FREEDOM from poverty ought to be top priority of all our agendas, not just government. Poverty line is the minimum threshold government computes for a family of five to meet the very basic needs of food, shelter, housing, transportation, health and education.
The global statistical poverty line is $1.90 per day at 2015 prices, as defined by the World Bank. Let’s round that off to $2 a day. But let us learn from the communications and credibility crisis NEDA is going through right now. A $2 a day today is P104 and that figure is certainly unrealistic in the Philippine situation. Compared to the minimum daily wage in Metro Manila (which is P512), P104 is insulting.
In the Philippines, the poverty line threshold computed by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is now at P10,969 per month ($200 / month). On the other hand, the computed national food threshold for a family of five is at P7,638 per month. This P7,638 per month is the minimum requirement for a family to be able to have three regular meals in a day.
Many Filipino families, especially those who are poor, depend on just one breadwinner. Usually that breadwinner is the father, sometimes the mother, sometimes the eldest of the children. However, if there are at least two breadwinners, families can escape from poverty. With two breadwinners earning minimum wage or higher, household income grows.
Some quarters claim there are now more Filipinos in the middle class because they were able to escape from poverty — cross over the poverty line. Where that line is, is a subject of much debate and furor. That line even has different names: poverty threshold, living wage, minimum wage, survival income, and so on.
However, to Filipino families living in poverty and household in the lower middle income groups, their practical definition of poverty is: not being able to make ends meet. They know they are moving out of poverty when they are able to afford some luxuries, have paid much of their debts, and get that feeling of comfort. It is difficult to assign statistics to these very qualitative definitions and aspirations.
But there clear things the government can do: create more jobs to bring down underemployment; keep more young Filipinos in school and have more of them graduate from high school and from college; and focus on maternal health and child care. Emphasis and clear results on these three key areas alone would have transformational impact.
