EDITORIAL — Increasing poverty

This is official government data so it must be accurate: four million more Filipinos fell below the poverty line between 2003 and 2006, bringing to 27.6 million the number of the country’s poor. That’s about one in every three Filipinos living on $1 a day, according to data from the National Statistics Coordination Board.

Not a pretty picture for a government whose main saving grace amid an unending string of corruption scandals is economic growth. Why is there so much poverty amid a picture of plenty? The initial reaction of the administration to the figures cited by the NSCB was to announce that it would review the basis for the figures. The better response is to address some of the factors that contributed to the increase in poverty incidence.

Economic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos said higher prices of basic commodities and a “high” population growth rate of 2 percent hindered poverty eradication. Santos said that from 2003 to 2006, prices rose by 22 percent, with new or higher taxes putting additional pressure on prices.

Those new or expanded taxes improved the country’s fiscal situation and led to upgrades in its credit standing. The government will have to balance the need for improved fiscal discipline with the impact of inflation on the poorest third of the population.

The administration also cannot continue ignoring the impact of population growth on limited resources and economic performance. It has often been pointed out that the country’s economic growth rate cannot keep up with population growth. But because the administration wants to maintain the support of the Catholic Church, the government has given up any pretense of promoting family planning, with the secretary of health announcing that it was not a priority of his department. With Church support now even more crucial for President Arroyo amid renewed calls for her resignation, Filipinos who want to control the size of their families are left to their own devices.

If the administration does not want to risk the ire of the Church, it should address some of the other factors that have contributed to the increase in the ranks of the poor. Rosy economic growth figures are not enough; the government should see the poverty figures as a challenge to do more.