Poverty by design

Our country keeps managing poverty instead of ending it. Generations attempted to fight poverty, or that’s what we believed, yet millions of our citizens are trapped in it with no clear hope of redemption.

For decades, Philippine governments have declared war on poverty. Our political leaders promised. Congress appropriated trillions of pesos, much of it borrowed. Agencies launched countless assistance programs.Yet, unfortunately, poverty remains a stubborn national tragedy, passed from parents to children like an unwanted inheritance. Agricultural sector and urban poor at the lowest.

Perhaps the most disturbing question is no longer why poverty persists, but whether our approach to confronting it has become part of the problem. And we seem oblivious, including our supposed bright minds.

Are we genuinely trying to eliminate poverty, or have we become comfortable merely by managing it? I sometimes withdraw to the possibility that our society has been callous, or simply in a collective survival option where everyone is preoccupied with their own affairs. But the numbers must disturb our national conscience or whatever is left of it.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), 17.54 million Filipinos, or 15.5 percent of our population, live below the poverty threshold in 2023. Another alarming figure: 4.84 million Filipinos lacked sufficient income to meet the most basic food requirements.

For a family of five, the official monthly threshold was only P13,873. Imagine surviving on that amount for food, electricity, transportation, education and health care. This figure is being bashed by some sectors. Earning slightly above this does not guarantee a decent life. Ignore these figures, just drive around the urban centers nationwide, you would witness the prevalent conditions of deprivation and despair.

Certainly, progress has occurred, with the reported decline in poverty incidence from 18.1 percent to 15.5 percent in 2023. But this does not mean anything to those who are still struggling.

Social assistance is necessary. Hungry families must be fed. Immediately. Consistently. Vulnerable Filipinos, especially children, must be protected. But we must go beyond merely helping them. The means to escape from poverty must be provided. For too long, we confused one with the other.

The first imperative is industrialization. Light, medium industries. And if we are determined, heavy industries. The internal market is strong. The prospects of international demand is obvious. We just have to design the framework, roadmap and strategy. Our politics, sadly, hardly supports this.

We must produce more than what we need. Create surplus. Export and expand our horizon. Our consumer-driven and service-oriented economy is bound to perpetuate poverty. That’s the plain truth. We must create wealth through industrialization. Others gave this up. We must not. We cannot if we truly want to join the community of successful and rich nations.

We must aggressively develop our manufacturing, technology-based industries and export-oriented enterprises. We need huge investments, real engines of growth and prosperity. Jobs must be created. Quality jobs and not merely impressive economic statistics.

Our greatest export should not be Filipino workers searching for opportunities abroad. It should be competitive products manufactured by Filipinos earning decent wages.

Second, agriculture must become an engine of prosperity rather than the perennial symbol of poverty and social inequality. Framers and fishermen, ironically, are the most deprived members of our society. They feed us, but their contribution is not reciprocated.

Agricultural modernization must not be measured simply by the volume of harvests. Better barometer is income, if it increases. Agro-industrial development is a low-hanging fruit that we can pick.

Third, let’s unleash the potential of small to medium-sized businesses which comprise more than 99 percent of our enterprises with a total of least 6.25 million jobs. Imagine if these enterprises are transformed and are able to expand their market globally. But today, they actually suffer from inadequate financing, expensive electricity, cumbersome regulations and limited market access. Our government must provide the catalyst and support mechanisms for them.

Lastly, education must become a pathway out of poverty. We must cease from producing graduates that are not assured of gainful employment. Technical education, digital skills, entrepreneurship and financial literacy must become national priorities.

But economic transformation requires political courage. Poverty reduction must become the overriding measure of government performance. We must track how many of our countrymen are able to become independent from the bondage of poverty. Permanently. We must stop our delusion that government spending is synonymous to government accomplishment.

Our poor Filipinos do not lack ambition. Opportunities are scarce for them. They don’t refuse to work. It’s just that quality work is beyond them due to education issues, unaligned skills and available good jobs are not there. We must stop managing poverty, we must end it.

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Email: arielnepo.philstar.com