Killjoy
| C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S |
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| Jonathan De la Cruz |
What a killjoy! This is what many of my pro-P-Noy friends exclaimed after being told that the World Bank just declared that the Philippines continues to experience one of the worst cases of poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.
In its Philippine Quarterly Update, the World Bank reported that poverty in urban areas was “worsening rapidly” due to increased population and lower incomes. Coming as it did right after Palace spokesmen trumpeted a March SWS survey advising that the incidence of hunger in the country dropped during the survey period with one million hungry mouths getting off the rolls, this bank advisory immediately doused cold water on an incipient triumphalist run.
Said the World Bank: “Poverty and especially poverty dynamics, in the Philippines remains worse than its neighbors. Spatially, poverty remains highly concentrated in the rural areas and in terms of sectors, households that rely on agricultural income are significantly more likely to be poor than other households... From 2006 to 2009, poverty in urban areas increased more rapidly, became more severe and contributed more to the continuous increase in poverty. Across regions, 10 out of 17 administrative regions experienced an increase in poverty incidence... Despite a more resilient economy, some 2.4 million Filipinos became poor from 2003 to 2006 and 1 million more from 2006 to 2009.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110711com4.html
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