More than 26 million Filipinos remain poor with almost half, or a little more than 12 million, living in extreme poverty and lacking the means to feed themselves, according to official government statistics for the first semester of 2015. The figures, however, reflect slight improvements from the same period in 2012, two years after President Benigno Aquino III assumed power, as well as in 2009 and 2006, under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presidency. “The statistics are actually good. Yes, we can be happy about it,” said Rosemarie Edillon, acting deputy director of the National Economic and Development Authority. She said it was a sign that economic growth was trickling down to lower-income families, helping bridge the wealth disparities between the rich and the poor. The economy has been growing at an average of 6 percent under the Aquino administration. “We have attributed this first to fast-rising incomes,” Edillon said. “The incomes of the bottom 30 percent have actually improved the fastest. That means that inequality is actually being reduced as well.” More here:- http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/775062/12m-filipinos-living-in-extreme-poverty
