"Poverty persists, not simply because of the bad choices people make, but also of the burdens that society imposes on the impoverished."
"Poverty persists, not simply because of the bad choices people make, but also of the burdens that society imposes on the impoverished."
Part 1
It is often said that life is about the choices we make.
But more often than not, it is untrue.
Take poverty, for example. In most cases, people are trapped in the sorry state of poverty because of circumstances that are way beyond their control. A homeless man living in the street. A struggling solo parent with four children. An out-of-school teenager who ran away from home. It is easy to say that the misery they are in is a product of the wrong choices that they have made.
But we know that is not even half the truth.
The inconvenient truth is that society itself is unforgiving to the less fortunate, and if you really take the time to understand their situation, one could say that society has condemned them to such situations.
Poverty persists, not simply because of the bad choices people make, but also of the burdens that society imposes on the impoverished.
That is how I would explain the persistence of poverty in Eastern Visayas, one of the poorest regions in the country today.
Six years ago, Super Typhoon ‘‘Haiyan’’ struck the islands of Leyte, Samar and Biliran, with thousands dead, tens of thousands homeless, millions of pesos worth of livelihood, properties and infrastructure destroyed. But even before Typhoon Haiyan struck, the incidence of poverty has already been worsening. While the nation’s overall economic situation has been improving on the average, poverty in the region worsened from 2006 to 2012. In 2014, poverty incidence was at 54.9 percent; more than half of the region’s population of 4.10 million is now extremely poor and unable to earn the minimum amount necessary to address their basic needs.
It seems deplorable, but the fact remains that in Eastern Visayas, the poor are becoming desperately poorer. In the Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted in 2015, four of the six provinces in Eastern Visayas are among the country’s 20 poorest provinces: Leyte (ranked 17 at 46.7-percent poverty incidence), Western Samar (ranked 14th at 49.5 percent), Eastern Samar (ranked 11th at 50 percent) and Northern Samar (ranked fourth at 61.6 percent).
If you ask me, poverty is hardly the choice that we would have made for our region.
In simple terms, poverty is a vicious cycle, that is often beyond one’s control or choices. Some people may have made poor choices along the way that have led them into this situation. However, poverty can become systemic that despite anyone’s choices—the impoverished and their families remain in poverty.
That is why a radical change in the system, and out-of-the-box shift in outlook is required.
In the last two weeks, two important proposed measures have successfully hurdled important milestones in the legislative process. House Bill 1419, the Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone Act which was passed on Second Reading last March 4 and House Bill 1155, the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Authority Act which was recently approved by the House Committee on Government Enterprises and Privatization last Feb. 19.
House Bill 1419 seeks the conversion of the Leyte Industrial Development Estate into the Leyte Ecological Industrial Zone. The long-term objective is develop LEIZ into a self-sustaining and ecologically sustainable industrial, commercial and investment zone that will put in place and wide-reaching employment and investment generation mechanism as well as incentives to ensure the free flow and movement of goods and commodities within the free port area.
Unlike existing economic zones, LEIZ is remarkable for two reasons. First, unlike other economic zones that are limited to a single contiguous area, LEIZ will be composed of three locations: at the core will be the present Leyte Industrial Development Estate in Isabel, Leyte; Leyte North at the Tacloban City-Babatngon area; and Leyte South in Baybay City. The three locations are geographically structured so as to form one growth triangle that encompasses the entire island of Leyte.
The second reason is that conservation and protection of the environment would therefore be a major focus of the project—hence the concept of setting up an ecological industrial zone instead of a regular industrial zone. The proposed industrial zone is expected to provide services for waste management and recycling and be climate change-proof by ensuring that the buildings and roads can withstand natural disasters.
According the main proponents of the proposed measure, Tingog Party-List Rep. Yedda Marie K. Romualdez, and Leyte First District Representative and House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, “The establishment of an ecological industrial zone aims to attract more investors and businesses to locate in Leyte and the city of Tacloban, jumpstarting the revival of economic activities in the area and provide more employment opportunities through rural industrialization, but one that is both responsive to our current needs and attentive to our ecological realities.”
The LEIZ project is being implemented by a technical working group led by the Board of Investments with the assistance of topnotch urban and development planner, Palafox Associates Inc. (Continued on Wednesday)