MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / July 26, 2014) – Women and children still belong to the 23 million poorest in the country and the government Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps hardly augment their condition, according to the Center for Women’s Resources.
“IMF-World Bank may congratulate Mr. (President Benigno) Aquino for a rising economy but millions of Filipino families could hardly eat three full meals a day. More than 23 million Filipinos are considered poor while the richest 50 Filipinos get 25% of P12-trillion of the country’s GDP,” Jojo Guan, CWR executive director, said.
Guan noted that the president’s central poverty alleviation program for women and children hardly make any dent in poverty. She said the program, which provides cash grant for indigent families, increased its beneficiaries since 2011 with a total of P168 billion budget from 2011 to 2014. Yet, data from the National Statistical Coordination Board shows that poverty incidence among women did not change significantly from 25.9% in 2009 to 25.6% in 2012; and for children, the poverty incidence had risen from 35.3% in 2009 to 35.2% in 2012.
“The data is still conservative considering the revision of poverty measure in the country. The revision in 2011 lowers the poverty threshold to Php46 per Filipino per day, acknowledging the lowest provincial costs. This reflects a low increase of poor by only 23,911 individuals,” Guan said.
Guan stressed that lack of economic opportunities for the majority has maintained the impoverished condition of families. More than 10 million or one in three are either unemployed or underemployed. While the National Capital Region has the highest minimum wage at P429 to P466 only, and the rest of the regions receive only P200.00 to P300.00 at the average and women, who mostly belong to the unpaid or lowly paid workers, get lower than the minimum wage.
“Mr. Aquino promised gender equality in his social contract, but his policies have marginalized women more. Only half or 51% are included in the labor force. There are 2.3 million unpaid women workers and female workers still receive lower wages than their male counterpart,” Guan said.
She said the influx of migration is another indication of economic deficiency. Women comprise the large number or 90% of household service workers. They have increased sharply from 96,583 in 2010 to 164,396 in 2013.
“Around 400 women are forced to leave their families behind to work as domestic helpers, cooks or laundry women abroad. Due to these jobs’ private setting, women become more vulnerable to abuse,” she said.
Guan said CWR study indicates that a policy shift would help uplift the economy and its growth would genuinely trickle down to people at lower-income levels. As it is, the dependence on the private sector to uplift the economy through the public-private partnership has resulted to high costs of services and unlimited increase in the prices of basic commodities.
“So long as President Aquino believes in the framework of 4Ps, the economic growth will remain an exclusive privilege of the rich. Yet, women will tirelessly check such policies and express their discontent as they continuously experience hardship,” she said.
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