ARMM remains Phl’s poorest region

The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is the poorest region in the country, according to the 2015 National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction or Listahanan survey of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

At least 11 percent or 573,446 of the 5.1 million poorest households are in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, which comprise the ARMM, the survey released last week, showed.

Central Visayas – which includes Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor – is second while Northern Mindanao, which includes Lanao del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Bukidnon and Camiguin, is third.

Western Visayas is fourth on the list with 452,436 poorest households, followed by the Bicol region with 369,395; Western Mindanao, 364,723, and Central Mindanao, 358,132.

Eastern Visayas, which overtook the ARMM as the poorest region in 2014 due to natural calamities, includ- ing Super Typhoon Yolanda, is eighth in the latest survey with 330,945 poorest families. The provinces of Biliran, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Samar, Eastern Samar and Northern Samar comprise the region.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the billions of pesos in recovery and rehabilitation funds poured into Eastern Visayas lifted the region from the poverty threshold set by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

“Just for shelter assistance, the DSWD released P8 billion from June to September last year. It does not include the cash-for-work and other livelihood programs… from other departments and agencies and international organizations,” Soliman said.

She said the Listahanan data was based on a comprehensive, objective and transparent house-to-house assessment.

“Aside from the demographics of the population… information such as access to safe water and electricity, quality of housing materials, tenure status of the family’s house and lot and their occupation are available upon request,” she said.