Poverty

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CONSULTANTS
According to the Asian Development
Bank, the major causes of poverty
include:

1. low economic growth

2. a weak agricultural sector
3. increased population rates
4. a high volume of inequality.
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CONSULTANTS
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CONSULTANTS
With poverty plaguing the country
and employment opportunities being
scarce, many Filipinos are unable to
afford housing, which puts them in
danger of turning to the streets for
accommodation.
In 2012, extreme poverty
within the Philippines affected
19.2 percent of the population
or around 18.4 million people.

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CONSULTANTS
This poverty line survived on 65.59
pesos a day, making it extremely
difficult to rise out of poverty and
find affordable housing for Filipinos
and their families.
Hunger is one of the extreme effects of
poverty in the Philippines. With little
money to buy food, Filipinos are having
to survive on very limited food; even
when food supplies are stable, they are
most accessible in other areas where
people have enough income to purchase
the food.
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CONSULTANTS
And with such an unequal
distribution of income, there is a low
demand for food supplies in less
developed areas that are home to
low-income residents. 
The quality of food is also
decreasing — rice used to be the
main source of food for Filipinos,
but now it has largely been replaced
with instant noodles, which is
cheaper but less nutritious. As a
result, malnutrition has become a lot
more common.
With poverty taking a toll on
Filipinos, parents often can’t
make enough money to support
their families; children then
have to be taken out of school to
work in harsh conditions.
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CONSULTANTS
Statistics show that around 3.6
million children, from ages 5-17,
are child laborers in the
Philippines. This is 15.9 percent
of the entire population.
 By
MERLINADA BOBIS

LENGUA PARA
DIABLO
Lengua Para Diablo is an excerpt
from the book “Banana Heart
Summer” written by Merlinda
Bobis.

Merlinda Bobis was an

acclaimed Filipino-Australian
writer and performer who has
published in three languages. FIRST UP 13
CONSULTANTS
1. Lengua 11. Pricked

VOCABULARY
2. Murmured 12. Condiments
3. Appeased 13. Luxuriating
4. Cajoled 14. Piquant
5. Mutter 15. Sautéed

WORDS
6. Wretched 16. Feted
7. Scrupulous 17. Epicure
8. Blanched 18. Sated
9. Gruel 19. Affluence
10. Scraped 20. Basted FIRST UP
CONSULTANTS
Lengua Para Diablo
means “The Devil Ate
My Words.”

Lengua is a Spanish
word meaning “tounge”
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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

The story started when a daughter

suspected that her father sold his
tongue to the devil. Her father did
not speak much in their house.

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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

Her father said that “the devil

ate his words” which means
he forgot what he was about to
say; that statement appeases
his wife. Her father lost his
job so he needed to conciliate
more.
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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

Her mother was always complaining

about their hard situation so her
father kept on promising that he
would buy them the things that
would make them comfortable.

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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

The devil that ate his words was her

father’s employer, who is a Spanish
mestizo that owned several stores in
the city. The employer fired her
father who is a mason after he found
a cheaper deal for the extension of
his house.
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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

Her father didn’t say any word about

his job to placate his family; the
devil really ate his words.

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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

Her daughter was wondering what

the devil did to her father’s tongue.
She was thinking that her father’s
tongue was cooked in mushroom
sauce in the special Spanish way.

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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

She also imagined that her father’s

tongue was served on the devil’s
platter with spices that gives an
aroma of something rich and foreign.

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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

She thought that her father’s tongue

was luxuriating in a multitude of
essences so she said that maybe he
should also sell his esophagus and
his stomach for him to be pampered.

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CONSULTANTS
SUMMARY

She also imagined being cooked and

put inside the stomach of a rich man
where she could know the feeling of
too much affluence.

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CONSULTANTS
LITERARY TECHNIQUE

 Use of metaphor

• Tongue
• Devil

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CONSULTANTS
Culture Reflected

Here in the Philippines, most

families depend more on
fathers than the mothers.
Fathers provide more for their
families’ needs and wants.
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CONSULTANTS