Negros Oriental in top 10 poorest provinces in Phl

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — Negros Oriental remained in the top ten list of the poorest provinces all over the country with a poverty incidence of 50.1 percent, as of the latest survey.  

This was reported by Professor Emeritus Leonor Briones of the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance during a lecture she conducted, titled “Iskul-Bukol: The 2014 National Budget and its Implications to Negros Oriental.”   

The statistics showed Negros Oriental stayed in the top ten of the 16 poorest provinces of the Philippines, and that most of the towns with high poverty incidence were located in the first district, with Bindoy topping the list with 59.9 percent. Dumaguete City was the least poor in the province with only 7.4 percent poverty rating.  

Of the 16 provinces, ten were in Mindanao, namely: Lanao del Sur with 67.3 percent poverty incidence, followed by Maguindanao, Zamboanga del Norte, Saranggani, North Cotabato, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Camiguin, Sultan Kudarat and Sulu.  

Only two were in Luzon, namely Apayao and Masbate, while the rest were west Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar.

Briones said that based on records of the National Statistics Coordination Board, the budget allocation for Luzon was 58 percent of the total appropriations or P726 billion, Mindanao had 24 percent or P301.1 billion, while Central Visayas had only 18 percent or P224.7 billion.

Briones then called on the people of Negros Oriental to ask their representatives in Congress to report as to what they have been doing to get more budget for the province to reduce poverty incidence.  

If not of Dumaguete, the poverty incidence in Negros Oriental would have gone higher, Biones said.

“If you go to Dumaguete, you won’t believe Negros Oriental is among the poorest provinces of the country, especially with Silliman University and several private educational institutions in the city, but when you go around the coastal communities and in the hinterland barangays, the poverty level is prevalent and can be felt,” she said.  

Briones considered this situation a challenge to local chief exectives and to everybody if only to change the image of the province. She further enjoined Negrenses to choose the right persons to defend them in Congress especially in getting the right budget.  (FREEMAN)