Imagine living in a region where almost a third of the population lives below the poverty line. However, if one travels down the highways, this does not appear to be the case. If you venture into the interior areas outside of the main roads and you will see the poverty all around by just observing the materials the inhabitants use to construct their houses, bamboo and nipa shingles. It is all they can afford. More than this, they have trouble putting food on the table. That is the bigger problem. The problems of this type are plentiful, unfortunately. Simply put, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, 330 thousand families in the Eastern Visayas region are poor. The poverty incidence is at 26.9 percent. How does that compare with the 2024 national poverty incidence which is a low (?) 16.4 percent? We are a long way off, way, way off.
Closing The Gap
When will this distance ever be breached? Or will it ever be breached?
Thus, the question is: what should be done to close the gap?
Closing this gap will not happen in just a few years. As it is, maintaining the situation is a huge challenge that dole-outs, caravans and Kadiwa centers will not solve.
It would take a large increase in public investments at an amount not granted before plus careful planning and implementation of projects that would make the difference and close the gap. It will also require close monitoring direct from the President and the Speaker.
The series of projects mentioned here in previous issues are, in my view, significant steps in the right direction. But despite the image of strength, it has serious flaws. The strength even appears to make this strategy weak.
San Juanico Bridge 2
With another San Juanico Bridge, a Transshipment Port in Babatngon, a town 22 kilometers from Tacloban City, an international standard airport, an 8 billion road, bridge and causeway connecting the city proper and the airport, another road to the port in addition to the existing highway, and a multi-billion pesos flood control with diversion road, will these multi-billion projects drastically reduce poverty?
The San Juanico bridge could not do it. Why should we believe this time, this array of multi-billion-pesoprojects do the trick? Will they work like magic?
There are missing pieces. These are infrastructure support projects looking for sufficient industrial and agriculture projects to support. It is like putting the cart before the horse. Will it work? Not if the horse remains at the back of the cart, obviously.
The President himself, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., with the strong and consistent support of his cousin House of Representatives Speaker FM Romualdez has been the key figure in this infrastructure blitz in a magnitude never experienced in Eastern Visayas. He has, in effect, placed his administration on the line, hoping that he will succeed.
What Gives?
So, if the poverty gap in Eastern Visayas is not breached despite this huge and unprecedented amount of funding, the golden question is: What gives?
I will leave it at that in this issue.
My ideas on the reasons why this huge amount of fundingsupport to infrastructure projects will barely close the gap will be discussed here in next week’s issue.
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