VICE Japan visited a massive slum on the outskirts of Manila where an estimated 6,000 people currently live and work amid graves and human bones.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the latest report on the country’s official poverty statistics in March 2015. One of their reports included subsistence poverty rates for the first semester of 2014.
Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) sets the minimum income needed to meet basic food and nutritional requirements called the food threshold. Food threshold also measure extreme or subsistence poverty. Filipino families living in extreme poverty (subsistence incidence) was estimated at 7.6 percent during the first semester of 2014.
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/pressreleases/2015/PSA-20150306-SS2-01_poverty.asp
It is estimated that a family of five would need an average of 6125 PHP(Philippine Pesos) a month to meet basic food requirements. That is about $130.05 in USD(US Dollars). Poverty threshold holds the same concept but involves basic non-food items such as clothing, housing, transportation, health & education expenses. For an additional 2653 PHP (or $56.33USD), these basic necessities would also be covered alongside food.
Statistics bring the facts to reality but visual documentation delivers reality to our hearts. Open your hearts and educate yourself on the reality of poverty facing Filipinos everyday in the year 2015.
Please take the time and watch VICE Japan’s documentary titled Philippines’ Cemetery Slums. Navotas Cemetery evolved into its own community when Filipinos from the provinces needed a rent-free place near Manila to escape from poverty with the promise of jobs. The cemetery services the poor in two ways: for the dead and as a slum for the living. Due to the Philippines’ fragile social infrastructure (unable to support its own citizens), Navotas has become a product of the country’s rapid economic growth. It is inspiring how in the face of extreme poverty, Navotas exemplifies humanity’s will to survive and carry on everyday life with a smile and song.
-Joanne