40 out of 100 considered poor
PSA exec urged officials to help fight EV’s poverty incidence
TACLOBAN CITY-With poverty incidence of the region remaining among the country’s highest, an official of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) urged local officials to find ways to improve their respective economic conditions.
Based on the report of the PSA-8, as of the first semester of 2015, the poverty incidence of the region reached 39.3 percent or almost 40 families are considered poor out of 100 families.
The poverty incidence of Eastern Visayas is slightly better than ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) which has poverty incidence of 59 percent.
“The use of the statistics is a signal for our policy makers like our governors, mayors and congressmen… to plan properly (to address) poverty,” Wilma Perante, PSA regional head said during a press conference at the Philippine Information Agency on Thursday.
“We need to sustain (the growth of our) economy. If we cannot sustain the economy, we cannot solve poverty,” she added.
Of the six provinces of the region, Northern Samar posted the highest poverty incidence at 52.4 percent followed by Samar at 41.8 percent and Eastern Samar at 40.1 percent.
Leyte, meantime, registered its poverty incidence at 39.1 percent which was higher compared to the 31.9 percent in the 2012 survey. Leyte is considered the hardest-hit province due to Yolanda.
Meantime, Southern Leyte posted a 30.4 percent poverty incidence while Biliran, the smallest province of the region, had the lowest poverty incidence at 15.2 percent.
The PSA put the poverty threshold of the region at P11, 102 per capita.
Poverty threshold or poverty line is the minimum level of income required for a family to meet the basic and non-basic needs.
Perante said that the current P260 daily minimum wage of the region is only enough to feed three people in a family.
“If you are receiving the minimum wage and you have more than three in a family, that means you belong to the poor,” she said.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)
