Grasping Poverty in the Philippines

By Edgar Louis de Gracia
HAPI Scholar

Before we dive into the lingering poverty in the Philippines, we need to understand what it is first. Poverty is the state in which the rights to food water and shelter human are inadequate for a person.

The Philippines has long suffered from poverty partly due to a lack of investment in education and less-paying jobs compared to other countries. This is actually one of the reasons why a growing number of Filipinos leave the Philippines to pursue careers abroad: they pay more. One of the biggest issues is the government’s lack of interest in helping fund the education system; after all, it will be easier to fix poverty with a more educated populace. Allowing poor and less-fortunate families access to better-quality education would mean these families will gain more skills and thus increase their job opportunities.

But as much as we would like to blame the government, other factors such as lack of jobs, war, disasters, infrastructure, water, and food are things that also play a huge role in pushing a large number of people into poverty. While one could also pin the blame on said families’ misfortune on their own poor family planning, that problem is ultimately correlated to education too. As humanists, we must do what we can to help these impoverished families so that they can grow as individuals.

The first step to being able to slowly fix poverty is to select a leader capable of doing what the people need to be done. As the presidential elections draw ever closer, one should always do their own research before concluding as to which candidate is best suited for the presidency. As many others have said, your vote counts.  As humanists, we must be willing to help people grow into well-natured individuals. As difficult it may seem to fix poverty, one does not achieve it by simply watching from the sidelines, but rather by trying to actually solve the problem. Whether by educating people or actively providing food, water, and shelter.