What the latest poverty data tell us
The Duterte administration must be congratulated. The latest poverty estimates, based on the 2018 Family Income and Expenditures Survey , show that the percentage of families who fall below the poverty threshold fell from 17.9 percent to 12.1 percent,
Poverty reduction, economic growth, and income inequality
The government recently released information analyzing the latest income and expenditure household surveys which show that the country’s poverty reduction program is on track and is even partly ahead of target.
Ramon Magsaysay – an unfulfilled presidency
Ramon Magsaysay was at the peak of his popularity when the airplane he was riding crashed off Mount Manunggal in Cebu. It was near midnight of March 16, 1957 shortly after takeoff in clear weather. That crash need not have happened. Magsaysay was just nine months and a half short of finishing his first term...
Royally screwed
One remembers one’s childhood and what was almost a mantra when one failed to eat all of what was on one’s plate: “Think of the millions of poor, starving children in China who are hungry, and here you are wasting your food.” Or something like that, designed for maximum effect: shame and guilt on the...
Urban squatting
In this piece I focus on giving a still picture of existing squatter settlements in Quezon City where the widest open land of prime value for the nation has been devalued by squatter settlements.
Historical roots of urban squatting
If there is any disheartening sight of poverty in the country, it is the growth and universal presence of unsightly urban squatting.
Inclusion and exclusion in TRAIN
There are two flavors of inclusion: one is reduced income inequality; the other is reduced poverty incidence. They are not the same; nor does one necessarily follow the other. So they require different policy responses.
Breaking down the tax reform package
Without even looking at the details, the reader can see that the bottom 60 percent of income earners are negatively impacted by the package (the figures are in italics, and are parenthesized) as well as the top 0.1 percent. Those are the DOF estimates.
What, me worry?
Duterte’s creeping authoritarianism, however, is being implemented in full view of an apathetic crowd.
Manufacturing, quality of growth, and poverty reduction
The economic cluster of the Duterte watch has been making noises about the revival of Manufacturing and bringing its poverty reducing bonanza to the regions. That is unequivocably a correct strategy. The recent past points to its validity. That recent past is the poverty reduction performance of the Aquino watch.
The tax reform program: social and economic implications
More elaboration is coming out from the Duterte government concerning the tax reform package now in Congress. In particular, I refer to Tax Reform Package 1.
A jewel in the crown
The latest poverty statistics, covering 2015, have to be a jewel in whatever crown of achievements former President Benigno Aquino III can claim for his six years in office.
