CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that at least 1.4 million residents in Central Luzon were reported to be poor in 2021 as derived from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey 2021.
The survey suggested that the poverty incidence among population in the region is at 11.4 percent and also disclosed that cited that 11 out of 100 individuals in Region 3 are poor.
PSA regional director Arlene Divino said that there are 248,000 families whose earnings cannot provide the basic food and non-food requirement of individual family members, adding that eight out of 100 families in 2021 are not earning enough to supply their minimum needs.
The report also stressed that an individual needs P2,632 income a month to meet the basic food and non-food supplies in Central Luzon, saying that a family of five needed to earn at least P13,160 per month in 2021 to meet their basic needs.
FIES 2021 also suggested that the subsistence incidence among Central Luzon residents or the proportion of Filipinos whose income is not enough to meet even just the basic food needs was registered at 2.6 percent, which depicts that about 321,000 individuals in 2021 in the region are considered food poor.
In line with the developments, National Economic and Development Authority regional director Gina Gacusan stressed that developmental policies should be strengthened to address Central Luzon's prevailing poverty.
"The number one vision of the Philippines in 2040 is to eradicate poverty and achieve freedom from hunger. The target of our economy is that no one is poor, and no one is hungry," Gacusan said.
Poor families in the region are observed to be headed by young parents who have not finished their education due to early pregnancy while some families are relying on agriculture, fisheries and resources sectors for their needs.
Others are also facing the struggle of having low-income jobs but have many dependents.
Gacusan said that there is a need to further promote responsible parenthood and family planning among couples and that the youth should finish higher education and get job opportunities, especially the women.
"Women should work. The labor force participation rate of women in Central Luzon is second lowest in the entire Philippines. Only 45 percent or less than half of the women actually join the labor force," Gacusan said.
She added that for low-income workers, the region must push for climate resilient work or off-farm incomes, and provide climate-resilient practices in agriculture and fishery sectors as improved training programs and technical and vocational education must also be offered to create livelihood opportunities and job employment.