March 29, 2024

Seven in 100 families in the Cordillera were considered poor in 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported.
Based on the 2021 poverty data of PSA-Cordillera, poverty incidence among families or the proportion of Cordillerans whose income was not enough to meet their basic food and non-food needs was estimated at 6.9 percent.
The 6.9 poverty incidence translated to 30,740 families in the region who lived below the per capita poverty threshold, which the PSA estimated at P28,304 in 2021.
Poverty threshold is the minimum amount an individual or a family must earn to pay for their food needs and non-food necessities, such as clothing, housing, transportation, health, and education.
For a family with five members, at least P11,793 monthly was needed for them to stay out of the poverty line or to not be considered poor.
PSA-Cordillera Officer-in-Charge Aldrin Bahit, Jr. said in determining the poverty threshold, among the bases was the cost of commodities bought at the least cost.
“Poverty threshold is a measure of poorness, not a measure of comfortable life,” he said.
For food, Bahit said prices are based on the items that have the least cost but have the same nutritional value.
“For example, for the protein sources of a family, we do not estimate based on the prices of beef or pork. We estimate based on the price of alternative sources of protein, which is fish; the cheapest kind. The prices are based on how much these are sold in the public market, not based on prices in the supermarket,” he said.
Bahit said the region’s poverty incidence among families was lower than the 13.2 percent national rate, which translated to 3.5 million families living below the poverty line 2021.
Among the provinces in the Cordillera, Abra had the highest poverty incidence among families at 15.8 percent or 16 in 100 families live below the poverty line, followed by Mountain Province at 15.3 percent.
Benguet posted a 6.2 percent poverty incidence while Ifugao recorded 6.0 percent.
Kalinga recorded a 5.6 percent poverty incidence while Apayao recorded 4.6 percent.
Baguio City had the lowest poverty incidence at 1.0 percent in 2021.
In terms of poverty threshold, however, Mountain Province had the highest required income for an individual to sustain their food and non-food needs at P31,063 followed by Abra at P29,321.
Ifugao’s poverty threshold was at P28,734 while Baguio City, P28,108; Benguet, P27,432; and Apayao, P25,694.
Kalinga posted the lowest poverty threshold at P25,447 in 2021.
In determining a family’s income, the PSA includes primary sources, such as salaries and wages from employment, commissions, tips, bonuses, family and clothing allowance, and transportation and representation allowance and honoraria.
It also includes as income those from other sources received by all family members such as net receipts from operation of family-operated business, rental values, shares from agricultural products, pensions, value of food and non-food items received as gifts by a family, and cash received by a family from members working or living abroad, among other sources. – Jane B. Cadalig