Soc170-Ten Major Social Problems

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April Jane C. Lakilak SOC 170 Social Problem

November 29, 2011

Ten Major Social Problems that Affect the Country (Ranked: 1-highest; 10-lowest)

1.

Lack of proper and quality education Education is not just the information gathered throughout the years in school, but as Albert Einstein puts it, Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school . This is further exemplified by Dean William R. Inge by saying that The aim of education is the knowledge not of fact, but of values . Years of formal education should be given importance and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) knows this as it prescribed a minimum standard for education spending of six (6) percent of a country s GDP (gross domestic product). On this basis, the education budget of the Philippines in the year 2009 should have been an estimated 463 billion pesos (6% of 7.72 trillion pesos; 2008 GDP of Philippines according to the International Monetary Fund ); however, the DepEd share of budget on 2009 was only 165.9 billion pesos which is only 2.36% of the country s GDP (E-Net Philippines,2008). These facts show that education in the Philippines is underinvested. The government even admitted in its latest progress report of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that the education target of universal access to elementary education by 2015 is in great risk of not being achieved. It was stated in the report that targets on education and maternal health have the lowest chances of success. Researchers have shown that the average years of education of people aged 15 and above increased from 4.4 years in 1960 to 8 years in 2000. However, as E-net presented in their Proposal for a Basic Education Budget for FY2012, nationwide achievement test results are generally low. The 2008 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) results showed that about 20 percent among Filipinos who completed elementary education were not functionally literate. This means that while the average years of schooling of Filipinos increased, there have been little if any improvements in their literacy. The 2008 FLEMMS results also indicated that out of every five Filipinos who have had some high school education, only three are fully literate (able to understand a simple paragraph made up of three sentences). Even among the young people aged 10-24 years old who are still attending school, only 63.5% among those who have completed Grades 5 & 6 can be considered fully literate . Likewise, of all the high school students in the country, only 71.8% are fully literate. This shows that the educational situation today does not show improvement from the situation five years ago when the previous FLEMMS was conducted. Another issue in education is the increasing number of out-of-school youths. The 2008 FLEMMS survey found out that an estimated 1,057,444 among children 6-11 years old are not attending school. Another 1,224,308 among 12-15 years old are out-of-school. Among 16-19 years old, some

2,076,197 have not completed basic education and are no longer in school. That sums up to 4,357,949 out-of-school Filipino youths. These estimates are triangulated by the same estimates made earlier by E-Net and UNESCO (2009) in determining the number of out-of-school youths. The results of the 2008 FLEMMS clearly present in quantitative form that lack of access to basic education remains a serious problem in the Philippines. Every year, millions of children and youth are out of school and hundreds of thousands more are dropping out of the school system. The present condition of education in the present time is not considerably different from five years ago. According to E-net Philippines, poverty, poor motivation, the weak holding capacity of the school system, early marriage and health issues are some of the major barriers to education affecting especially the disadvantaged groups . These problems affect education and lack of education affects them as well. Functional illiteracy (the lack of ability to read, write, and calculate for one s own development and that of his community) results to unemployment, and, thus, poverty. Despite the millions out-of-school youth, small funding is still allocated to programs for helping illiterates and out of school youth. As E-net puts it, While about 20 percent of school-age children and youth are out of the school system, a measly budget of less than 1 percent of the DepEd budget is allocated to reach the out-ofschool .

2.

Overpopulation According to the 2011 census by the US Census Bureau, as of July 2011, there are estimated 101,833,938 Filipinos in the Philippines. This makes us the 12th most populated country in the world. Over the span of 10 years, the Philippine population grew by 23 million, but with declining population growth rate. For an instance, according to International Monetary Fund, the population growth rate on the year 2001 was 2.11%, dwindling down to 1.94 % last year. This year s population growth rate of 1.903% is even lower. Despite the decline in population growth rate, the increase in population is still undeniable. Last year s population of 94 million people increased by almost 7 million this year. This is in line with the global projection by the United Nations that almost all of the future population growth will occur in the developing countries, where today's 5.3 billion population is expected to increase to 7.8 billion in 2050. By contrast, the population of the more developed regions will remain mostly unchanged, at 1.2 billion. According to this same projection, the Philippine population is predicted to reach 141 million people by 20150. There are arguments that challenge the notion that overpopulation poses a threat to human survival. Some say that as population increases, technology will be able to come up with solutions for resource shortages. But the authors of the Misleading Math about the Earth published in the Scientific American on 2002 countered this by saying that this will be at a high cost to the Earth: "the

technological optimists are probably correct in claiming that overall world food production can be increased substantially over the next few decades... [however] the environmental cost of what Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich describe as 'turning the Earth into a giant human feedlot' could be severe. A large expansion of agriculture to provide growing populations with improved diets is likely to lead to further deforestation, loss of species, soil erosion, and pollution from pesticides and fertilizer runoff as farming intensifies and new land is brought into production." Another study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called the Global Environment Outlook which involved 1,400 scientists and took five years to prepare comes to similar conclusions. According to this study, human consumption had far outstripped available resources. Each person on Earth now requires a third more land to supply his or her needs than the planet can supply." These claims are reflective to the current state of environment in the Philippines. According to the CIA World Factbook, in the Philippines, the major environmental issues include uncontrolled deforestation especially in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in major urban centers; coral reef degradation; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps that are important fish breeding grounds . These environmental issues pose threats to human lives. For example, just last 2009 there were huge landslides in Benguet and Mountain Province along the Cordillera mountain range that killed 160 people. The magnitude of landslides could have been reduced if there were many huge trees to hold the soil. Another point to look at is the fertility rate of Filipino women. As of this year, according to CIA World Factbook, the total fertility rate of Filipino women is 3.19 children. This source says that rates above two children indicate populations growing in size and whose median age is declining. Higher rates may also indicate difficulties for families, in some situations, to feed and educate their children and for women to enter the labor force . In summary, overpopulation may lead to environmental degradation, resource shortages, difficulty in feeding and educating young ones, and difficulty for women to acquire jobs. These are serious problems in our country and Filipinos should look into the problem of overpopulation more critically. As David Pimentel, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, puts it, "With the imbalance growing between population numbers and vital life sustaining resources, humans must actively conserve cropland, freshwater, energy, and biological resources. There is a need to develop renewable energy resources. Humans everywhere must understand that rapid population growth damages the Earth's resources and diminishes human well-being .

3.

Unemployment The National Statistics Office reported that as of July 2011, the unemployment rate in Philippines is at 7.1 percent. Making that consistent with the data of the total population as of July 2011, there are 7,230,209 Filipinos unemployed Filipinos. NSO defines the unemployed as those who

are simultaneously without work, looking for work, and immediately available for work. The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed individuals compared to the total individuals currently in the work force. By looking at progressive charts of the Philippines unemployment rate from the year 1985 up to the present, it is evident that the unemployment rate has been going down. Despite this fact, 7 million unemployed Filipinos is still a big number. And of all the countries in Southeast Asia, Philippines has the highest unemployment rate. Out of 165 countries in the world, Philippines is ranked as the 104th country with highest unemployment rate (CIA World Factbook). Why do Filipinos remain unemployed? On the year 2009, the global economic crisis had stricken Japan, the United States and Western Europe which are large markets for Philippine export goods, services and migrant workers. As these markets weakened, so did the demand for Philippine labor. Rene Cristobal, vice president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Inc. (ECOP), said "When there's no demand for your products, how can you continue to hire people to make your products?" Cristobal said several of ECOP's member-companies had to lay off workers as they either close shops or reduce their output. Economic analysts said those in the export-oriented industries such as electronics and textile manufacturing are the most vulnerable workers in the recession. Indeed, in the year 2009, several companies reported either laying off workers or cutting working hours as the crisis reduced demand for Philippine exports. In Luzon, northern Philippines, Intel Corp., the first US semiconductor firm that established a facility in the Philippines, shut down its factory and retrenched 1,800 workers. In Cebu, southern Philippines, furniture maker and exporter Giardini del Sole Inc. had temporarily shut down and laid off about 250 workers as a result of the financial crisis. The Philippine Labor Department (PLD) reported that 40,000 workers were retrenched, 33,000 workers are experiencing shorter working hours while over 5,400 overseas Filipino workers were displaced because of the crisis on year 2009 alone (Philstar:The Filipino Global Community). For this year's unemployment status, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that large increases in unemployment rates occurred in Region III (1.3 percentage points), Region X (1.2 percentage points) and Region IV-A (1.0 percentage point). For the first half of 2011, the DOLE Regional Offices reported the displacement of 14,598 workers from 968 establishments that permanently stopped operations due to economic troubles. More than half (51.2% or 496) of these establishments were closed because of reorganization/downsizing/redundancy. Majority (75.3% or 729) of them belonged in the service sector. Why do many Filipinos remain unemployed despite the efforts of the government and other organizations?

First reason is the previously pointed issue of global economic recession. This turmoil caused several companies to shut down, in turn causing the displacement of thousands of Filipino workers. Second, as Dennis Posadas, deputy executive director of the Philippine Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering, said, very few are qualified to take the jobs in information technology sector. This is because many are not adequately trained for these jobs ( Philstar:The Filipino Global Community). Why is Unemployment High in the Philippines? is a study conducted by Ray Brooks and published as an International Monetary Fund working paper on 2002. As this research study found, employment growth was not sufficient to reduce unemployment because of rapid population growth and increased labor force participation. Labor force participation is the percentage of working-age persons, which is usually ages of 16-64, in an economy who are either employed or unemployed but looking for a job. The main findings of this study were Philippine employment growth and unemployment declines were positively correlated with real GDP growth and, to a lesser extent, negatively with the real minimum wage. This means that as the Philippine real GDP growth increases, the employment growth increases and unemployment decreases. This implies that the decrease in unemployment rate depends not on the employment growth but on the real GDP growth. Also, as the real minimum wage increases, the employment growth decreases and unemployment rate increases. The key policy implications of these results are that higher economic growth and moderation of increases in the real minimum wage are required to reduce unemployment .

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Extreme hunger and poverty Malnutrition and other health problems Insufficient government systems and procedures (bureaucracy; red tape) Corruption among government officials Environmental degradation; biodiversity loss Crime and violence Urbanization

References: Brooks, Ray. Why is Unemployment High in the Philippines? International Monetary Fund, 2002. Retrieved from www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2002/wp0223.pdf on November 29, 2011. Central Intelligence Agency: The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html on November 28, 2011. Central Intelligence Agency: The World Factbook. Total fertility rate. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2127.html on November 28, 2011. Department of Labor and Employment. Current Labor Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bles.dole.gov.ph/PUBLICATIONS/Current%20Labor%20Statistics/HTML/data%20hig hlights.html on November 29, 2011. E-Net Philippines. Retrieved from http://enetphil.org/main/images/stories/research_materials/abp2012/abi_enet_alternative_budget_pr oposal.pdf on November 26, 2011. Functional illiteracy. Retrieved from http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=1279 on November 26, 2011. Global Environment Outlook: GEO environment for development. Retrieved from http://www.unep.org/geo/GEO4/report/GEO-4_Report_Full_en.pdf on November 28, 2011. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved from
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=61&pr.y=10&sy=1980& ey=2015&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=566&s=NGDP_R%2CNGDP_RPCH%2CNGDP%2CNG DPD%2CNGDP_D%2CNGDPRPC%2CNGDPPC%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CPPPSH%2CPPPEX%2 CPCPI%2CPCPIPCH%2CPCPIE%2CPCPIEPCH%2CLP%2CBCA%2CBCA_NGDPD&grp=0&a= on November 26,

2011. International Monetary Fund. Index Mundi: Philippines population. Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/philippines/population.html on November 28, 2011. National Economic and Development Authority. Retrieved from http://www.neda.gov.ph/econreports_dbs/MDGs/4thProgress2010/MDG%20National%20Repor t%202010.pdf on November 26, 2011. National Statisitcs Office. Philippines Unemployment Rate. Retrieved from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/philippines/unemployment-rate on November 29, 2011.

Philippines tackles high unemployment rate amid economic crisis. Philstar: The Filipino Global Community. 2009. Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=444878 on November 29, 2011. Pimentel, David and Marcia Pimentel. Global environmental resources versus world population growth. Science Direct. Retrieved from upi-yptk.ac.id/Ekonomi/Pimentel_Global.pdf on November 28, 2011. Scientific American: Misleading Math about the Earth. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=misleading-math-about-the on November 28, 2011. United Nations: World Population Prospects The 2004 Revision. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WPP2004/2004Highlights_finalrevised.pdf on November 28, 2011.

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