Eight of 10 QC families poor
Almost 80 percent of Quezon City households are poor, or eight of ten households are not even earning P8,000 a month to survive.
Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte revealed this yesterday as she delivered a privilege last Monday at a Quezon City council session that based on a six-month citywide survey the result noted that almost 80 percent of QC are poor.
Belmonte related the city’s “Socio-Economic Development Action Plan for 2011-2015, Mapping the City’s Integrated Response to Poverty Alleviation” before Mayor Herbert Bautista and the 18th City Council, citing a baseline household survey that showed four out of the five households are not even earning P8,250 a month.
The city government had commissioned the Smart Research Inc. to conduct a survey in May 2011 to November 2011, targeting to have 100 percent of the households in the city to participate in such “milestone activity.”
Seventy-two percent, or 319,282 of Quezon City households, took part in the survey, of which 79 percent of them represented the “poor in society.”
The rest, mostly the rich and those from the middle- and upper middle class, did not want to participate in the survey.
“The statistics generated through the survey, therefore, although not representing 100 percent of all households in Quezon City, already provide us with a good profile of the city’s poor – who are the focus of our current efforts,” Belmonte noted.
Sixty-five percent of the city’s poor are from District 2, 12 percent from Districts 1 and 4, and 11 percent from District 3.
At least P10,050 was the reported monthly household income among the over 1,400,00 subject-respondents in the 319,282 households.
“How many households in our survey do not have P8,250 a month? Four out of the 10 households, or 38 percent, do not,” the vice mayor said.
Of the respondents, 54 percent aged 15 and above have jobs, of which 60 percent are men.
Six percent of the respondents aged six to 19 are no longer in school, and instead are already working to help their families.
“About 50 percent of the unemployed are not at all looking for a job,” the study showed.
Fourteen percent of the respondents are awaiting feedback on their job applications.
Some 45.83 percent of the heads or breadwinners of the households are degree holders and college undergraduates. 29.95 percent are high school graduates and undergraduates, 15.9 percent are elementary graduates and undergraduates, and 7.6 percent are graduates and undergraduates of a two-year course.
Despite being poor, Belmonte said 94 percent of them still have three meals a day and 5 percent eat only twice a day.
Of the city’s constituents, 31 percent are Philhealth members, while 69 percent are not.
Only 24 percent are Pag-IBIG members, and 76 are non-Pag-IBIG members.
The survey showed 53 percent are slum dwellers, 27 percent are renters, 16 percent are sharers, and 2 percent are just caretakers.
Citing the data from the Urban Poor Affairs Office and Environmental Protection and Wastes Management Department, the city is home to 31 informal settlers along the danger zones and 200,000 in other areas.
There are 67,000 households without access to potable water and over 25,000 households without toilets.
Belmonte said it is the responsibility of the city government to take interventions, deliver new development projects, strengthen public service and pass the necessary laws to improve the lives of its three million.
Bautista on the other end, said they are geared to offer viable economic activities for residents who are of working age, but are unable to look for work; to improve the city’s business guidelines to attract more investors.
Source:-
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php...-families-poor
