Severe Rich-Poor Income Gap a Challenge for Philippine President Aquino's Gov't - Research Group

In a recent study conducted by research group IBON Foundation, it states one of the pressing issues that the Aquino administration faces now is the widening rich-poor gap in the Philippines.

In the 2006 government data the income gap shows that the share of the top 10% families in the income pie was even higher at 36% than the 35% share of the bottom 70% families.The Forbes Asia list in 2010 reports that the net worth of just the 20 richest Filipinos– including Lucio Tan, Enrique Razon, Jr., Eduardo Cojuangco, Enrique Aboitiz and others– reached $20.4 billion, which is likely equivalent to the combined income of around 12 million Filipino families.

The rich have gotten richer in recent years, the research group said. For instance, Enrique Razon Jr., a known close ally of former Pres. Gloria Arroyo, is worth $975 million in 2010 from $285 million in 2009, highlighting his rapid accumulation of wealth in the past years. The net income of the Top 1,000 corporations in the country rose from P116.4 billion in 2001 to average P416.7 billion annually in the period 2002-2008. On the other hand, workers have seen the smallest increase in their real wages; the minimum wage in NCR increased just P5 in real terms over the almost decade-long Arroyo term.

According to the research group, the past administration’s failed economic policies have caused the country’s broad income inequalities and poverty to grow even wider. The Aquino government is therefore urged to take steps to reverse these policies and arrest the unparalleled decline in the people's welfare and escalation of widespread poverty in the country.