In the middle of June 1991, Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines, was rocked by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo.
After 500 years of lying dormant, this sleeping giant began to show signs of stirring in April of that year, as it sent out large puffs of steam. Until a few years previously, nobody had even suspected it was still active. So when it finally – and spectacularly – erupted in 1991 it took everyone by surprise. Although earthquake monitoring in the region had, thankfully, alerted scientists to the possibility of volcanic activity.
The blast itself was recorded as the second largest of the 20th century, second only to the Novarupta in Alaska in 1912, ten times larger than Mount St Helen’s.
The End Of The World?
Over time, more than a million people had settled on the lush green slopes of Mount Pinatubo, with villages and settlements spread evenly across the area, including Clark Air Base, the largest US base in the Philippines. Once it had been realised that an eruption was imminent, danger zones were designated and those who were within 10 km of the volcano were advised to take action, with nearly 500,000 people evacuated.
Typhoon Yunya – which would have caused enough problems of its own – hit the island at the same time. The two combined events had a devastating effect, not only on the local area, but also around the planet. Those who lived on Luzon would have been forgiven for thinking that their world was coming to an end.
The eruptions started properly in the early hours of June 12, 1991, followed by more massive blasts lasting around thirty minutes that sent columns of ash 19 kilometres into the air. The resulting pyroclastic flow reached as far as four kilometres from the summit.
This, however, was merely an overture to what was to follow.
The next couple of days saw a series of smaller and larger blasts, lasting between three and fifteen minutes, with massive columns of ash attracting huge bolts of lightening due to the immense friction. Seismic activity all pointed towards a devastating crescendo.
At 13:42 local time, an eruption lasting three hours shook the island with multiple earthquakes as the top of Mount Pinatubo collapsed on itself, creating a caldera 2.5 km wide, lowering the summit by around 260 meters. The pyroclastic flow stretched out an extra two kilometres beyond the point it had reached a few days previously.
It was at this point that Typhoon Yunya hit the island, which, combined with the ash clouds, brought complete darkness to the island for about 36 hours. The ash column from Pinatubo at this time had reached as high as 34 km, and it is estimated that the cloud covered an area of about 125,000 square kilometres.
A haunting photo of a vehicle escaping the possibility of engulfment by the ash cloud created by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption.
The Aftermath
In spite of the relatively large island population, as well as the fact that Mount Pinutabo had only recently been discovered to be active, the death toll was surprisingly low. The successful evacuation procedure was undoubtedly responsible for saving thousands of lives.
The official death toll was listed as 847, and the majority of these were victims of the combined force of the typhoon rains mixing with the volcanic ash.
The resulting mixture fell on a wide area, blanketing whole towns and cities. An area of about 7,500 km was completely covered in a layer at least 1 cm thick. Up to 9 km away, houses were coated in a concrete-like mix of rain and ash. Houses unfortunate enough to have a long roof span were unable to take the weight. Victims of the collapsing roofs made up a significant proportion of the death toll.
Aside from the deadly pyroclastic flow that swept down the slopes at great speed, another type of event caused further damage to the local area.
Lahars are huge, fast-flowing walls of mud and debris that can cause massive amounts of destruction, choking river valleys and destroying infrastructure. The 1991 eruptions at Pinutabo deposited approximately 5 cubic kilometres of rock fragments and ash on the slopes. During the next four rainy seasons following the 1991 eruption, lahars became a real problem, causing widespread damage. The problem had been worsened by the fact that the slopes were now bare, completely stripped of the vegetation that had been destroyed by the ash and lava.
Reforestation projects were continually hampered by lahars, with over 14,000 hectares of seedlings or newly established forests being swamped by mud and debris.
Ash proved to be a problem, with more than 96,000 hectares of agricultural land severely affected. Around 800,000 head of livestock and poultry was lost, depriving thousands of farmers of their livelihoods. The cost to farming was estimated at the time to be around $52 million, rising to $107 million by the close of 1992.
Agriculture was by no means the only casualty. Infrastructure, communications, power, water, and transport all faced serious problems, with an estimated $142 million worth of damage. Over 8,000 houses were completely destroyed, with another 73,000 sustaining structural damage. Approximately 1.2 million people were made homeless. Bridges and roads were buried or wiped out entirely, and Manilla airport was closed.
At least sixteen aircraft suffered from the effects of ash, with countless others being damaged by sulfur deposits, causing millions of dollars worth of damage.
A DC10 plane fell towards its tail due to the weight of wet volcanic ash on the back of the place. Source – R L Rieger, U.S. Navy, Public Domain.
Global impact of Mount Pinatubo
The effects were not, however, limited to Luzon and the Philipines.
The volcano’s plume reached up into the stratosphere, where it left 15 million tons of sulfur dioxide. The effect of this was twofold, bringing both a drop in average global temperatures of up to 1 degree F (0.6 degrees C) for two years as well as a rise in the stratospheric temperature which may have contributed to severe storm systems over a period of three years.
Rainfall patterns over Asia were disrupted and ozone levels in the southern hemisphere were dramatically decreased It is safe to say that this eruption, though relatively few lives were lost, touched the whole world.
More than a quarter of the entire Philippines population lives in poverty. That’s right, 26.5% of Filipinos lack the income to simply meet their most basic needs.
There are several reasons behind this, such as rapid population growth, inaccessibility to credit, poor social infrastructure, and the stagnation of rural productivity.
Even though the state has made great progress in developing the country, a significant percentage of Filipinos are still struggling with their day to day realities. They often run small informal businesses, selling food and other goods out on the streets. Despite their hardship, they are still rarely acknowledged by the state, but still, work tirelessly to earn a living.
So, let’s now have a look at the main causes of poverty in the Philippines.
Public schools are notoriously inefficient when it comes to educating children. The overcrowded classrooms, coupled with a lack of resources almost guarantees students will not reach their potential.
Education must improve!
Education is often linked to social mobility across generations.
An individuals education allows them to increase their earnings across their lifetime. This then allows them to invest more in their children’s education. In a basic sense, this creates a cycle of upward social mobility.
So how does the Philippines compare to others when it comes to the quality of education?
Well, it’s getting better, but it is still not where it should be. Over the years the Philippines has been rising different ranking systems when it comes to education. Although it still finds itself too close to the bottom, especially when you compare it to the scores of ASEAN nations.
Investing in future generations
When compared to the neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Japan, and Thailand. The Philippines tends to lag behind not just in the quality of education, but also the financial resources injected into the sector.
The Philippine government does make a conscious effort to allocate a high proportion of its budget to education. But what is being allocated still does not measure up to the investments into education made by other ASEAN countries.
The Philippine government instigated the formation of higher education task force to evaluate the performance of college graduates in various professional board examinations. They found that too many graduates were performing poorly and that many universities and colleges in the country lacked legitimacy when it came to their quality of education.
So where are we now?
Well, the Philippines is currently stuck in a system where those who have access to more wealth are able to enrol in the more exclusive schools and receive a quality education. While the others are left behind, especially those needing to enrol in the subpar public schooling system.
Although elementary schooling is mandatory, the task force found that many Filipinos of the relevant age group regularly skip the school program. This is due to lack of schools in their locality, education being offered in non-native languages only or financial difficulties.
(Many Filipinos resort to informal means of employment such as selling goods out on the street. Photo by Romeo Ranoco/Reuters)
Rampant Unemployment
This may not come as a surprise to many readers but, the Philippine labour market is short of well-paying jobs.
Which means for many – even highly qualified – Filipinos, working a low-paying job is the only option. This again hinders their social mobility as their salary is enough to just cover basic needs.
Some household’s incomes are so low that it becomes quite disturbing. Some may make only P50-P100, barely enough to meet their daily needs leaving them with little to save for things such as their children’s education.
There is a need for the government to make growth more comprehensive. To make it easy for Filipinos to attain higher and stable income via productive employment.
Off late, the Philippine government has instigated several measures to combat poverty in the country, such as the extension of monthly cash grants to families living in absolute poverty. This has significantly reduced the cases of children dropping out of schools.
Also, these funds have made it possible for parents to access health care services, especially the elderly. It’s now over a decade since the program was launched. Other programs include entrepreneurial income, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), remittance from local and international sources, and more.
For instance, the 4Ps program is estimated to have helped 25% of Filipinos to graduate from dire poverty through its monthly cash grants.
It is not uncommon for Filipino politicians such as Joseph Estrada to engage in unscrupulous activities. Exploiting the country for their own financial gain.
Rampant Corruption
Corruption in the Philippines is pervasive. Filipinos know it’s there, and they are tired of it.
The government is often being tainted by corrupt individuals whose objective is to enrich themselves, their families, and close allies during their tenure.
They endeavour to have their close allies succeed them in their respective positions during elections, as this will impede them from facing corruption charges.
This is a situation Filipinos have seen manifest itself ad nauseam, within all levels of government. Corruption on a local level is as widespread as corruption on a national level.
An example of this is seen with government tenders. They are often awarded illegally without following the set legal procedures. To stand a chance to win a tender, you have to bribe the government officials; otherwise, the tender will be awarded to someone else. This comes into the public domain when various bidders went to the media houses and claimed that there were lots of anomalies involved in awarding government tenders.
Since the tenders are not awarded on merits, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Misappropriation of funds has denied Filipinos access to quality education, appropriate infrastructure, among other poverty problems.
Manila is one of the world’s most densely populated cities with a population density of 42,857 people per square kilometre or 111,002 people per square mile.
The problem of overpopulation
The rapid growth of the population in the Philippines coupled with a less than robust economy is a prime breeding ground for poverty.
Many Filipinos flock to urban centres like Manila, hoping to find opportunities to improve their situations. But the majority walk into a city with an oversupplied labour force and very unaffordable housing in comparison to the provinces.
Many make the journey to cities like Manila, hoping to enjoy better living conditions – this dream is often shortlived.
The local governments often struggle to provide even the most basic levels of health care, schooling, water/power supplies, and sanitization. These public services are just not enough to meet the growing demand in areas suffering from overpopulation.
Lack of planning, and providing opportunities in rural areas have contributed to this issue. If opportunities for meaningful employment were available outside of urban centres, there would be no need to make the pilgrimage to the countries more prominent cities.
Religion is one of the major reasons why the poorest families have more children than they can manage. As the Philippines is a majority Catholic country, many of the members are inclined to refuse to use contraception.
This means many Filipino families become larger than what the income of the family can effectively handle. Though steps are being taken to educate and assist families in planning for the future.
Inequality in Income Distribution
The Philippines has been labelled a “rising tiger” by some institutions. The country continues to become increasingly prosperous in certain regions, while others seem to have been left behind.
This is because the Philippines has an income distribution issue.
The wealthiest segment of society seems to exclusively benefit from this increased prosperity. This leaves the rest of the population still struggling to even cover the cost of the most basic needs.
Since the 1980s the country has made a noticeable improvement and shown bu the countries growing middle class. But there is yet to be any sort of significant change in the living standards of the majority of Filipino families.
Many politicians prefer to serve the business interests of prominent families, over the people they were elected to serve. This creates a cycle of well-connected families and politicians mutually benefitting each other.
The politicians maintain their power while those prom intent families grow their wealth through the hoarding of government contracts. Leaving what’s left to trickle down to the not so well connected.
A country plagued by natural calamities
Natural disasters are so frequent it has almost become a way of life in the Philippines.
The country is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire. This is a zone circling the Pacific Ocean, known for its frequent and intense volcanic activity as a direct result of plate tectonics.
Due to its position, the Philippines is also subject to frequent earthquakes, strong typhoons, flooding, and tidal waves or storm surges. In recent years the country has been devastated by several of these events.
This includes the landing of the massive typhoon Yolanda. This flattened many cities, and killed countless people during the initial event, and then a storm surges which also cost many people their lives. In recent years there has also been the eruption of the Taal, and Mayon volcanoes which shutdown many cities leaving people homeless for a period of time.
These natural disasters are not taken lightly. They are very hazardous to human life, they often cause millions of dollars in property damage, and are often very difficult to avoid with evacuations.
The Philippine government still has a lot of work to do in creating the proper infrastructure to mitigate the effects of natural disasters leaving larges parts of the population vulnerable.
Floods are still common on city streets. The infrastructure in place in cities like Manila is still not enough to handle the volume of water the typhoons bring each season. This flooding leaves families homeless, struggling to raise funds to build new or repair their homes.
The agricultural sector is also often heavily affected by these events. Strong winds and flooding can easily damage crops, leaving farmers without an income for that season.
Even though most of the Philippians depend heavily on agriculture, these farmers often have very little support, leaving a large number of them living in poverty.
A shortage of affordable housing
Although this is not directly a cause of poverty in the country, it is still a chronic issue faced by many Filipinos.
Limited employment opportunities have left many Filipinos unable to afford proper housing. When there is no affordable housing, often, the only other option is for families to live out on the streets.
Most people in this group survive on an average of $1.25 a day, making it almost impossible to get out of poverty and find cost-effective housing for their families. The high cost of housing leaves them with little money to save and spend on their basic needs. The government has done little to help persons languishing in extreme poverty to get out of it.
This tends to create a cycle of poverty as children prioritise begging on the streets to make money for the family. Meaning a lot of them miss out on receiving an education. This is why the situation needs an intervention to prevent that cycle from repeating itself.
Child Labour
Due to extreme levels of poverty in the Philippines, most parents encourage their children to drop out of school to help them to raise money to cater to their families.
The Philippines is one of the prominent countries in the world plagued by the practice. Children undertaking hazardous, menial work instead of proceeding with their education is the beginning of poverty now and into the future.
The government should adopt measures to curb this behaviour; otherwise, poverty will continue to be a chronic issue within the nation. According to labour relations, only persons aged 18 years and above should be allowed to work in any industry.
Yet, some people still tolerate it. Underage workers are still found working in factories and farms. Some families even have children working as full-time domestic workers in their homes.
Addressing the social issues holding the nation back
There are many reasons why many citizens of the Philippines still seem to be suffering. Although I have summarised some of the major cause, the issue is still very deep and complex.
Regardless of this, we do know all of these issues do need to be addressed. There are many intelligent, sincere individuals and organisations who are willing to help the country to make this progress.
It is not on the citizens to find these organisations and support them however you can, whether it may be voting for pro-active politicians or donating to NGOs who are carrying out effective work in the area.
