By Cai U. Ordinario @cuo_bm

Millions of Filipinos remain poor because of high food prices, Luzon-centric development and the fast pace of population growth, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

Neda Director General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said that while the economy grew 43 percent, the country’s poverty incidence only declined by 2.3 percentage points between 2006 and 2015.

“Clearly, economic growth was uneven. But the biggest criticism is that the benefits of economic growth have not been felt on the ground,” Pernia said.

Pernia added that economic growth did not reach regions, such as the Cordillera Administrative Region, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Rombon, Palawan) Eastern Visayas and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.

He added that food prices, particularly rice, increased by almost 30 percent between 2009 and 2015.

Former Neda Director General Arsenio M. Balisacan said the high price of rice was one of the main reasons why the country’s poverty incidence rate in the first semester of 2015 increased to 26.3 percent.

University of the Philippines School of Statistics Dean Dennis Mapa earlier explained that the poorest Filipinos are very sensitive to food prices.

Mapa said this can be explained by the difference in the inflation felt by all households and the inflation experienced by the bottom 30 percent, or the poorest Filipinos.

He explained that the weight of food in the basket of goods used for the computation of the inflation experienced by the poorest 30 percent is 70 percent, against 39 percent for all the households.

“The significant increase in food prices, particularly of rice, also pushed up the poverty line by almost 30 percent over the last six years,” Pernia added.

Pernia also said another factor that contributed to poverty is the country’s large population.

This is the reason the Duterte administration aims to push the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RPRH) law.

The RPRH Law is included in the Zero-plus-10 agenda of the Duterte administration. Pernia earlier said the RPRH law will enable couples, especially the poor, to have informed choices on the number and spacing of children they can properly care and provide for.

Apart from increasing the budget, Pernia said the Duterte administration is also working on addressing the temporary restraining orders issued by the Supreme Court on RPRH-related programs.

“The fast pace of population growth, with an additional 10 million Filipinos in just six years, also makes poverty reduction more challenging,” Pernia said.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed poverty incidence among Filipinos in the first semester of 2015 was estimated at 26.3 percent.

During the same period in 2012, poverty incidence among Filipinos was recorded at 27.9 percent.

On the other hand, subsistence incidence among Filipinos, or the proportion of Filipinos whose incomes fall below the food threshold, was estimated at 12.1 percent in the first semester of 2015.

In the first half of 2012, the subsistence incidence among Filipinos is at 13.4 percent. Subsistence incidence is often referred to as the proportion of Filipinos in extreme or subsistence poverty.