26 MILLION FILIPINOS SUBSIST ON 72 CENTS A DAY

By: Katherine Adraneda, PhilStar.Com

Manila – Twenty six million Filipinos can be considered poor, each subsisting on a meager budget of around P36 (around 72 cents) per day, mostly for food, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty-Philippines (GCAP-Philippines) said over the weekend.

GCAP-Philippines said that with such a measly amount for his day-to-day needs, a typical poor Filipino is on a “bad diet” and almost incapable of satisfying his other non-food needs like clothing and entertainment.

GCAP said government defines poor as “those who fall below the per capita povery threshold of P36 per person a day.”

This means a person needs to earn at least $13,113 (US$262.26) a year in order to live beyond the poverty threshold and be able to spend no less than P8,734 for “food needs” and P4,379 for “other basic needs.”

Over the weekend, GCAP-Philippines held “The 36-peso Challenge” to determine the acceptability of the per capita poverty threshold set by the government for each Filipino per day.

This reporter took part in the challenge, along with a single mother, a retiree, a housewife, and a college student. The “Challenge” only confirmed what had been held by many: P36 per day is not enough to satisfy even the most basic need of a Filipino.

“Definitely, we raise a resounding cry that ‘no, P36 is not enough’ … P36 will not lift the poor Filipinos out of their misery and help them live a life of dignity,” GCAP-Philippines said.

GCAP-Philippines said a 2001 study showed that over a third of Class E and over a tenth of Class D Filipinos had resorted to eating “surrogate ulam” and “new viands,” consisting of salt, soy sauce, bagoong (shrimp paste), pork lard, soft drinks or coffee because they couldn’t afford to buy vegetables, fish or meat.

Instant noodles, on the one hand, are now “being drowned” in water to provide full meal for many poor families. With scarce spending for food “there is a bleak future because of low nutrition levels,” GCAP said, adding that many Filipinos subsist on carbohydrate and calorie-heavy diets to keep hunger pangs at bay.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), according to GCAP, has expressed alarm over the country’s 30 percent child malnutrition rate which has persisted for over a decade.