Poverty incidence even worse than NSCB report - militant think tank

MANILA, Philippines- Poverty incidence in the country is even worse than what the National Statistical Coordination Board has presented, militant think tank IBON Foundation said Wednesday. "The poverty incidence could actually be worse than reported due to such low poverty threshold," said IBON executive editor Rosario Bella Guzman in a statement. According to the NSCB, the number of poor Filipinos increased to 27.6 million in 2006, 16 percent more from the 23.8 million recorded in 2003. The study defines the poor as those whose incomes fall below the official poverty threshold as defined by the government. The poverty threshold is the cost of minimum basic needs, food and non-food. According to the latest government estimate, a Filipino family of five needed P6,274 per month, or P209 per day, to stay out of poverty. This means that the government expects each person to survive on P41.25 a day. "In fact, poverty in the Philippines could be so widespread that the NSCB is using these low threshold figures to understate the actual extent of poverty," said Guzman. She noted that in IBON's self-rated poverty survey conducted last January, 71.7 percent Filipinos considered themselves poor. Still, she said the NSCB figures validates the research group's findings that poverty in the country is actually worsening for the past seven years. - GMANews.TV