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Achieving a high gross domestic product (GDP) growth may
not be enough to lick poverty in the
Philippines,
according to economists at the University of the
Philippines (UP).
At the
UP Centennial Lecture Series, professors Dante Canlas,
Raul Fabella and Arsenio Balisacan discussed the causes
of poverty in the Philippines and its supposed remedies.
Canlas,
a former director general of the National Economic and
Development Authority, said that given the robust
7.3-percent GDP growth and the recent results of the
2006 Family Income Expenditures Survey, the growth of
the economy is not enough to eradicate poverty in the
country.
“At this
point, I don’t think the GDP growth is enough to fight
poverty in the country. It may help, but it will not be
enough to eradicate poverty,” Canlas said in an
interview after the forum in UP on Thursday.
To date,
Canlas said the high GDP growth seems to benefit only
five regions in the Philippines—the National Capital
Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon or Region IV-A,
Western Visayas and Central Visayas.
He said
although Cagayan de Oro and Davao are considered cities
that significantly contribute to the country’s GDP,
their growth are not enough to draw out the rest of
Mindanao from the clutches of poverty.
Balisacan, director of the
Seameo Regional
Center
for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Searca),
said in his paper that rising inequality among regions
could “breed regional unrest, armed conflicts and
political upheavals” based on international
perspectives.
He said
that addressing poverty is really the most important
policy challenge of the Philippines.
He said
the poverty level in the country is now higher than
other East and Southeast Asian countries, and the
improvement of the plight of the poor is too slow that
the country has now become a laggard in the region in
terms of poverty eradication.
“Poverty
eradication in the Philippines has lagged far behind
those of its East and Southeast Asian neighbors,
particularly Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China,”
Balisacan said.
For his
part, Fabella, a former dean of the UP School of
Economics, said the main problem is that although the
country is growing at a rapid pace, the poverty
situation has not been improving in the past five years.
Fabella
said that in other countries, when a 7.3-percent GDP
growth is achieved, usually the poverty level also
improves. However, in the country, this is not the case
and it continues to be a puzzle to this day.
“Either
that GDP growth is not as high as we think or that GDP
growth only benefits the very affluent or the members of
the elite,” Fabella said.
He also
said that another cause for this disconnect may be
problems in the measurement of poverty in the country.
However,
Fabella said that while these reasons may all be true,
this is a widely accepted fact and that poverty
incidence in the Philippines is not falling and is, in
fact, rising despite high economic growth.
Balisacan said that the key to achieving propoor growth
is expanding the poor’s access to economic
opportunities, human development, social services and
productive assets.
He said
that improving productivity growth in agriculture will
also be a key in lifting rural inhabitants, who account
for one-third of the poor in the country, from poverty.
“Rural-income diversification and migration to
productive nonfarm sectors, including overseas
migration, offer important pathways out of poverty.
Enhancing the efficiency of the labor market is thus
essential to ensuring that migration is a boon rather
than a bane to the poor,” Balisacan said.
Canlas
agreed, saying that although the government’s efforts
are not completely lacking, there are still a lot to be
done, particularly in peace in order in Mindanao and in
agriculture.
Canlas
said that Mindanao’s agricultural promise has yet to be
tapped. The other promising areas in agriculture that
have yet to be explored are opportunities in fisheries
and aquaculture.
“There
is still much to be done in terms of increasing
agriculture production. The government can do a lot in
bringing out the best in agriculture,” Canlas said.
Further,
he said that to overcome poverty, there is a need for an
active population management program for the poor,
scaled up investments in quality education and health,
sustained increases in labor demand, financial reform,
and social safety nets which can be used by the poor to
ease their hardships. |
