"How poor the Philippines is?"

I live in Guadalupe philippines.. in Guadalupe there are alot of income opportunities.. people could even earn money from calling passengers for the jeepmeys they could earn as much as 5 pesos/ jeepneys.. some people sell dvds in the streets..some people sell bbq in the streets..some people end up begging maybe because the dont know any better.. corruption is not the real problem of the philippines..filipinoes are too busy blaming the elected official for their financial crisis..but the real problem is filipinoes lack self confidence.. filipinoes always think less of themselves..STEP UP PINOYS!

though there are other countries who have their own problem about homeless people who are taken for granted by the government.. but seeing a docu about your kababayan is different.. it is a pity that the government is not doing enough or maybe not even doing anything to help them.. the end does not justify the means.. that is the whole point in this weeks hostage taking... :)

I think its really stupid to just pinpoint the blame to our government. True, they do not help us as much as we wanted them to, but does that mean we all have to take everything lying down? There are a lot of things each individual can do for the country, and if all those individuals step up, it will take more than a measly government to bring us down.

It's true that the Philippines is poor but it's not as poor as how the media or people with vested interests are showing. Of course, we should not lose hope but we should do something to minimize the power of GMA and her cohorts for as long as they are there taking advantage of their positions, our country would not be in good situation.

speaking of poverty in the Philippines is actually a very broad issue.There are many factors or indices to consider. But i will try to give you a clearer picture of how really severe poverty is in the Philippines by showing you latest report (year 2000) of the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), the Philippine's policy making and coordinating body on statistical matters. The severity of poverty was based on the total of the squared income shortfall of income of the family below the poverty threshold divided by the total number of families. The report shows which provinces remains to be poor as of 2000 (based on their ranking) 1. Masbate 2. Saranggani 3. Mt. Province 4. Lanao del Norte 5. Maguindanao 6. Zamboanga del Norte 7. Romblon 8. Abra 9. Ifugao 10. Oriental Mindoro Does your province belong in the list? Onthe other hand, the top ten provinces with less severity index or shall we say richer includes: 1. Batanes 2. 2nd district (NCR) 3. 4th district (NCR) 4. Bulacan 5. Bataan 6. 1st district (NCR) 7. Rizal 8. Laguna 9. Cavite 10. 1st district (NCR) Does your place belong in the list? If you want to read more on reports related to poverty, please go to this website www.nscb.gov.ph

There is nothing better for us to do than "do our part". Waiting on the government to take action shows how lazy we filipinos are. There is no country that doesn't have a corrupt government, the key lies on the people. If we start to do simple things for our country to make it a better place to live and invest in, like not throwing our candy wrappers on the streets, following simple street rules, dressing and acting decently, cleaning our own front yards, helping the poor and sharing our blessings, then there's a big chance we'll see our country rise up and get rich in the future. Our country is actually rich, we just don't know how to use the resources we have laying in front of us. Let's start by shaping our future generation, your kids, your nieces and nephews, into self-less, citizen-loving people.

well there is if we vote the right future officials of our country..we must open our eyes to those candidates who just want to get rich and more power when elected rather that help and fullfill their promises and platform duirng the campaign...we must be intelligent enough to know that those who uses money to become popular especially on giving money during campaign can get us nowhere in our plight of poverty when elected...

There are plenty of rich people in the country but the number of poor Filipinos is still large. It mostly because of the poor system of the government, most officials think only of themselves and what they can do to themselves richer. As long as there are greedy people who manipulate the election and goverment, our unfortunate countrymen will remain in the shambles. The number of Filipino skilled workers going abroad to work are increasing as time goes, why? Because the salary here is not enough to support a family. I hope that someday things will be better but as for now we can't do anything but study harder and work our butts off while hoping for a better future for our family.

Yes, it's true that the Philippines is poor but it's not as poor as how the media or people with vested interests are showing. Of course, we should not lose hope but we should do something to minimize the power of GMA and her cohorts for as long as they are there taking advantage of their positions, our country would not be in good situation. People should learn to choose good government officials.

Hi there. First of all I have to say that you're right that there are a lot of Filipinos who are hungry and are poor BUT I don't totally blame the government for it for the following reasons. 1. Come to think of it, these people usually are the ones who have half a dozen of kids, all they do is "have fun" in bed, make more babies without thinking about their kids' future, then they blame the government for it. 2. If you look carefully at the beggars on the street, they are usually the ones who are still capable of earning for themselves! How bout become a laundry woman, become a yaya or maid, street sweeper etc....I mean there are a LOT of possible jobs that don't require high school, college education! They just need to stand up and live a life just like everybody else. 3. The poor voting for incompetent and corrupt officials. Let's admit that they are the majority in this country and hell they choose really bad officials...they need to start thinking. As what my husband says, you don't need good education to know who to vote for, you just need common sense! These are the things I can only think of right now but I think it's enough. I blame the government partly for this but I don't think it's right to kill them, assassinate them because as I said in number 3, these people are the ones who voted for them, let them suffer for it.

Corruption is a century old problem in this country, if we assisinate or burned the corrupt, nothing changes because the systems is there from the roots to malacanang. There is still hope for us..maybe we should start from ourselves. Let's start from our own backyard. Good education for our kids for a better future, following those simple traffic regulations, have an extra effort to put our waste properly. Little things mean a lot and be responsible for all our actions. I've been on the streets during my younger years holding plackards, shouting for imperialism, feudalism.. nothing happens we ended up sleeping in jail afterwards and after sometime i saw our leaders in malacanang rubbing elbows with the corrupt. It's a waste of time.

there is reaaly a higher population of poor people than average and rich people here in the Philippines...but as what i am seeing...everytime i go to the malls, there are many people who are shopping everyday and there are many beautiful cars in the street....so i ask myself sometimes if Filipinos are really having a problem with financial and that if Philippines is really a poor country...so i think Philippine's problems can be solve if corruption will be gone or will be lessen...it is the government leader's fault why is our country became like this and that is because of corruption obviously...we all know that Philippines before is one of the top country in the asia but it makes us all sad now that it is not....

yes, poverty is the biggest problem here in the philippines and its all because of our corrupt government officials. we must support and help them and ofcourse they need t help their self too. i hope the local government must pay attention to them to avoid poverty & uneducated person.

the main problem is for the small country like philippines it is over populated, i think our corrupt goverment is not doing enough about this. Of course rampant corruption and they need poor people for their personal agenda. most important is they need poor people VOTES!!

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think the assassination of the officials would help anything. There would just be more to follow. My step-father is Filipino. He and my mother go to visit family over there every once in an while. My mother comes back with stories of how bad off they all are. We send large packages over there to help. Unfortunately, there's not enough to go to those outside of the family. It's so sad.

It will only lead to a civil war which is a sure way to breed more poverty and hardship for all of us. Poverty had been with us (and not only the Philippines for that matter) since time immemorial. No one could eliminate poverty -- it can only be improved or minimized. The government's resources are not enough for the gargantuan poor we have here. Plus the fact that a big percentage of our budget goes to corruption. And we are paying a huge debts both internal and external. As a pointer, it is easy to say stop paying the debts, however, it could lead to collapse of our financial system (another surefire way to produce more poverty). Interventions must be made somewhere. But the problem is that most Filipinos are more concerned with politics rather than reality. We love to be entertained by our politicians. This is really confusing.

We can't deny the fact that poverty is really a big problem in the Philippines. There's really a big gap between the rich and the poor. You won't really think there are a lot of poor Filipinos when you see others in the mall splurging their money nonstop. You can't really solve the problem just by killing the officials. That's really a silly solution to our problem. Corruption really is a big culprit in causing poverty and all we can really do is to cooperate with each other for the common good. Although I know that it's easier said than done.

Yeah, it's really sad that the philippines have become like that. No more moral, no more self-respect and no trust for each other. The dirtiest is the politics, where anomalies, graft and corruption is as clear as day.And these politicians think that the civilians are still so blind with ther bad practices. Supposed to be, civilians are the one in power and the government are the ones that is supposedly protecting us from all of the bad things happening. I really hate the politics here in our country. It has merged with show business. SO it's like politicians are just playing a role that can change depending on their whim. That's how poor the state of philippines is.

15years ago, a good social studies teacher once had asked us how culture played its role in civilized country, But first he asked what countries are civilized. To much of his surprise none of us answered Philippines, there was 30+ of us students then in that room. He felt saddened, beacause we are as civilized as any countries we come to admire. The only thing sets us apart clearly is our culture. What is culture then? We always give a picture of nomadic ethnic people. The ones that are seemed to be left out of time, the Ifugaos, Badjaos, etc. How so? Are we any different then with them now, if they had been representing us in many of our own cultural indentification? We just cant seem to relate on todays Filipinos. How these proud people, that were mentioned, to have retained its influence unto us or is it totally gone now? Then our teacher moved on, seeing confusion & blank stares in our eyes, to inform us in his own opinion to conclude that as we are at par with any nations civilization but are now uncultured. Civilized but uncultured. Our way of life, our true identity has long left us. We are now so corrupted with influences that in every passing decade a different kind of Filipino generation with revised beliefs & nuances from the previous exists. If one would go back in history & relive the lives of Lapu-Lapu, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, etc. etc. - A filipino is so amazing a person. We have more heroes than any in asia, we have fought more wars than any in asia & we have won more battles than any in asia. We gave the new world EDSA. None then of this decay so prevalent of now. We lost it somewhere in time, we've grown too lazy, too selfish, & too greedy, we have also grown arrogant. Other culture resisted when another culture invades to have it retained. So they may remain true to themselves & still made well among the rest. But what about us? Who is a Filipino now? What is a Filipino now? The state of our countrys economic sustainability down to the reality unto the least of our brothers is beyond dismal perhaps as u worded it terrible, but i dare say, not hopeless. I can not accept to believe in myself that we are incurable, that we are beyond redemption. Assasination of corrupt officials? maybe. Again as i've posted on another discussion, Mr. Ducat could have done it better with busload of government officials. Further moreso, our country was, & is or never will be poor. We just forgot how to be the Filipino our heroes have stood for, & to our Ancestors that have built our beginnings. Think about this, we never had the history of annihilating another race despite tha many differences we have. The Americans nearly decimated the Indians, Europe had Dark Ages, Inquisition & we never started any wars or ambitions of the same with our neigboring countries. Think about it.

she is not philippiens! she is indian