Binay camp slams NEDA over poverty statistics

The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay chided the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) for saying it is happy with the poverty incidence figures which translated to 26 million impoverished Filipinos in the first semester of 2015.

“Only an administration that is insensitive to the poor will say this with a straight face,” the United Nationalist Alliance campaign communications director, Joey Salgado, said in a statement on Monday.

Salgado made the reaction after the Inquirer reported that the NEDA was “happy” with the improvement in the latest poverty incidence.

The Inquirer quoted Rosemarie Edillon, NEDA acting deputy director, as saying: “The statistics are actually good. Yes, we can be happy about it.”

Edillon said that the robust economic growth, or an average of six percent, under the Aquino administration is trickling down to the poorer sectors of society, bridging the gap between rich and poor.

“We have attributed this first to fast-rising incomes… The incomes of the bottom 30 percent have actually improved the fastest. That means that inequality is actually being reduced as well,” Edillon was quoted in the report.

“Anong gobyerno ang matutuwa na 26 na milyong mamamayan ang naghihirap? Anong pangulo ang matutuwa na mahigit milyon sa kanila ay naghihikahos?” Salgado said in chiding the NEDA.

In the first semester of 2015, 26.3 percent of Filipinos were found to be living below the poverty line, according to the latest Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report.

This translates to 26.48 million impoverished Filipinos of the population of 100.7 million in 2015, the Inquirer reported.

READ: 12M Filipinos living in extreme poverty

The latest poverty incidence is a slight improvement since 2012, when the incidence rate stood at 27.9 percent; since 2009, at 28.6 percent; and since 2006, at 28.8 percent.

The poverty survey also said 12.1 percent–or 12.18 million Filipinos–live in extreme poverty, which means they’re not able to eat three times a day.

This is also a minor improvement in the past years–13.4 percent live in extreme poverty in 2012, 13.3 percent in 2009, and 14.2 percent in 2006.

Salgado said the country’s poverty incidence belie the administration’s slogan “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.”

He said Binay vows to eliminate poverty should he win as president. He also said it’s only Binay, with his claims to experiencing poverty when he was young, who could understand the plight of the poor. JE