected are unreliable. This does not mean
that local government units are unable to locate their poor constituents. Typically, their network
of barangay (village) officials have informal information about poor households that is not
documented or recorded due to lack of resources or technical expertise. They need more specific
information on household needs and their detailed profiles in order to craft specific poverty
alleviation strategies and programs. The community-based monitoring system may fill this gap at
the local levels, although local government units might need assistance in terms of finances15and
expertise to implement the system. Aside from vertical information flows, horizontal flows are
also needed especially in terms of convergence and coordination efforts at various levels of
government. MDG and poverty related programs need both types of information flows for
effective monitoring and mapping and to prevent wasteful leakages and inefficiency in program
implementation.

Background

Poverty and inequality have been recurrent challenges in the Philippines and have again come to
the fore in the wake of the current global financial crisis and rising food, fuel, and commodity
prices experienced in 2008. The proportion of households living below the official poverty line
has declined very slowly and unevenly in the past four decades, and poverty reduction has been
much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. The growth of the economy has been characterized by boom
and bust cycles, and current episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact
on poverty reduction. Other reasons for the relatively moderate poverty decline include the high
rate of inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors; high population growth rates; and
perennial occurrences of disasters and longstanding conflicts in various regions, especially in
Mindanao.
 After years of recognizing poverty as a key development problem and devising various
strategies and programs for its reduction, the government is still confronting high levels of
poverty and hunger among its citizens. Long and persistent periods of high poverty may harm a
country’s development path as poverty itself becomes a drag to economic growth. In addition to
the slow decrease in poverty incidence, there has been mixed progress in addressing human
development concerns, particularly outcomes in education and health. The government has
committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through pro-poor sustained
economic growth as reflected in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP)
2004–2010. However, efforts to meet the MDGs and reduce poverty and inequality are
constrained by weak implementation of reforms, financing gaps and leakages, coordination
failure, and governance concerns. The current global financial crisis has started to affect the
domestic economy as growth slowed to 4.6% in 2008 from a high of 7.2% in 2007. Exports have
continued to decline while the growth rate of remittances, the economy’s lifeline, will likely
slowdown in 2009. Efforts to protect the poor from the crisis and further reduce poverty must
remain an important priority, as the number of vulnerable sectors of the economy will increase if
the crisis deepens. The government has laid out the Philippine Economy Resiliency Plan, a P330
billion stimulus package consisting of increased allocations for national agencies and
government, corporate, and financial institutions for infrastructure spending, corporate and
individual tax breaks, and social protection and safety nets intended to protect the poor from the
impact of the crisis.

Objectives:

The research papers seeks to achieve it’s general objectives on Combating the Cause of Poverty
in the Philippines by focusing on the following objectives:

1. To determine the main cause of poverty in the Philippines.

2. To investigate the current profile of poverty in our country.
3. To determine on how poverty affects our economic growth.

Research Questions:
1. Why does poverty still exist?
 2. What initiatives or assets can help people manage the experience of remaining poverty?
3. What qualities should the President possess to combat poverty?

Methodology

The study uses a comprehensive framework for assessing poverty in the country. It examines the
key areas that are relevant to poverty reduction: increasing incomes, human capital, and capacity;
risk protection; and voice and empowerment in governance and institutions. It uses quantitative
(trends in poverty and related indicators data, regression analysis for poverty correlates) and
qualitative analysis (key informant interviews) to assess the poverty situation as it relates to the
overall development of the country. A workshop was organized to discuss the findings of the
study, to get feedback from key stakeholders, and to identify concrete and actionable
recommendations. An institutional mapping analysis was also undertaken to assess the current
responses to the state of poverty in the country.

Research Timeline

The project is expected to be completed in 20 weeks with the following indicated as the
activity’s duration’s for every section of the research project.

Research Section Duration

1.Title 1 week
2.Introduction 2 weeks
3.Need for this Study 2 weeks
4.Background 3 weeks
5.Objectives 1 week
6.Research Questions 1 week
7.Research Methodology 3 weeks
8.Data analysis interpretations and Discussion 3 weeks
9.Summary conclusion and recommendations 3 weeks
10.Reviewing work for final submission 1 week
References

2003. Poverty and Inequality. In A. Balisacan and H. Hill, eds. 2003. The Philippine Economy.
Ateneo de Manila University Press.
Balisacan, A., and N. Fuwa. 2001. Growth, Inequality and Poverty Reduction in the Philippines.
Briones, L. 2009. Comments on “Poverty: Causes, Constraints and Opportunities.”
Human Development Network. 2000. Philippine Human Development Report 2000.
Mapa, D., and A. Balisacan. 2004. Quantifying the Impact of Population on Economic Growth
and Poverty: The Philippines in an East Asian Context. In Sevilla, L.A., ed. Population and
Development in the Philippines: The Ties That Bind. City: AIM Policy Center.
Panadero, A. 2009. Insights on the ADB Paper on “Poverty: Causes, Constraints and
Opportunities.”
PowerPoint presentation in Poverty Assessment Consultation Workshop, 7 May 2009
Philippine Human Development Report 2005, Human Development Network, and UNDP
Philippine Statistical Yearbook 2002.
https://borgenproject.org/tag/poverty-in-the-philippines
https://www.adb.org/publications/poverty-philippines-causes-constraints-and-opportunities
https://www.bartleby.com/Poverty-in-the-Philippines-F3K6WC3EK6ZZS