Slum dwellers seen ballooning to 12m

An Asian Development Bank study showed that population in Philippine slum areas will go up to 12 million people including those who are not income poor or those who live within $2 per day. According to Marife Ballesteros, a senior research fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, some Filipinos live in the slum area live with $4 every day. "Household in slums are not necessarily income poor,” Ballesteros said. "More than 50 percent live above poverty line and can spend between $2 and $4 per day but reside in poor environments,” she added. Ballesteros said by 2020, slum population in Urban Philippine is expected to increase to 6.5 million citizens and in 2050 it will increase to 12.9 million Filipinos. She explained that such behavior was because there was no alternative shelter in the city and they cannot afford travelling from a distant, less expensive, peri-urban regions for work. Living in the slums, according to Ballesteros, will worsen poverty. "On a daily basis, slum dwellers are confronted with congestion, sub-standard housing and Physical deteriorated environment that lacks public service... these environmental conditions lead to deepening poverty and rising inequalities,” she said. Data showed that in 2020, about 1.7 million Filipinos will live in the slum areas of large towns outside metro manila while 6.2 million Pinoys will squeeze themselves in Metro Manila. By 2050, this population will grow to 10.1 million and 8.9 million, respectively.//