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Poorest families in PH hit harder by COVID-19 compared to Asian peers: ADB

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Warren de Guzman, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt=" Residents stay at a temporary shelter in BASECO Compound compound in Tondo, Manila on July 7, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/business/08/24/20220707-population-baseco-jc-7269.jpg"/><figcaption>Residents stay at a temporary shelter in BASECO Compound compound in Tondo, Manila on July 7, 2022. <em>Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Poor families in the Philippines were more adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the poor in other nations in Asia, data from an Asian Development Bank study released Wednesday showed.</p><p>Household consumption for the poorest families in the Philippines saw a 21 percent drop in 2020, while the overall average in the region was at 13.6 percent, according to the ADB&#x27;s Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific report.</p><p>The total was worse than Thailand, Indonesia, and other Asian countries, data showed.</p><p>“In a number of countries like the Philippines and Thailand, the pandemic was more impactful for the poor as shown in the growth rates in consumption,&quot; ADB Senior Statistics Officer Melissa Pascua said in a briefing.</p><p>The ADB study also showed that while the distribution of financial assistance to the poor increased because of the pandemic, the coverage of vulnerable families was still quite low.</p><p>For the Philippines, the coverage of the vulnerable population receiving social assistance jumped to over 20 percent from below 10 percent. Based on ADB data, most poor families and individuals did not receive help because they were unaware of the programs. </p><p>The lack of job security in the informal sector and limited access to insurance, among others, contributed to the increase in the number of poor Filipinos during the pandemic, said Department of Social Welfare and Development Director Rhodora Alday. </p><p>More efforts need to be done to protect the vulnerable, she said. </p><p>“We have to first identify and remove the barriers, and do interventions to remove barriers, lower the cost of accessing services and make it available for everyone, especially for those, the ultra poor. We have to improve our targeting system, it is mostly based on income and not based on risks and vulnerability. We have to consider that in the development of our interventions,&quot; Alday said.</p><p>Philippine government interventions to improve targeting include the National ID System or PhilSys, which should aid all Filipinos in gaining access to financial and public services as well as job opportunities. </p><p>However, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas BSP Director for Risk and Innovation Supervision Department Melchor Plabasan PhilSys implementation is still very limited.</p><div><strong>LEARNING LOSS</strong></div><p>Poor children in the country are also likely to suffer greater losses in future income due to the late return to face-to-face classes in the country, </p><p>Learning loss is a key headwind for the children not just in the Philippines, said ADB ADB Chief Economist Albert Park.</p><p>&quot;Learning loss is a huge challenge right now, not just in Laos, but also in the Philippines where kids are just going back to face-to-face learning after a long separation. It is very well documented that the poorest kids, kids without access to the internet, lost the most during the pandemic,&quot; Park said.</p><p>Going back to school is not enough, Park said. He said students must be tested to assess their education levels, and laggards must be assisted with greater attention and supplementary learning. </p><p>But this task could be daunting since countries have to do it on a national scale, Monash University’s Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability in Australia Deputy Director Guarav Datt said.</p><p>“These remedial teaching methods, focusing on foundational skills, they do work. But given the size of the COVID challenge... the estimates of learning poverty are as much as 70 percent up from 55 percent pre-pandemic. So doing this on scale, and doing it quickly is going to be a challenge,&quot; Datt said.</p><p>“When you scale a program, the velocity or effectiveness of the program goes down. So that is really going to be a problem. It really does call for a solid commitment of government agencies in particular, to invest in this. It is not business as usual. We have to do something extra,&quot; Datt added.</p><p>The ADB also earlier said the pandemic has caused a 2-year setback in terms of poverty reduction, with escaping poverty likely to be harder for the already poor and vulnerable families.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/15/22/1999-million-filipinos-poor-in-2021-as-poverty-incidence-rises-psa">19.99 million Filipinos poor in 2021 as poverty incidence rises to 18.1 percent: PSA</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/08/24/22/pandemic-made-escaping-poverty-harder-in-asia-pacific-adb">Escaping poverty harder in Asia Pacific despite economic recovery: ADB</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2172037" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Poor families in the Philippines were more adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the poor in other nations in Asia, the ADB said.

Poorest families in PH hit harder by COVID-19 compared to Asian peers: ADB

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Poorest families in PH hit harder by COVID-19 compared to Asian peers: ADB

Warren de Guzman,

ABS-CBN News

Published Aug 24, 2022 04:09 PM PHT

Read More:

poor families

poverty

COVID-19 pandemic

pandemic

household consumption

Asian Development bank

poverty incidence

learning losses

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