Struggling out of poverty rut

A University professor once likened Camarines Norte to a “poor man sitting on a pot of gold” because of its widespread poverty amid a plenitude of mineral resources. Since then, the province has been struggling to shed off the image and may have made a stride following a survey of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

The NSCB disclosed in a 2012 survey of poverty incidence in the country—its most recent—that Camarines Norte’s poor families comprised 21.7 percent, or almost 22 in every 100 families. The figure was still higher than the national average of 19.7 percent, but “that’s the lowest so far among the six provinces in the Bicol region,” according to Josephine Chua, NSCB regional statistical coordination officer.

Catanduanes registered a poverty incidence of 27.1 percent; Sorsogon, 31.3 percent; Camarines Sur, 31.7 percent; Albay, 33.9 percent; and Masbate, 40.6 percent.

The survey, which is undertaken every three years, measures the total value of minimum requirements of an individual to survive with the most basic needs in a given environment or locality. Poverty threshold is set at a monthly income of at least P7,662 for a family of five.

From 36,527 families below the poverty threshold in Camarines Norte in 2009, Chua said the number dropped to 26,663 in three years.

She said that in 2009, Camarines Norte was the 28th province from the bottom with the biggest number of poor families. It leaped to 49th in 2012 among 85 provinces all over the Philippines, she said.

Bounded by Quezon province and Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte has a population of over half a million and 116,000 households in 12 towns, half of whom speak Bicol and the other half, Tagalog.

Luis G. Banua, acting director of the National Economic and Development Authority in Bicol, said that in the years leading to 2009, the poverty incidence in Camarines Norte rose following the completion of the Quirino Highway.

The national road may have reduced travel time by three hours from Metro Manila to Bicol but it also caused hardship among residents of Camarines Norte as motorists and vehicles bypass the “highway towns” of Camarines Norte.

By 2012, however, the province began to recover largely due to a stable agricultural production after six years of not experiencing typhoons, Banua said. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed consistent production increases in its three major crops—coconut, rice and pineapple—since 2006.

Coconut production in 100,085 hectares, or 43 percent of Camarines Norte’s total land area of 232,007 ha, climbed to 239,547 metric tons in 2012 from 210,855 MT in 2006, the PSA said.

On the other hand, palay production increased from 73,504 MT in 2006 to 91,731 MT in 2012, and pineapple harvest, from 107,338 MT to 116,670 MT over the same period.

The construction of government infrastructure projects, a growing tourism industry and relative peace in Camarines Norte were the other reasons for its progress. Banua said the infrastructure projects prompted increases in workers’ wages and stirred the local economy.

Gov. Edgardo A. Tallado revealed that more than P2 billion worth of infrastructure projects had been implemented by both the provincial and national governments since 2010, the start of his first term.

Concrete roads covering a total distance of 250 kilometers were built, connecting isolated villages to the mainstream road network and facilitating movement of goods and services to the town center.

Business establishments almost doubled from 2,174 in 2002 to 4,725 in 2010, according to Marilyn Asis, statistician at the provincial development planning office.

Camarines Norte is the third province in Bicol with the biggest number of tourist arrivals, following Camarines Sur and Albay. Records from the provincial tourism office in Daet, the capital town, showed that 138,151 tourists went to Camarines Norte in 2010, 155,106 in 2011, and 190,918 in 2012.

Tallado said the provincial government had projected more tourist arrivals once the Cory Aquino Boulevard, a 13-km coastal road connecting the towns of Mercedes, Daet, Talisay and Vinzons, is completed this year. The Bagasbas Beach, a surfer’s destination, is found in Vinzons.

He said the national government had already released P380 million for the construction of the boulevard.

“With the Cory Aquino Boulevard reaching Vinzons, tourists in Bagasbas Beach will have a better and shorter way to reach Calaguas Island, Camarines Norte’s emerging tourist destination,” Tallado said.