THE opposition United Nationalist Alliance on Monday said it was appalled with the latest government statistics placing the number of poor Filipinos at 26 million.
The group also chided the head of National Economic Development Authority for saying the country should be “happy” with the poverty figure.
“Only an administration that is insensitive to the poor will say this with a straight face,” UNA campaign communications director Joey Salgado said.
The Neda said the slight improvement in the poverty statistics was “good enough.”
The Philippine Statistics Authority had said 26.3 percent or around 26.48 million Filipinos were living below the poverty line in the first semester of 2015, the poverty line being the minimum income needed to meet basic food and non-food necessities.
The Neda insisted that the country was better off last year compared with 2012 when the poverty incidence stood at 27.9 percent, and with 2009 when it stood at 28.6 percent.
The Neda was also happy that only 12.1 percent or 12.18 million Filipinos lived in extreme poverty, which means they are not able to eat three times a day. That compares with 13.4 percent in 2012 and 13.3 percent in 2009.
Salgado said the poverty data exposed the lie behind the administration’s “kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap” mantra.
The PSA said 11 of the 20 poorest provinces in the country are in Mindanao, led by Lanao del Sur where the poverty incidence is at 74.3 percent.
Salgado said the next six years would not see an improvement in the poverty data if the next leader was indifferent to plight of the poor.
He said a Binay presidency would not only implement nationwide the pro-poor programs and services he did in Makati but also pursue reforms to address poverty.