Common Misconceptions

“They have themselves to blame”

“Poverty is caused by a lack of income”

“People in poverty are lazy and unmotivated”

noun \ur-buhn * poor\ "They deserve to be in their situation".

Urban Poor refers to individuals or families in urban areas

with incomes below the poverty line. They are people
who lack access to basic needs such as food, water, Ending
shelter, education and more. Other than this, they often
reside in places considered to be "danger zones" within poverty in
the city. all its forms
everywhere is
the greatest
Contrary to popular belief that "NAKIKITA SILA BILANG
poverty is rooted in economical INFORMAL SETTLER NGUNIT
global
deprivations, it is a multidimensional
phenomenon (Social, Economic,
DI NAKIKITA BILANG challenge
MANGAGAWA NG LUNGSOD"
Political, Social Psychological) that is - DR. KARAOS facing the
perpetrated by intersecting unjust
social structures that privilege some world today.
and disadvantage others.
~
UNITED NATIONS

10% 17.7%
of the world population still live of barangays in the country were
in extreme poverty (<$1.9 a day) classified as urban barangays.

122 women aged 25 to 34 living in 5.4% of urban dwellers are living in informal
(2.2 million) settlements
extreme poverty for every 100
men of the same age group
Where are the Informal Settlers Located?

Gov't Sites
4%
Danger Areas
Breakdown by Occupation?
17.8%
Agricultural
36% in 1990 —> 10% in 2015 9%

(Number of people living in extreme poverty) Private Properties

47.5%
Industrial
Gov't-Owned Land
30%
26.7%
According to the PSA (2018), Service
61%

"As a person who

Testimonies constantly had to deal with
Community Pantry Experience: “I lined up for 3 hours
the poor, he stressed the
to get enough food for my family for the day”
Hazel Caratao (2020, GK Shaw-Keegan): misconception that they
~
were lazy and only relied on “While my husband works as a tricycle driver, I would like to
On closing her business due to the pandemic:
donations." work just to get extra money, but I can’t because someone
“Kung makapagtrabaho ako, gagawin ko”
Sir Reczel Clarabal has to watch over my kids.”
(Friend / Organization Partner) Mrs. Hazel Caratao (Resident of GW Shaw-Keegan)
The Poor are paid to boycott polls or to vote for
specific candidates. This prevents them from
voting for their own interests. This culture is further
exacerbated by how the practice is normalized(
Ilas, 2019) .
According to Rosario Guzman (2021), The severity
of inequality among economic facilties has never
been starker during the pandemic. This may be
witnessed in in how easily incomes and livelihoods
of the majority poor have been wiped out and in
how government response to COVID has only
prioritized the elite.
According to the PhilRights ( 2018). The majority
of the victims of EJK are poor and suffer from
transparency issues or falsification of causes
of death.
The Lack of Transparency under the Duterte
administration. The Duterte government has
often resorted to threats, denial, and attacks
to counter criticism from both local and
international group while refusing to show data
( Gavilian, 2020)
According to a study done by the Philippine
Statistics Authority ( 2018) on Multi-Dimensional
poverty, Filipinos lacked access to:
school attendance and educational attainment
opportunities to properly address hunger, food
consumption, and nutrition.
proper housing, water, and sanitation
underemployment and child labor
Access to the internet is prohibitively expensive
and beyond the reach of certain segments of the
population . Connectivity is most concentrated in
urban areas, while many poor, rural areas remain
largely underserved ( FreedomHouse, 2020).
According to Abadines, the Justice system does not
support the poor. This is because:
-Many Filipinos are too poor to access justice (
-A corrupt and inefficient justice system is
present that prevents proper protective
security)
According to the Journal of Southeastern Affairs (
2018): the Philippine Police suffers from a mix of
malfeasance and misfeasance within a systematic
culture of poor management and corruption
 Hanayo Hirai (2020): In the Philippines,
more than 20 million people or 44% of
the urban population, reside in slums,
where this poverty trap is prevalent

The disparity between GDP growth and

The highest paying jobs in the country are
usually in the cities, prompting people to
migrate to the cities, where although
wages are higher, the cost of living is also
significantly higher.
Contractual: A 2018 study by the Institute
for Labor Studies of the Labor Department
estimates that there are about 600,000
contractual workers in government. Some
agencies also followed a four-day
workweek schedule to limit the trips taken
by employees (CNN)
The Philippines ranks 95th in Ease of doing
business, well below a lot of our ASEAN
neighbors and competitors, meaning
businesses have a harder time in the
country getting off the ground and
surviving, meaning less jobs, leading to a
lower supply of employers, lower demand
for jobs, higher number of people looking
for jobs, which leads to lower salaries
(WorldBank).
income inequality.
Despite a strong emphasis on poverty
reduction and income equality in
policies, poverty and income inequality
remain persistent even as GDP growth
approaches 7% -- shows a non-inclusive
economic structure of society (Oxford
Business Group, 2018).
Lack of access to tools that could end their
poverty like quality education.
The world is becoming more automated
and digitized, manual labor and jobs in
industries that usually employ the poor
are being made redundant.
New jobs are being created, but they
heavily prefer workers with quality
secondary and tertiary education,
something the poor have no access to.
Discrimination towards the poor
Roots from the misconceptions that
society has towards those living in
poverty.
 As we highlight just some of the urban poor’s issues such as the deprivation of
political, economic, and social freedoms, we choose to focus on the key issue of the
normalization of an exploitative, discriminatory, and desensitised culture.

Devaluing the poor is normalized, despite knowing that

exploitation, discrimination, and maltreatment is
wrong: in practice, people only care if the recipient of
the maltreatment is of value in terms of wealth. In
practice, respect, dignity, and value are not universal
but are commodities that come with wealth and power.
When the weak, have-nots, and poor are maltreated, it
is written-off by the more privileged as an acceptable
margin or error in an impossible to perfect system.

ROOT OF MISCONCEPTIONS
For someone in a bubble of privilege and
comfort, the plight of the poor can seem like it is
nothing more than their own doing. “Why don’t
they just work harder or get a better job?” “Why
don’t they help one another?” ”They must be
selfish and lazy”

PERPETRATION OF
UNJUST SOCIAL STRUCTURES
With the misconceptions in the thoughts of
people, people then separate the urban poor
from the rest of society. This leads to the urban
poor being deprived of their rights as humans as
society values them less compared to those with
money and power.
 HOW ARE WE CALLED TO
RESPOND?
“Oppression as a system of meaning and control that privilege
some and disadvantage others.”
CST principle of human dignity, one
would be able to acknowledge the
inalienable and universal dignity of all
humans as created in the image and
likeness of God, building on a relationship
borne out of respect and value.
CST principle of Integrity of Creation,
societies would view the urban poor
beyond their instrumental use, being
viewed from a lens of goodness and
perfection.
Bernadette Ducalang: During the
pandemic, her husband lost his
job as a jeepney driver and
because of this, she sold food
online in order to earn and help
her family. She,however , still
volunteered for her community by
helping her neighbors during the
pandemic.
Noemi Henon: Although Noemi
Henon did not finish college,
had to raise 5 children, and
lived with minimal amounts of
income, she was able to put her
children towards schooling.
She showed that she was more
than the value society provides
to the poor and deserves to be
viewed beyond her ill-defined
"instrumental use".
 HOW ARE WE CALLED TO
RESPOND?
“Oppression as a system of meaning and control that privilege
some and disadvantage others.”

From hearing the stories of these people, it is shown that the common misconceptions
that affect all the urban poor people are not always true. Just like from the stories of Ms.
Bernadette Ducalang and Joey Morilla, they show that they are hardworking while also
helping one another . With the CST principles and the stories of those in the urban poor
sector, it demonstrates the side that we do not see, which is the willingness, hardworking
and perseverance nature of the urban poor community.

Lastly, through the acknowledgement of the CST

principle regarding Universal Destination of Goods
and Private Property, solidarity with the poor would be
achieved through a shared inheritance to the goods
of the earth and the entitlement of these goods. The
aforementioned CST’s provide a proper framework to
combat the ongoing oppression of the urban poor.

Joey Morilla: After his community

in the Marikina Riverside was
ravaged by Ondoy;Joey, his
family, and community worked
together to rebuild. Over the years
after ondoy, he managed to build
an entire new livelihood from
scratch thanks to his hard work
and support from his community
His actions embody the mindset
of prioritizing not only the needs
of himself but the needs of all.
 H E O 1 2
T

Abadines, A. ( 2017) Philippine judiciary and

Criminal Justice system under pressure: an
inside look. Retrieved from
https://www.aseantoday.com/2017/02/phi
lippine-judiciary-and-criminal-justice-system-
under-pressure-an-inside-
look/#:~:text=Many%20Filipinos%20are%2
0too%20poor%20to%20access%20justice.,u
ndermanned%20and%20have%20a%20hug
e%20backlog%20of%20cases.\

Abadines, A. ( 2017) Philippine judiciary and

Criminal Justice system under pressure: an
inside look. Retrieved from
https://www.aseantoday.com/2017/02/phi
lippine-judiciary-and-criminal-justice-system-
under-pressure-an-inside-
look/#:~:text=Many%20Filipinos%20are%2
0too%20poor%20to%20access%20justice.,u
ndermanned%20and%20have%20a%20hug
e%20backlog%20of%20cases.\
pines/freedom-net/2020.
FreedomHouse. (2020). Philippines: Freedom
on the Net 2020 Country Report. Freedom
House.
https://freedomhouse.org/country/philippin
es
 H E O 1 2
T

Gavilan, J. (2020, February 5). Dishonesty,

lack of transparency 'glaring' features of
Duterte gov't – rights group. Rappler.
https://www.rappler.com/nation/dishonest
y-lack-transparency-remain-glaring-
features-duterte-government.

Ilas, J. (2019, April 12). Why Filipinos sell their

votes, and for how much. cnn.
https://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/4/12
/philippines-vote-buying-2019-
elections.html.

Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs.

(2018, August). Police Violence and
Corruption in the Philippines: Violent
Exchange and the War on Drugs.
ResearchGate.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
330161081_Police_Violence_and_Corruption_i
n_the_Philippines_Violent_Exchange_and_the
_War_on_Drugs.

PSA. (2018, November 14). Filipino Families

Are Most Deprived in Education.
https://psa.gov.ph/content/filipino-families-
are-most-deprived-education-0.