E-Portfolio and Political Science Essay

What is the truth? Poverty in the Philippines

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Political Essay 3

Articles 6

Reference List 8

Plagscan Report of the Essay 9

POLITICAL ESSAY

What is the truth? Poverty in the Philippines

In the past 40 years up to present time, poverty remains to be a challenge in our country.

“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly

governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.” (Confucius). We all observed this kind of

violence in our country as this affects the lives of our citizens. But how I see government manage

this kind of problem is devastating for me as they only focuses on the image of our country not

the citizens.

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 Philippines News Agency in 2019 said that poverty in our country would be down by

20% by the year 2020 until our president’s term ends. This statement of the PNA is contradicting

in the statement of President Duterte in 2016 that he said that he assure that the rate of poverty in

the Philippines by the end of his term in 2021 would be 11%. The government goal for the

poverty in his end term would be a big challenge as right now our country’s economic status is

down because of the pandemic. The government should generate quality jobs for the citizens to

increase their income as this would decline the rate of the poor. (CNN, 2020). At this present

time, jobs are the one this pandemic refuses to let us that would contribute to having a better life

and declining the rate of the poverty in our country. NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon in

2018 said that for family of 5 to live comfortably, should earn at least 750 per day to meet that

minimum requirements of the expenses in a day. However, According to Trading Economics

(2019) the minimum wage of a Filipino worker is roughly around P537 a day and this is not meet

the minimum requirements of a family income per day to live comfortably.

In the start of the term of President Duterte they implement some program that may

contribute for the reduction of poverty in our country. This anti-poverty program managed to

boost the growing industry in coffee in Cebu city; According to Edillon (2015) the program

focuses on the groups of self-employment workers by this process they connect the private and

public buyers to the suppliers to reduce the gap of marginalized poor. She also added that this

program focuses on the provinces that considered to the poorest in our country this include the

Iloilo, Pangasinan, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Leyte, Zamboanga del

Sur, Davao del Sur, and Sulu. This program said to help the poor and boost their income more

higher than before and giving the unemployed people in that said city a job to help their lives to

be better in terms of income and comfort. Another program our government does is with the

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group called Salubunmgan, this is a activist group that also aims to reduce the growth population

of the poor. According to NEDA Deputy Director-General Songco (2015) this program they

implement will give chance to the unemployment to have a job or to enhance their skill to have a

job. These also connect people with raw material have a bigger management to deliver to have a

contact and have a long term income. This program initiates perfectly this might help a lot for

people in need and not the people that have so much wealth.

The Duterte administration has many strategies and programs that implement to fight for

the marginalized poor in our country. The biggest and the most expensive program that aims to

reduce the poor this is called the Build Build Build Project. According to the Presidential

Spokesperson Salvador Panelo (2019) that this is cause roughly around P8-trillion and this

project of the administration would help many Filipino that are within poverty line to have a job

or to have a better job as this project will give more job opportunities after the project, that a

higher infrastructure rate would mean a bigger chance for our country to have a higher economic

status as this will contribute to the momentum growth. He also added that poverty is always a

challenge in every administration but they will dominate this problem to decline the rate of

marginalized poor in our country. Different programs is implement in our country to solve the

problem about poverty since the very beginning they aims to help people in the last line of social

classes as this will give a better image to a country rather they would contribute to have a higher

economic status of Philippines.

For the conclusion, the rate of poverty in our country is declining and this is the fact but

the goal of the administration 11% rate of poverty line would be a very hard challenge for them

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as our present economic status decline and the rate of the jobs is slower. They should come with

a faster and better programs to implement as many of our working citizens lost their job because

of the pandemic. But for our own family we should think of a solution even though it’s not a

long term effect but helps a daily lives to be better. As said by Dr Stafford in 2004 that “the

opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is enough”.

ARTICLES USED IN THE POLITICAL ESSAY

PH poverty projected to be at 18.7% in 2021

Philippine News Agency

Philippines News Agency in 2019 said that poverty in our country would be down by 20% by the

year 2020 until our president’s term ends

Surviving versus living: The Filipino family’s monthly budget

NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon

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A family of 5 to live comfortable, should earn at least 750 per day to meet that minimum

requirements of the expenses in a day.

Anti-Poverty Program Boosts Cebu Coffee-Growing Industry

Rosemarie G. Edillon.
The government’s Accelerated and Sustainable Anti-Poverty Program (ASAPP) is giving a boost
to the local coffee industry in Tuburan, Cebu as government agencies, LGUs, and private
enterprises collaborate to expand production and markets of coffee growers in the area.

One of the poverty reduction strategies of the ASAPP is to assist marginalized groups in self-
employment. This includes apprising them of industry demand and assisting them in responding
to this demand through capacity-building, production and value-adding support, and linking
them to markets and institutional buyers,” said Edillon.

Consistent with the mid-term review of the PDP, ASAPP accelerates the inclusion of
marginalized groups in the growth process by making the interventions area-specific and
responsive to the gaps that the private buyers and grassroots suppliers identify. The ASAPP was
implemented in nine pilot provinces, which are considered the poorest provinces in the country.
These are Iloilo, Pangasinan, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Leyte,
Zamboanga del Sur, Davao del Sur, and Sulu.

SDC-HDPRC mobilizes gov’t, private sector in poor localities to address

constraints to inclusive growth

Rosemarie G. Edillon.
The Salubungan is a series of activities under the government’s Accelerated and Sustainable
Anti-Poverty Program (ASAPP) that is being conducted in nine more pilot provinces, namely
Pangasinan, Quezon, Camarines Sur, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Leyte, Zamboanga del Sur,
Davao del Sur, and Sulu.

Solutions involving government policies and programs to link the poor with these enterprises are
identified. These may include skill enhancement to increase the poor’s employability in
businesses with growth potentials. They may also include trade facilitation and market linkages
such that the poor get to supply the raw materials, inputs and services needed by bigger
businesses.

“We will try to address gaps with government intervention and support from the private sector to
create massive employment so that those currently considered below the poverty threshold can

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be included in the growth process,” said NEDA Deputy Director-General Margarita R. Songco,
in a separate Salubungan held on April 21, 2015 in Iloilo City.

“We don’t need grand projects. What we need are doable targets for the private sector, and
enabling environment and commitment from the government to encourage businesses to hire the
vulnerable and source inputs from them,”

Gov’t steps up programs to address poverty, create jobs

ALEXIS ROMERO
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said President Duterte has admitted that more has to be
done to solve poverty in the country. Among the anti-poverty initiatives is the P8-trillion Build,
Build, Build infrastructure program, which was intended to sustain the Philippines’ growth
momentum and to improve its competitiveness, according to Panelo. “Once the projects are
implemented nationwide, Filipinos will have jobs. If trade relations come in, that means there
will be investors, there will be new factories, people will have jobs. Your poverty incidence will
go down,”

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 REFERENCE LIST

Gita R. (2019, Oct 17). PH poverty projected to be at 18.7% in 2021. Philippine News Agency.
Retrieved from

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1083509

Lopez M. (2020, Jan 14). Surviving versus living: The Filipino family’s monthly budget. CNN
Philippines. Retrieved from

https://www.cnn.ph/business/2020/1/14/Poverty-rate-11-percent-2022.html

National Economic and Development Authority (2015, Oct 15) Anti-Poverty Program Boosts
Cebu Coffee-Growing Industry. NEDA. Retrieved from

https://www.neda.gov.ph/anti-poverty-program-boosts-cebu-coffee-growing-industry/

National Economic and Development Authority (2015, May 24)SDC-HDPRC mobilizes gov’t,
private sector in poor localities to address constraints to inclusive growth. NEDA. Retrieved
from

https://www.neda.gov.ph/sdc-hdprc-mobilizes-govt-private-sector-poor-localities-
address-constraints-inclusive-growth/

Romero R. (2019, July 24) Gov’t steps up programs to address poverty, create jobs. PhilStar.
Retrieved from

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/07/24/1937425/govt-steps-programs-
address-poverty-create-jobs

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PLAGSCAN PLAGIARSM REPORT OF THE ESSAY