One of the most common misconceptions about the country’s development is that no progress has been made at all in reducing poverty in the past few decades.

For instance, in the news, the country’s track record in poverty reduction has been alternatively described as “little,” “slight,” “slow,” or an outright “failure.” A previous Rappler article, discussing how Super Typhoon Yolanda could cancel progress in poverty reduction, even inspired a comment on Facebook asking curtly, “What progress?”

While poverty reduction has indeed proceeded at snail’s pace at the national level, one can argue that this actually hides the gains and positive developments that have transpired at the subnational level.

That is, in the same way that what’s true for the forest may not be true for individual trees, lack of progress for the country in general does not necessarily mean lack of progress for all regions, provinces, or municipalities.

Poverty leaderboard

Indeed, a cursory look at the official data will show that quite a number of provinces have, in fact, been champions of poverty reduction, and can be considered as beacons of hope in the otherwise gloomy national picture.

Specifically, the table below, using latest poverty statistics released by the National Statistical Coordination Board, allow us to pinpoint which provinces have led the fight against poverty from 2006 to 2012 (the longest period in which the data are comparable). 

As one can see, Tawi-Tawi in ARMM leads the pack with a considerable decline in poverty incidence of 28.3 percentage points in just 6 years. To put that in context, it’s nearly 22 times as much as the reduction of poverty for the entire Philippines over the same period!

Such a large decline in poverty means that whereas in 2006 about half of families in Tawi-Tawi were considered poor, by 2012 only one in 5 families was considered poor. 

It is no coincidence that Tawi-Tawi also leads the pack in terms of reducing the absolute number (vis-à-vis proportion) of families considered poor: in just 6 years Tawi-Tawi was able to more than halve the number of poor families there (a 51.9% reduction to be precise).

In contrast, the number of poor families in the entire Philippines even increased by 10.7% over the same period!

While Tawi-Tawi emerges as the poster boy for poverty reduction in the country in recent years, it’s closely trailed by other jurisdictions, namely: Kalinga, Antique, Isabela City, and Oriental Mindoro. All of these provinces consistently rank at the top of the poverty “leaderboard,” regardless of whether we measure success by reductions in poverty incidence or the absolute number of poor families.

Secrets to success

What exactly made these 5 provinces reduce poverty the fastest?

As we’ve underscored in previous articles, there are no shortcuts or magic formulas when it comes to poverty reduction. And yet it may still do us well to venture into possible reasons.

Tawi-Tawi’s success is particularly challenging to grasp, given the continuing conflict in the surrounding provinces of ARMM. While tourism has played an increasing role in the local economy, Tawi-Tawi’s proximity to neighboring Sabah may have also prompted many families to resort to migration as an anti-poverty strategy, with remittances from breadwinners keeping loved ones at home afloat in the sea of conflict and uncertainty.

Up north in Kalinga, it seems that various infrastructure improvements may have played a key role in the province’s removal from the Top 20 poorest provinces in the country just August this year.

Local government officials cite improvements in the province’s road network, irrigation systems, district hospitals, and school buildings as keys to success. Moreover, an effective local government may have also spelled the difference, attested to by the coveted Seal of Good Housekeeping awarded by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

In the Visayas, Antique had done well in reducing poverty before the onset of Yolanda. The province is known to be a major source of migratory workers, from OFWs to the field hands working in sugar plantations throughout Panay and Negros Islands seasonally.

It is no wonder that remittances have also proved to be the lifeblood of the local economy, and such funds can alleviate the damage and growth-cancelling effects borne by disasters like Yolanda.

Pockets of hope

Contrary to popular belief, successes have been made in the country’s anti-poverty front in the past years. And while such significant gains cannot be said for the country in general, some provinces such as Tawi-Tawi, Kalinga, and Antique provide sterling counterexamples to the overall trend.

To be sure, each of these success areas has a different story to tell. The specific programs or strategies that work in reducing poverty will ultimately depend on the context in which development occurs.

But overall, anti-poverty measures must be accompanied by better disaster risk management, otherwise increasingly strong typhoons and earthquakes can threaten such regional gains in poverty reduction.

All in all, not all hope is lost in the country’s overly protracted fight against poverty. While some people doubt whether progress has occurred at all, from a certain viewpoint it can be said that progress has definitely been made – if only we know where to look. – Rappler.com

JC Punongbayan holds a master’s degree in economics from the UP School of Economics. He is also a summa cum laude graduate of the same school. His views are independent of the views of his affiliations.