3 out of 10 Filipino children live below poverty line—PIDS

Despite the government’s efforts to address the needs of the poor, a study released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) said child poverty is still increasing in the country. In the study titled "Child Poverty in the Philippines,” the lead author PIDS Senior Research Fellow Celia Reyes said that in 2009, 13.4 million or over a third of all children aged below 18 are living below the poverty line. Reyes added that around 10 million of these children face at least two overlapping types of severe deprivation in basic amenities and 750,000 face at least five kinds of deprivation simultaneously. "While there have been gains in improving the well-being of children in the Philippines, there are still many dimensions where progress has been limited. Combating child poverty in the Philippines is an ever more challenging task,” the study stated. Both incidence and magnitude of income poor are increasing which indicates that efforts have not coped with the increasing number of poor individuals including children,” it added. Reyes said the Philippines continues to struggle with inequality in economic opportunities and this affects the welfare of millions of Filipino children nationwide. In 2009 data showed that around 4 million children were severely deprived of sanitary toilet facilities and around 4 million did not have access to safe water. Further, some 260,000 lacked decent shelter. Further, some 1.4 million children were living in informal settlements and 6.5 million did not have access to electricity in their homes. Data also showed that 3.4 million lacked a means to access to information. "Poverty in the country, whether in terms of income or deprivation in amenities as basic as water and sanitation, is largely a rural phenomenon. Three out of four income-poor children are living in the rural areas. Eight of 10 are severely deprived of sanitary toilet [and safe water] are found in the rural areas. Programs that aim to address these needs must prioritize the poor in rural areas,” the study added. Reyes said there also more poor children in some regions in the country where more interventions should be made. These regions include the Zamboanga peninsula, Eastern Visayas, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where income poverty among children increased 10.9 percent between 2003 and 2009. Poverty incidence of children in Zamboanga was at 51.9 percent in 2009; Eastern Visayas, 50.9 percent; and ARMM, 54.1 percent. "The growth of poor children particularly in urban centers and neighboring regions is outpacing the overall population growth rate of children. ARMM has serious concerns with respect to both high poverty incidence and large increase in absolute number,” the study stated. The study is part of the PIDS Discussion Paper series. It was also authored by Aubrey Tabuga, Ronina Asis and Maria Blesila Mondez.//