The government’s poverty metrics, which were adjusted to indicate that persons spending as little as P21 per meal are not considered poor, has been facing a lot of criticism for being out of touch with reality, all in the name of creating the illusion of progress and poverty alleviation without addressing the challenges and hardships being faced by millions of poor Filipino families.
According to lawyer Nicasio Conti of CLICK party list, a computer literacy and access to connectivity advocate group, “you cannot improve the condition of the poor by simply changing (poverty’s) definition.”
The figures, drawn from the Philippine Statistics Authority, indicate that the food threshold for a family of five was set at P8,379 in 2021, with adjustments to P9,581 last year.
Conti, a former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission, recalled that the proposal to adjust the poverty threshold has drawn parallelism to a similar policy implemented in 2003, when the National Statistical Coordination Board reduced the poverty line to an annual income of P12,309, or P34.19 per day.
That redefinition resulted in a significant decrease in the official number of poor families from 4,146,663 in 2000 to 4,022,695 in 2003. The statistical adjustment was met with widespread criticism, being perceived as a superficial attempt to downplay the extent of poverty in the country.
“We are witnessing a similar attempt today, and it is crucial to remember that manipulating statistics does not translate into real-world improvements for those who are struggling,” Conti said, as he emphasized that focusing on redefining poverty to create a more favorable statistical image is both misleading and counterproductive.
“Rather than lowering the bar for what it means to be poor, the government should focus on raising the standard of living for all Filipinos,” he added. That means focusing on policies that provide tangible benefits to the poor, such as improving access to quality education, health care, employment opportunities, and social services.
Statistics are important because it tells us whether or not we are improving. However it loses its significance when it is used to game the system so that the numbers say something different from what is truly happening on the ground. If our government wants its efforts at reducing poverty and hunger to be appreciated, not just by Filipinos, but also the global community, it will need to be consistent in terms of its effort, as well as at how it grades those efforts.*
