Did you know that almost half of all the poor people in the Philippines is composed of children aged below 15?Yes,  out of the total 27.6 million individuals who did have sufficient income to meet the basic food and non-food requirements in 2006, 12.8 million were children. Moreover, around 6.5 million do not have access to safe water.

This is according to the estimates of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), a government think tank in the Philippines. Although the estimates are unofficial, it indicates how urgent measures to alleviate poverty are badly needed. Unable to do so can really affect the most vulnerable groups including children. Already the NSCB has shown that indeed the general well-being of Filipino children are deteriorating. In the data released by Philippines National Statistical Coordination Board on child development index, the children have been performing poorly in terms of education thus causing the child development index to decline. This is not a good news at all especially in view of the Millennium Development Goals. Recently, poverty rate estimates, using income-based measure,  in the Philippines have risen. From 30 percent in 2003, the percentage of poor population rose to 32.9 percent in 2006.

Child poverty, in terms of magnitude, was concentrated in the areas of Bicol, Western Visayas and Southern Tagalog (CALABARZON). Poverty in the Philippines is highly associated with family size and education of the household head.

References:

NSCB, Child Development Index 2006

PIDS Economic and Social Database

NSCB Philippine Poverty Estimates

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If you are looking for a dataset to use in studying the decentralization impacts in Indonesia, check out the IFLS at www.rand.org, short for Indonesian Family Life Survey. It’s a longitudinal data that contains information of many aspects- education, health, community participation, local fiscal matters, and others. What is interesting about it, especially if you are working on the area of decentralization, the survey got some questions on decentralization and autonomy. The sample of the IFLS is representative of about 83% of the Indonesian population and contains over 30,000 individuals living in 13 of the 27 provinces in the country. Here are the different waves of the IFLS:

IFLS1 : 1993/94

IFLS2  and IFLS 2+ : 1997 and 1998

IFLS3 : 2000

IFLS4 : 2007/2008

To get hold of the data, you need to register. Take note of the email address that you register (no need for password) coz you will use that to log-in when visiting the download page.

Click here to go to RAND’s Indonesian Family Life Survey.

I have compiled a list of references on the impact of the recent global crisis on the Philippine economy and related topics. The list however is confined to those that are available online.

Pasadilla, Gloria. “Lessons for the Philippines from the US Financial Crisis” (December 2008) PIDS Policy Notes No. 2008-10, Makati City. Available at the PIDS website: http://publication.pids.gov.ph/pubdetails.phtml?code=PN%202008-10

Yap, Josef. “What Caused the Global Financial Crisis of 2008?” (November 2008) PIDS EID Volume VIII Nos. 2 and 3, Makati City. Available at the PIDS website: http://dirp4.pids.gov.ph/ris/eid/pidseid0802-03.pdf

World Bank. “World Bank Supports Philippines’ Efforts to Cushion Impact of Global Crisis on the Poor” at: World Bank Website

Yap, Josef. “Impact of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis on the Philippines, a rapid assessment.” ILO, available at : http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—asia/—ro-bangkok/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_101595.pdf

I have already made at least 3 versions of my paper on remittance uses in the Philippines. And yet, I still find the methodology inadequate and quite implausible. Well, it isn’t that easy dealing with the methodological issues. There’s endogeneity of remittances, zero expenditures, and non-normality of the data. Being a remittance receiving household may be predetermined. Factors that affect this may be the same factors that affect how they use remittances. Ordinary regression analysis  indeed becomes unreliable.  And then if you look at the family expenditures, a lot of families do not have expenses recorded on say tobacco and alcohol or education or  medical care. These are either due to corner solution or infrequency of purchase or maybe survey errors. Also in analyzing each distinct expenditure item or group, addressing the non-normality of the budget data becomes irritatingly important.  But what I’ve learned so far is that you really cannot solve all the problems in one blow especially with a dataset that is limited and is not intended for this purpose. You have to tackle one issue at a time.

However, I must admit that even with improved datasets of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (e.g. presence of longitudinal data), the Labor Force Survey, and the Survey on Overseas Filipinos, it is still not easy to explain this diaspora. We need more information on the remittances senders, what their jobs are, how much they earn, what their employment statuses are. Getting a clear picture of the characteristics of remittance senders and their families are very important in understanding the spending behavior of remittance receiving households.

Orbeta (2008) provided a comprehensive review of the studies on remittance and migration and their effects to households in the Philippines stressing important notes on the methodologies employed. The conclusion is that the results are highly dependent on the methodology used and thus caution has to be exercised in interpreting them.

Below is a list of studies on remittance uses and related subjects.

Orbeta, A. C. Jr. “Economic Impact of International Migration and Remittances on Philippine Households: What We Thought We Knew, What We Need to Know” (December 2008). Philippine Institute for Development Studies Discussion Paper No. 2008-32. Available at PIDS: http://dirp4.pids.gov.ph/ris/dps/pidsdps0832.pdf

Adams, Jr., Richard H., “Remittances, Household Expenditure and Investment in Guatemala” (March 2005). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3532. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=695362

Brown, S. (2006). Can Remittance Spur Development? A Critical Survey [Electronic version].                 International Studies Review 8, 55-75.

Burgess, R. & Haksar, V. (2005, June). Migration and Foreign Remittances in the Philippines (IMF Working Paper No. 05/111).

Castaldo, A. and Reilly B. (2007). Do Migrant Remittances Affect the Consumption Patterns of Albanian Households? South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics1, 25-54. Available: http://www.asecu.gr/Seetje/issue08/castaldo.pdf

Lucas, R. and Stark, O. (1985). Motivations to Remit: Evidence from Botswana. Journal of Political Economy 93 (5), 901-918.

Mora, J. & Taylor, J. E. (2006, February). Does Migration Reshape Expenditures in Rural Households? Evidence from Mexico (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 3842). http://ssrn.com/abstract=922968

Pernia, E. (2006). Diaspora, Remittances and Poverty RP’s Regions (University of the Philippines School of Economics Discussion Paper 2006/02). Quezon City: UP School of Economics. http://www.econ.upd.edu.ph/respub/dp/pdf/DP2006-02.pdf

Portes, A. (1995). Economic Sociology and the Sociology of Immigration: A Conceptual Overview. In A. Portes (Ed.) The Economic Sociology of Immigration (pp.1-41).  New York: Russel Sage Foundation.

Rodriguez, E. (1996, April). International Migrants’ Remittances in the Philippines. Canadian Journal of Economics 29 (S2), S427-S432.

Sosa, L. C., & Medina, C. (2006). Migration as a Safety Net and Effects of Remittances on Household Consumption: The Case of Colombia. (Borradores de Economia No. 002712). Colombia: Banco de la Republica. http://www.banrep.gov.co/docum/ftp/borra414.pdf

Tan, E. (2006). Overseas Filipinos Remittance (University of the Philippines School of Economics Discussion Paper 2006/03). Quezon City: UP School of Economics. http://www.econ.upd.edu.ph/respub/dp/pdf/DP2006-03.pdf

Taylor, J.E., Arango, J., Hugo, G., Kouaouci, A., Massey, D., & Pellegrino, A (1996, Autumn). International Migration and Community Development. Population Index 62 (3), 397-418.

Yang, D. (2005, February). International Migration, Human Capital, and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Philippine Migrants’ Exchange Rate Shocks (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series No. 3578). http://ssrn.com/abstract=546483

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In a survey done by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) on the livelihoods of persons with disability (PWDs) in Metro Manila, the visually impaired (i.e. blind and partly blind)  are relatively better off than those with other types of impairment included in the study. It was found that visually-impaired persons have higher income than the mobility-impaired and hearing-impaired. The average income for those visually impaired with jobs was P76,270,  while it was only P45,667 for the hearing impaired and P55,681 for the mobility impaired. Among the PWDs respondents in the survey, the visually impaired have the highest proportion of those with jobs  at 72%,  followed by the mobility impaired (44%) and by the hearing impaired (32%). Among those with jobs, 65% of them are visually impaired and they work as masseurs. They seemed to have found their niche on this type of job.

The survey, which interviewed more than 400 PWDs, was done in August of 2008 and covers the last 12 months prior to the survey. The survey was a collaboration of PIDS and the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) in Japan. It covered four (4) Metro Manila cities. These are Makati, Pasay, Valenzuela and Quezon City. The survey was conducted in partnership with the Social Welfare Office of each of the cities and various PWD organizations. The objective of the survey was to gather the socioeconomic profile of PWDs as well as their access to various programs and awareness on the existing policies that aim to improve their living conditions. More importantly the survey obtained information on the livelihood of the PWDs. PIDS is a non-stock, non-profit government research organization while IDE is a semi-governmental research institute working for international cooperation between developing countries and Japan.

For the detailed report, please check out:

Mori S., C. Reyes and T. Yamagata (2009). Poverty Reduction for the Disabled in the Philippines – Livelihood Analysis from the Data of PWDs in Metro Manila. Joint Research Program Series No. 151. Institute of Developing Economies (IDE), JETRO

President Arroyo signs landmark law on women rights!

Pres. Arroyo signed a landmark legislation that promotes women’s rights yesterday, August 14, 2009. Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta for Women aims to promote women’s rights in every aspect of the society, at home, work, school, in media and film, and even in the military and police forces. The law also states that the State should amend any law discriminatory to women within the next three years. More importantly, RA 9710 guarantees the civil, political, social and economic rights of women in the marginalized sectors.

The law also aims to increase the number of women that holds high-level positions. In fact its goal is to have women fill half of the third-level positions in the government in the next five years to achieve a “50-50 gender balance”. This legislation will help women achieve equal employment opportunities as those of men. In the workplace, women tend to get discriminated even at the recruitment stage. Firms/employers, as they tend to maximize profits and thus minimize costs, have varying ways to try not to recruit women employees so they can cut possible costs they incur when the female employee goes on maternal leave.

Women’s groups along with the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women are to be commended for painstakingly guarding and lobbying for the passage of this law which took seven long years before its enactment.

Philippines has largest percentage of women in senior management

An international survey says that the Philippines has the highest percentage of senior management positions being held by women. Yes, 47 percent of high management positions in privately-held businesses, the highest in the world, are filled by women in the Philippines, almost twice the global average of 24 percent. According to Grant Thornton International Business Report 2009, Russia comes in second at 42 percent while Thailand landed third at 38 percent. The country with the lowest percentage is Japan with only 7 percent of the women holding senior management positions. The  Grant THornton International Business Report is an annual survey covering 7,200 privately-held businesses in 36 economies.

Filipino women beats men in terms of general well-being

Did you know that in terms of income, education and health the Filipino women beat the men? In a report by the Philippines’  National Statistical Coordination Board, the estimates of the Gender Equality Ratio (GER) favors the women in all aspects of well-being (i.e. income, education and health). The GER is an index that gives us values around 1. A value greater than 1 signifies that women have an advantage over men. This is true in 72 out of the 79 provinces in the country. Among the provinces where women were outperformed by men (that is where GER is less than 1) are Maguindanao, Siquijor, Basilan, Sulu and Benguet.  

References: www.inquirer.net and  www.abs-cbnnews.com

More than the glitz and luxury of casinos, Macau’s history is an appealing subject for promoting its tourism. Here I share to you my photo collection of Macau. Thanks to the habit of surfing through the web of great discounts, my husband and I got the chance to visit Macau.

Macau’s original name is Ou Mun  which means “trading gate” as it sits at the mouth of the Pearl River downstream from Guangzhou (Canton). During the ancient time, ships that carry silk for Rome passed through this port city. The arrival of the Portuguese merchant-explorers in the 1550s marked the start of Macau’s rising into a major entrepot for trade between China, Japan, India and Europe. Ou Mun was also called by locals A Ma Gao and the Portuguese adopted this name which gradually became Macau. Macau now shows how great the marriage of the cultures of East and West can be. A lot of Roman Catholic churches have been built in Macau. One of the famous tourist attractions of Macau is the Ruins of the St. Paul’s which is the facade of what was originally the Church of Mater Dei and the ruins of St. Paul’s College built by the Jesuits in the 1600s.

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Saving the environment should be a concern for everybody. In fact, all of us are responsible because we live on the same planet. Even as ordinary citizens, there are many ways in which we can help save the environment. I want to share to you a project we have been doing at home for a few months now.Remember the school project where students are asked to make tiny elongated cut-outs out of plastics and make these into stuffings of pillows? Well, that is one fun project that we are in fact doing. I basically come upon this idea after seeing that too many plastics are being dumped in the trash can everyday.If you want to do this too, make sure that the plastic wrappers are clean and dry. You have to store the plastic wrappers and sachets in a bag to avoid getting them cluttered. The trick to have sort of fluffy result is to make the cuttings/shredding long and not too thin like those shown in the photo. After you have cut sufficient amounts, you can put them into a casing. Then you can enjoy your environment-friendly project.

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There is a new fever within my inner circles. Blogging. We’ve jumped in to Blogorama. It was timely as we were desperately seeking for a diversion in what we have been doing. You know, my work is research. Blog is something far more exciting than technical writing, whew! And there are no boundaries into what you can do in a blog.

I have listed in here things that I come to love about blogging. Check them out and tell me what you think.

Freedom. I can discuss anything under the sun, whatever my moods is. The possibilities are almost endless. If you are a natural blabber and you just can’t keep things to yourself, you should blog. Of course there are still rules. And you just don’t post anything that come into mind without some value or contribution. But in terms of style, even grammar and language, you have the flexibility. When you get tired of a particular subject, you can jump to the next that interests you. Because of this you get to exercise more your skills in writing.

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Already there are many news articles and projections about how the Philippines would fare in this scourging global economic recession we are in. I decided to make my own research and see for myself what have been the effects so far. No one knows for sure what will be the net effect for there are so many players and factors to consider. I draw from the results of other studies and articles  and take into great consideration what available data have to say. For now, this is what I have come up with.

Remittance inflows has not yet shown signs of declining. There are predictions that the crisis will cause remittances to decline and because remittances are a lifeline to the Philippine economy, the effects should be large. There are two possible ways for this to happen. One is when our OFWs get laid off and be sent home.When this happens by a huge magnitude, remittances may fall. Another way is when the deployment of OFWs decline due to the decreasing global demand for goods and services, which in turn can affect demand for labor . A decline in both the stock and flow of OFWs will definitely impact remittance receipts of the country. Now what do available data show?

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