BAGUIO CITY – – Philippine Statistics Authority data shows great improvement in the life of the people in the Cordillera with an estimated 30,800 families or around 172,900 individuals lifted out from poverty in a three-year span.
PSA – Cordillera Regional Director Villafe Alibuyog, in a regional dissemination forum for the 2018 Full Year Poverty Statistics at Fortune Hotel here, reported that poverty incidence in the Cordillera is 12.2 percent, a great improvement compared to the 22.6% poverty rate in 2015.
For the poverty incidence among families, the 17% estimated in 2015 also improved to 8.7% in the 2018 PSA poverty statistics.
Comparing the 2018 to the 2015 statistics, the improvement in poverty incidence in the region translated to the reduction of the estimated poor families from 67,400 to 36,600 or from 389,100 to 216,200 in terms of poor individuals.
Alibuyog outlined that a family (with 5 members) is considered poor if their per capita income falls below the poverty threshold, which for Cordillera (in 2018) was estimated at P10,364.00.
Poverty threshold, which is also known as the poverty line, is the minimum income required for a family or individual to meet the basic food and non-food requirements.
Poverty incidence rate is lowest in Benguet with 4.3%, followed by Kalinga at 9.3%, Ifugao at 9.8%, Apayao with 15%, Apayao at 16% and Mountain Province at 17.2%.
Alibuyog also shared that the 2018 food threshold in Cordillera was estimated at P7,242. This is the minimum income required for a family of five to meet the basic food needs which satisfy the nutritional requirements for economically necessary and socially desirable physical activities.
National Economic Development Authority (NEDA–CAR) Senior Economic Development Specialist Marciana Tawagen said the poverty incidence dropping to 12 is a very good economic indication as this surpassed the Regional Development Plan (2017 – 2022) target, which is to reduce poverty incidence to 15.9% by 2022.
Tawagen partly attributed the improvement to the declining trend in unemployment and underemployment rates in the region, and the sustained implementation of the government’s social assistance program.
In moving forward, she called for the full implementation of the reforms being initiated and in accelerating efforts to further improve road networks and information technology connections that can help facilitate the creation of economic opportunities that will hasten poverty reduction and inequality across provinces and cities in the region. **JDP/CCD-PIA CAR
