2002: A Tough Year for the Poor

President Arroyo was right when she said that in spite of the reported economic growth in 2002, the poor and marginalized sectors did not reap the benefits of such growth. The following socioeconomic indicators attest to this.

By IBON FOUNDATION
Reposted by Bulatlat.com

The daily cost of living (DCOL) further increased last year, while the income of most Filipinos remained stagnant. IBON estimates show that a family of six in Metro Manila, as of Dec. 2002, needs P538.18 a day to live decently. This does not differ significantly from the government’s own estimates of P533 as of Sept. 2002.

Both estimates show that the current minimum wage levels in Metro Manila (which remained depressed at P250 per day) could not even meet half of the decent living standards.

The situation is even worse in the countryside where three out of four poor Filipinos live. While IBON estimates show that an ordinary family in the rural province needs at least P403.34 to live decently, a palay farmer only earns a meager P10.36 daily per hectare, an ordinary coconut farmer only earns a miserable P4.69 daily per hectare, and a small hog farmer only earns about P15 daily per pig.

Worsening joblessness

Joblessness worsened last year, which implies that the expansion in the economy did not provide enough employment opportunities for the working class. While the Philippines is claimed to have posted one of the fastest GDP growths in Southeast Asia, the country also had the biggest unemployment rate in the region, at 10.2% as of October last year.

In the industry sector, at least 140,000 jobs were lost last year. Conversely, employment in the services sector grew by 1.14 million. This suggests that a huge number of industrial workers were absorbed by the services sector, a significant part of which are actually own-account and unpaid family workers who were forced to toil on their own due to government’s failure to provide gainful employment.

Many of them become sidewalk vendors who, under the Arroyo administration, do not only have to contend with poverty and low-income, but also with Metro Manila Development Authority chairman and now also Public Works Secretary Bayani Fernando.

Forced labor migration

With the deteriorating unemployment , more and more Filipinos are forced to leave the country and their families to work abroad. Last year, for example, around 2,383 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were deployed overseas everyday, higher than the 1,813 daily deployment in 2001.

A recent phenomenon in labor migration is the surge in demand for caregivers and nurses abroad. Many young and highly educated Filipino professionals such as nurses, doctors, teachers, accountants, engineers, to name a few are forced to accept low-end jobs in highly industrialized countries.

From January to August 2002, 7,885 professional nurses left for abroad, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). Meanwhile, from only 465 caregivers who went abroad in 2001, the figure jumped by 755%, with 3,798 caregivers who went abroad, as of August last year.

Apparently, poverty in the Philippines has become so chronic that even the middle class is left with very limited options to secure a brighter future for them and their families. But more alarmingly, such trend results in the deskilling of the country’s human resources, a process that is also called brain drain.

Rise of criminality 

Jobless, homeless, hungry, and deprived of an opportunity to live a decent life, many Filipinos turn to illegal activities to survive despite the government’s tough stance against criminality. While the police boast that kidnap-for-ransom cases dropped by 32% as of October last year, with cases in Metro Manila declining by 43%, there is actually an increasing number of petty crimes induced by poverty.

Theft and robbery cases, which usually increase in periods of severe economic difficulties, jumped by 36% in the first seven months of 2002. At least 29 cases of theft happened everyday last year, compared to 21 in 2001. On the other hand, at least 22 incidents of robbery were reported daily in 2002, compared to 16 two years ago.

A recent police report shows that crime incidence in Metro Manila has actually increased by 47% in the first 11 months of 2002 compared to the same period in 2001. Reposted by Bulatlat.com

We want to know what you think of this article.