Cebu poverty incidence drops in 2023

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The poverty incidence in Cebu Province, including its highly urbanized cities, has dropped in 2023 based on the latest data reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Region 7 and Cebu.

On Tuesday, December 17, PSA Cebu Chief Statistical Specialist Melchor Bautista reported that the poverty incidence in Cebu dropped to 16.9 percent in 2023 from 28.6 percent in 2021.

This translates to an approximately 897,930 poor population in the province (including the HUCs) , from 1,476,700 in 2021.

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Cebu City has 75,450; Mandaue City has 29,090; and Lapu-Lapu City has 42,130 poor population.

The poverty statistics was studied through the following data: provincial food bundles (from the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI); prices of food items, and family income from the PSA data.

In Poverty Statistics, PSA defines poor as those individuals or families whose income fall below the poverty threshold or those who cannot afford their minimum basic needs as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), said PSA-7 Supervising Statistical Specialist Lyndon Gerardo Suico.

Poverty threshold is the minimum income needed for a family or individual to meet the basic food and non-food requirements.

The basic non-food requirements include clothing and footwear; fuel, light, and water; housing maintenance and other minor repairs; rental; medical care; education; transportation and communication; non-durable furnishing; household operations; and personal care and effects.

Subsequently, there are an estimated 157,460 families in Cebu, including the highly urbanized cities, who are considered poor.

The figures are lower compared to the 2021 data which was at 292,590. In percentage, the poverty incidence among families drops to 11.7 percent from 22.8 percent in 2021.

The local statisticians said that the poverty threshold in Cebu Province, excluding the highly urbanized cities, is P14,757; but if including the three HUCs, it is P14,835.

This means that those who have income less than the amount is poor, based on the definition of the poverty threshold.

But PSA-7 Chief Statistical Specialist Leopoldo Alfanta Jr. clarified that the methodology used for the 2023 poverty threshold has to be updated since the food pricing was still based on the food bundles from the research of FNRI in 2003.

Alfanta said that the technical committee has not yet developed a new methodology, hence they used the methodology in 2021. He said that the poverty methodology had to be reviewed every 10 years.

“Expected nga by 2025, we will have the new methodology…We need to update the food bundles. Those are the common food and services consumed within the particular province,” Alfanta said.

Alfanta said that the 2003 food bundles only covered 79 provinces, and as of 2024, there are already 82 provinces in the Philippines.

He hopes that the food bundles will be reviewed sooner, so it would be reflective of the common consumption of a family of five at present. The poverty incidence is updated every two years.