Poverty.
How did the Philippines collapse from being the second most progressive country in Southeast Asia (vying behind Japan) to a third-world country amassing billions of debt in the course of a couple of decades? It is also sad to see that the rich and the poor exist side by side (For example, when I was studying at De La Salle University, I can see the neighboring slums from the 4th floor; when I worked at IBM in Eastwood, the poor residential areas are just a stone's throw away; Makati City also has this problem) - Steven de GuzmanPoverty has always remained a critical social problem that calls to be addressed. Philippines' latest poverty line for 2014 marks a per capita income of 100,534 pesos a year. According to the data from the National Statistical Coordination Board, more than one-quarter of the population fell below the poverty line the first semester of 2014, an approximate 78 per cent increase since 2013.
The increase in poverty has been rapid and uneven,compared to broadly similar numbers in the 1980s, such as People's Republic of Cuba (PRC), Thailand, Indonesia or Vietnam. This shows that the incidence of poverty has remained significantly high as compared to other countries for almost a decade. The unevenness of the decline has been attributed to a large range of income brackets across regions and sectors, and unmanaged population growth. The Philippines poverty rate is roughly the same level as Haiti.
The government planned to eradicate poverty as stated in the Philippines Development Plan 2011-2016 (PDP). The PDP for those six years are an annual economic growth of 7-8% and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Under the MDGs, Philippines committed itself to halving extreme poverty from a level of 33.1% in 1991 to 16.6% by 2015. - WIKIPEDIA
You might be wondering despite having a bunch of talented Filipinos, it seems like many of our countrymen are still suffering from poverty. It’s sad to hear that we have skills and capabilities that can compete globally, and there’s no doubt about it, but only few are making it to the top. In this post, I’ll discuss some of the most evident causes of poverty in the Philippines.
Major Causes of Poverty in the Philippines:
1. Corruption. One of the big factors that contributes to poverty in Philippines is corruption, a problem that doesn’t seem to end. Because of these corruptions, funds are getting short for health, education, agriculture, and other important matters.Here are some the things we can do in order to stop these corruptions. One way is to start from ourselves. Do not sell your votes! Don’t exchange the future of the country for just couple of hundreds of peso. Another things is to impose regular assessment/audit of SALNs of public officials. The leaders of the country whether it be local or national level should provide transparency reports.
Next is to provide ways to improve the integrity of the justice system. It always seems that those who are in power can simply get away from trouble by buying the justice system.
There are other many ways. You can comment below if you have some suggestions so we can help our readers more.
2. Lack Of Education. What would you expect? A corrupt leader wants his people to be ignorant so that no one will make any move against him and his corrupt acts. They will not expedite things that are related to developing the education system in our country.
Another thing I’d like to add is the Miseducation. We have been taught the wrong things. We’ve been taught to go to school, get high grades, and we’ll become successful someday. Apparently, this is not true.
I’ve been with those who graduated with honors and worked with them. They got engineering licenses and I don’t yet their only advantage is they have not-so-higher salaries compared to mine.
If we’ve been taught the right things, unemployment rate in the Philippines should be low. Also, why are there many people who did not even graduate from universities yet earning more? There must be something wrong.
3. Fear. One of the things that prevents us from growing and progressing is the fear. This is a result of miseducation. When we’re young we’ve been told to do this and do that, that we should follow and accept information without asking why.
Don’t get me wrong in this one. Yes, as a young child, one of the best things we can do is to obey those who are older than us because they’re more experienced and they know things more than us. (or they don’t?) However, no one is teaching us to ask, to challenge what we already know, to seek for better solutions, and etc. The result, fear. How?
Since we’ve been trained to do things other people are already doing, we fear to change our direction, we fear to challenge the norm. We fear to be left out, we fear to be criticized. These fears are the ones that makes us stagnant in terms of knowledge, innovation, self development, and other things that contributes to being financially poor..
4. Lack of Discipline. Without discipline, you cannot attain something significant. Through discipline, plans are executed properly, consistent, and organized to achieve whatever goals that you want in your life. Lack of discipline is one of the big causes of poverty in the Philippines.
It’s sad that many millennials today are very stubborn and hard-headed. They love YOLOING. They say whatever comes into their minds and most of them are very complaining.
A lot of people are throwing their garbage wherever they want to. Many people nowadays are law-breakers. They don’t follow school rules, road rules and etc. No one has ever become successful by simply YOLOING and doing inappropriate things. What we need is self-control and self-discipline.
5. Crab Mentality. Sadly, instead of being happy for others who are making progress and getting success in their fields, there are many people get jealous. In turn, what they do is pull others down. This is such a poor mentality that should be eradicated. I personally don’t like it when I see shadow of these things in action.
6. OFW Thinking. This is not to offend our Overseas Filipino Workers and it’s not their fault to choose that path. OFWs are one of the factors why Philippine economy is growing. This is sad because instead of looking for investors, bring companies & industries inside the Philippines, it seems like the government rather choose to send our fellow Filipino kababayans abroad.
This is also part of lack of education. Many people still don’t realize the opportunities today’s technologies can give. Through the internet, you don’t need to go outside the country and leave your family.
There’s so much opportunity online world can bring. Although more and more Filipinos now are discovering this, our countrymen still need to be educated about these matters and I strongly believe government can do big part in this. ( www.powerpinoys.com )
Educating ourselves is just the start. What we need is to take actions and be part of the change. Once you’ve managed to change yourself for the better, you’re now liable to educate and inspire others as well. Providing solutions to poverty cannot be done by one man alone. We Filipinos should all be responsible solving the major causes of poverty in the Philippines.
You may contact us in our FB page : www.facebook.com/PoorNProud
and sign up to our petition at : https://www.change.org/p/philippine-government-poverty-in-the-country-of-juan-de-la-cruz
