Reject the reduction of the poverty line!
Last Tuesday, Nov. 29, was the first hearing on House Resolution 960, introduced by Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raymond V. Palatino, calling for the Committee on Poverty Alleviation to “conduct an inquiry on the revised poverty measurement scheme approved by the National Statistical Coordination Board which substantially lowers the official average poverty threshold from 52 pesos per person per day to 46 pesos per person per day with a view to devise an official poverty estimation methodology that is truly reflective of the situation of the millions of poor Filipinos today.”
(The P52 and P46 cited in HR960 correctly correspond to the P7,953 and P7,017 old and “refined” thresholds announced by the NSCB on Feb. 8, 2011, per month for a family of five, when the latter are multiplied by 12 months, divided by 365 days, and divided by five persons.)
The committee chairman, Trade Union Congress Party-list Rep. Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza, called for an explanation of the NSCB poverty line by Jessamyn Encarnacion (chief of its poverty, human development, labor and gender statistics division), and then for my criticism of it. Officials of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, National Economic and Development Authority, National Statistics Office, and Philippine Institute for Development Studies were also there.
Encarnacion did not dispute the NSCB reduction in money value of the poverty line, but argued that the new amount still allows fulfillment of 100 percent of caloric requirements and 80 percent of nutrient requirements. The NSCB’s cut in the food-budget then led to a cut in the non-food budget too, since it simply applies a fixed food to non-food cost ratio (of about 69:31).
My comments consisted, firstly, of affirmation of my Oct. 5 memorandum to Representative. Mendoza (see “No meat allowed for the poor,”
Inquirer, 10/8/11), showing how the NSCB downgraded the quality of its food-poverty menu: no more milk for children; no more pork adobo (actually, no meat at all); only one ulam, not two, for lunch; rice and vegetables should be boiled, not fried or guisado; only one banana now, not two; no more margarine for the pandesal.
Incidence Rate Ratio Basics - News
From its “refinement,” the NSCB now puts the official 2009 incidence of poor families in Metro Manila, for example, at a miniscule 0.4 percent food-poor, and a tiny 2.6 percent generally poor (see “Is poverty gone in NCR?” Inquirer, 2/19/11).
