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1 CONCEPCION, ILOILO
Zero Poverty by 2020
Zero Poverty 2020
IN 2002 a province-wide mapping by the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) ranked Concepcion as Iloilo’s
poorest municipality. Of its 5,598 households, 87% were at varying
degrees below the poverty threshold.
Severe Deprivation
Concepcion is a fourth-class municipality. It comprises 16 islands and
25 barangays. Fishing is naturally the main livelihood. Yet, even the
resource had been diminished by overfishing as a result of destructive
fishing methods. Average catch had decreased from 10 kg a day in
1995 to as low as 0.2 kg a day in 2002. There were few economic
opportunities in the islands.
While the local economy declined consistently, the population
continued to rise from 30,111 in 1995 to 34,240 in 2002, an increase of
almost 14% or an annual average rate of 2.8%—higher than the national
average of 2.3%. Among elementary pupils, the dropout rate over the
same period was 5% and only 50% of the rest advanced to secondary
education.
Quality of life was characterized by severe deprivation—lack of
decent shelter and lack of access to basic services such as potable
water. Water-borne diseases alone affected 8.28% of the population in
1996. During outbreaks of illnesses, most households left everything to
fate since they could not afford medication.
The municipality’s geographic character prevented government
programs and services from efficiently reaching the intended
beneficiaries.
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