By Simon Luke P. Aquino

Based on the results of the Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey, the United Kingdom (UK) Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that, from January 2009 to October 2009, the population resident in the UK of people born in the Philippines was 112,000*^\1. This number puts the Philippines in number 15 of the ONS “list of 60 most common countries of birth, January 2009 to December 2009”, somewhere in the vicinity of Australia (number 14 with 122,000) and Italy (number 16 with 108,000). Residents include only those migrants living in private households that are staying for 12 months or more. Read the rest of this entry »

Environment and Natural Resources Accounting

The pioneering Environment and Natural Resources Accounting system- Cordillera Administrative Region (ENRA-CAR) initiative [1998-2000] has not been officially updated since the publication of its results in early 2001. Among other esoteric reasons, this study was meant to enlighten planners, program managers, policy-makers, decision-makers, etc., on the state, “amount” and value [for some resources] of natural resources in the region and integrate these in their plans, programs, projects, policies, decisions, etc. along appropriate development paths as espoused by various relevant frameworks as Agenda 21, MDGs, Kyoto Protocol, MTPDP, CAR-RDP, etc., etc., etc. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Statistical Coordination Board-Cordillera Administrative Region released in April 2008 its update on poverty in the Cordilleras. This factsheet shows that poverty in said area worsened by three (3) percentage points from 2003 to 2006. [Read more]

By Simon Luke P. Aquino

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A family of five (5) in the urban areas of Benguet Province in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) including Baguio City needed 7,400 pesos in 2007 in order to meet their basic food and non-food needs. Data from the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) show that the annual per capita poverty threshold 1/ in urban areas of Benguet amounts to P17,687. If we consider a family of five 2/, this results to a monthly family poverty threshold of exactly P7,369.58 or roughly P7,400. Read the rest of this entry »

By Simon Luke P. Aquino

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In 2003, the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources – Cordillera Administrative Region embarked on a master plan for the Lower Agno River Basin (LARB). Part of this Plan involved the determination of the volume of water resources in the area. This could only be done through the implementation of a Water Resource Accounting (WRA) which is possible under the framework of the Environment and Natural Resource Accounting (ENRA) system. Read the rest of this entry »

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Water is mobile and it occurs as both stock and flow. Surface water tends to flow, evaporate, transpire and seep while groundwater exists as stock subject to recharge flows. In some parts of The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), consumers are expending higher amounts on water consumption. For example in Baguio City, water generation and distribution attracted business opportunities due to the lack of a structured water system. Higher water cost can be attributed to expensive water generation and distribution cost which may include water storage and conveyance. Read the rest of this entry »

By Simon Luke P. Aquino

Baguio City is the only purely urban locale (as of the duration of this study) in the Cordillera. Though quite prosperous due in part perhaps to its urban setting, some poverty do lurk in the area. The City Government of Baguio, through the City social welfare office and the City planning office, sought to address such poverty by embarking on a poverty reduction action plan. However, said plan needs baseline information on the poverty situation of the City. The poverty mapping effort of the National Statistical Coordination Board provided exactly just that – a baseline poverty scenario. Read the rest of this entry »