The severity of poverty in Western Visayas increased by 38 percent from the 1st semester of 2018 to the same semester of 2021.
This was reported by lawyer Mary Pauline Hilado of the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board Secretariat, who presented an “overview on the trend of oil prices and the socio-economic condition of Region IV” at a RTWPB wage hearing at Nature’s Village Resort in Talisay City, Friday, April 8.
The poor Filipinos in Western Visayas registered at 25.3 percent, whose per capita income was not sufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs, the report showed.
This translates to about 2 million Filipinos in the region living below the poverty threshold.
The report also showed that since the issuance of Wage Order No. 25 in Western Visayas in December 2019, there has been a 30 percent increase in diesel prices and 19.6 percent in gasoline prices in Western Visayas.
The Consumer Price Index also shows that in order to afford a basket of goods valued at P100 in 2018, households in WV needed an additional P12.40 to buy it in February 2022.
The value of the peso in the region is worth 0.89 compared to its base value of P1 in 2018.
All regional economies declined in 2020. The Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of Western Visayas posted -9.7 percent growth rate, making it the fifth most affected economy in the Philippines, the report also showed.
Among other regions in Visayas, Region 6 was the second most affected economy during the pandemic, it said.*