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GDP increased, but have you felt it?

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This article is based on the author’s assignment in a communication campaigns class where the task was:

In its 30 May 2013 press release, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has announced that the Philippine economy posted a 7.8% GDP growth in the first quarter of 2013. Find out if this GDP growth is felt in the rural areas by interviewing a farmer, a laborer and a housewife. Ask them questions on self-rated poverty and hunger.
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Jabbie pixby

Gabrielle Espinosa
BS Development Communication IV student
Visayas State University
Visca, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines

 

HOUSEWIFE.  Mercy Orion is a mother of three. She lives in the town of Mahaplag, Leyte. Last Saturday, she came to visit her oldest daughter who is studying in college. Being a housewife is not easy, she argues.

Her family belongs to the lower middle class. In the past three months, it never happened that the whole family skipped meals because of poverty. Although she has no permanent job, she does not always depend on her husband’s income. She looks for temporary sidelines. Somehow, she could raise a little money for daily needs.

Dili gyud mahimo nga walay kaonun. Tulo gud imong anak, ang usa naa pa gyud sa College. Maong maningkamot gyud ka ug pangita,” she says. [There is no way not to have food to eat. I have three children and one of them is a college student so I must strive to have a livelihood.]

LABORER

Jojit-Escalera-383-px

Jojit Eslirea, construction worker

 

Get to meet Jojit Eslirea, 38 years old, married and a full time laborer from Tacloban City. He works for the construction of the new VSU Library.  He is married to a housewife who has three kids from her first husband. They treat him as their foster dad.

People think that being a laborer is a physically stressful job with a very low pay. But in his case, it is not. He is not rich or poor. His salary is just enough for them to eat thrice a day, he says.  But he has not had a pay raise  in the last eight months that he has been employed as a construction worker. According to him, he never felt the economy rising.  They belong in the lower middle class, but never experienced one step higher than that.

 

Santos Latras, farmer

Santos Latras, farmer

Among the three persons I interviewed, I could say that Santos Latras, a farmer, is the least fortunate. Lolo Santos, 75 years old, is a father of ten children; seven of them are married.  He is a native of Barangay Patag, Baybay, Leyte. He has been a farmer for almost 50 years, he said. But never in his life did he taste the benefits of being a senior citizen. Up to now, he is still working in order for his family to eat.

Lolo Santos stated simply and clearly, they are poor. Most of his children are married, but it never happened that they were able to rise from poverty. Just last week, they had no rice to eat. His family only depends on the profit they get from farming their private land. Yes, they had a property. But it was too small and not enough to harvest crops enough for the whole year. It always happens that for about three meals a month, they have no enough food to eat.

Pait. Makahilak ka usahay. Pero wa na ta’y mabuhat. Ang kahilak ipangita na lang ug diskarte nga makakaon. Maayo na lang na, maka ngisi na ka sa tumoy.” [How sad. I can cry at times but there’s nothing we can do. One has to find ways to be able to have something to eat.]

Did the economy really rise?  According to the housewife, the laborer and the farmer, they never experienced any improvements in their economic status. In the last eight months, none of them had an increase in their monthly income. The rich remains to be rich, middle class in the middle, and the poor remains to be poor. While the Philippines’ GDP may have increased,  its benefits have not cascaded to the these ordinary citizens I have talked to. Perhaps the GDP increase may have favored only those in the urban areas, particularly the big business and construction sectors.

 



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