Presidential Assistant for Western Visayas Raul Banias yesterday said steps are being taken to address the poverty situation in Region 6 and to speed up the peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Proletarian Army.

The National Statistical Coordination Board has recently released the 2006 official estimates, showing that the poverty incidence in Western Visayas slightly dropped to 31.1 percent, down by 0.3 percentage points from its 2003 level of 31.4 percent, said  Banias, at an executive briefing at the Negros Occidental Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City.

This 31.1 percent poverty incidence translates to 425,571 poor families, which is 7.2 percent higher than the 397,073 families in 2003, the NSCB report said.

Banias said based NSCB figures Western Visayas has the largest number of families living below the poverty line in the country, with Negros Occidental having the largest in the region at 115,000.

It also showed Antique as the poorest province in the region, followed by Aklan, Banias added.

Gov. Isidro Zayco pointed out that the figures cited by Banias were based on a 2006 report  and that efforts initiated by the Negros Occidental provincial government have been addressing the situation that has since improved.

He also pointed out that Negros Occidental has a larger population than the other provinces in Western Visayas.

Banias said Zayco may be right since the survey was made in 2006 but as of now the NSCB report is the only official data that the government has on the matter.

“It is important to bring this to the fore so we can review our programs on poverty alleviation,” Banias said.

Among the provinces of Western Visayas, poverty incidence in Aklan has worsened to 42.6 percent in 2006, a 9.2 percent increase from its 2003 level of 33.5 percent. Iloilo and Antique, on the other hand, managed to improve in 2006, the NSCB report said.

Iloilo reduced its poverty incidence by 6.9 percentage points from its 31.1 percent level in 2003 to 24.1 percent in 2006.  Antique succeeded in reducing its poverty incidence in 2006, however, remained the poorest in 2006, the report added.

Western Visayas is one among only four regions that had successfully reduced its poverty incidence in 2006. its said.

However, the region also continued to have the highest number of poor families. It accounted for 9.1 percent of the total number of poor families in the country, 0.8 percentage point lower than the region’s share in 2003, the report added.

Meanwhile, Banias said he has been meeting with the two RPA factions to address their concerns so the peace effort can move ahead and reach a conclusion.*CPG

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