“The DSWD cannot do it by its lonesome but in close coordination with other agencies using a whole-of-government approach”
The Philippine Development Plan for 2023-2028 targets the reduction of the current poverty rate of 15.5 percent to at least 9 percent by the end of the term of President Marcos Jr.
Is this target achievable or realistic at all?
Poverty incidence is defined by the PSA as the proportion of Filipino families with incomes that are not sufficient to buy their minimum basic food and non-food needs as estimated by the poverty threshold. At individual level, 15.5 percent of Filipinos or about 17.54 million Filipinos (equivalent to around 3 million families) were poor in 2023.
The agency identified 740,000 families (2.7 percent) as “food poor” in 2023, meaning their incomes do not meet basic food needs. This marked an improvement from 2021, when 1.04 million families (3.9 percent) were categorized as food poor.
Based on these, the poverty situation in the country has returned to its pre-pandemic level, according to the PSA.
But a 2024 survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) reported bad news: that 16 million Filipino families considered themselves poor, a record high during President Marcos Jr.’s term. The estimated number of self-rated poor families was 16.0 million in June 2024, up from 12.9 million in March 2024.
By the fourth quarter of 2024, the number of Filipino families who considered themselves poor continued to increase, with half of them—the highest in more than 20 years—rating themselves food-poor, or unable to afford or access food that make up a healthy diet.
The latest SWS survey showed that Filipino families who considered themselves “mahirap” or poor rose to 63 percent in the last quarter of 2024, the highest recorded since the 64 percent in November 2003.
The survey revealed a steady rise in self-rated poverty, with a significant increase from 46 percent in March 2024 to 58 percent in June, 59 percent in September, and finally reaching 63 percent in December. This resulted in the 2024 annual average for self-rated poor families of 57 percent, a nine-point increase from the 48 percent recorded in both 2023 and 2022.
The four-point increase in the nationwide self-rated poverty between September and Dec. 2024 is due to increases in the Visayas and Mindanao, combined with a steady percentage in Luzon outside Metro Manila and a slight decrease in Metro Manila.
Self-rated poverty was highest in Mindanao at 76 percent, followed by the Visayas at 74 percent, Luzon outside Metro Manila at 55 percent, and Metro Manila at 51 percent.
DSWD to the rescue
Given the available data from the PSA and recent surveys, the Department of Social Welfare and Development must do all it can to reach the desired goal of cutting poverty incidence to single-digit level by 2028.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is being implemented by the DSWD as a vital component of its poverty-reduction strategy.
The 4Ps is a national poverty reduction strategy and a human capital investment program that provides conditional cash transfer to qualified household-beneficiaries. It is also a human development program which provides social protection, social assistance, social development, and other complementary support services in partnership with concerned agencies, local government and other stakeholders towards improving the health, nutrition, education, and socio-economic aspects of life of disadvantaged Filipinos.
Among the specific objectives of 4Ps are to raise the average consumption rate in food expenditure of poor households; increase child growth and lower stunting among children 5 years old below, and encourage parents to invest in their children’s health, nutrition and education.
The goal of the program is to reduce poverty by promoting the accumulation of human capital among young children (0-18 years old), thus, contributing in breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty among poor households.
The DSWD reported that at the start of 2024, there were a total of 4.4 million 4Ps families nationwide. By the end of the year, the agency recorded 4 million 4Ps households, indicating that 400,000 households graduated from the program.
More than half of the DSWD’s 2024 budget was allocated to the 4Ps program. For the 2025 budget, P64.18 billion was earmarked for the 4Ps.
At our weekly news forum that I co-moderate, the DSWD has given assurances that it is possible to achieve single-digit poverty rate by 2028.
Of course, the DSWD cannot do it by its lonesome but in close coordination with other agencies using a whole-of-government approach.
(Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)