Special Report

Aklan poorest WV province

By: Odon S. Bandiola

KALIBO, Aklan — Perhaps the boom of tourism in this province is not of much help.
Of the total number of families in Aklan, 38.1 percent are still living within or below the poverty threshold, the National Statistical Coordaination Board (NSCB) said.

Such premise was one of the highlights of the NSCB’s 2009 Official Poverty Statistics presented in a Poverty Forum at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Session Hall on May 19, 2011.

In 2009, 17 out of 100 families in the province could not cope with their food requirements, according to the report.

AKLAN POOREST

In 2006, on the other hand, 13 out of 100 families in the province are considered “food poor,” the NSCB said.

Bernadette Balamban, chief of the NSCB’s Poverty, Labor, Human Development and Gender and Statistics Division, presented the Official Poverty Statistics during the forum.

Aklan is poorer than Antique (where 29.1 percent of families are living below the poverty threshold), Negros Occidental (24.4 percent), Capiz (22.6 percent), Iloilo (19.9 percent) and Guimaras (13.3 percent), the NSCB’s 2009 report showed.

TOURISM BOOM NO IMPACT

A source from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the annual tourism receipts of about P14 billion brought in by the 700,000 tourists arriving in Boracay did not have a ‘trickle-down’ effect on Aklan’s population.

The ‘tourism boom. only benefited the business sector, not the marginalized population of Aklan, the source stressed.

According to the source, this is evidenced by the fact that even the municipality of Malay is one of the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps, the national government’s poverty alleviation program.

The same source in NEDA revealed that excellence in local governance has no direct impact toward poverty reduction, Malay being a first-class municipality and Aklan soon to be classified as a first-class province.

This recent poverty incidence report for Aklan used NSCB’s old and refined methodology, both methods showing the same trend.

TRENDS

Poverty incidence in Aklan had been increasing since 2003. In the old methodology, 33.5 percent of Akeanon families were poor in 2003, six percent in 2006 and 50.9 percent in 2009.

In the refined methodology, on the other hand, 30.2 percent of Akeanon families were poor in 2003, 32.2 percent in 2006 and 38.1 percent in 2009.

NSCB had been refining its methodology in official poverty estimation since 1992. Thismethod was first adopted in 1987. The refinements were made so as not to overestimate poverty.

In 2003, the method was further refined by using regional menus priced using provincial prices. In 2010, the method was refined once more to enhance comparability of estimates across space and over time.

HOW POOR?

The official poverty statistics of NSCB classifies poverty estimation into two: ‘Food poor’ or the core poor/subsistence incidence; and ‘poor’ or poverty incidence.

‘Food poor’ refers to families or individuals with per capita income less than the per capita food threshold while ‘poor’ refers to families or individuals with per capita income less than per capita poverty threshold.

‘Poverty threshold’ refers to the minimum income required for the family or individual to meet the basic food and nonfood requirements.

In 2009, a family of five in Aklan needed P162 per day to meet the basic food needs and P232 per day to stay out of poverty.

This is much higher than the national average wherein a family of five needs P160 per day to meet food needs and P231 per day to stay out of poverty.

In Western Visayas, a family of five will need P154 per day to meet their basic food needs and P220 per day to stay out of poverty.

This mean that the cost of living in this province alone is higher than in the regional and the national level./TE