Economics and Poverty    The above figures have a bearing on the economy of the Philippines, particularly on the distribution  of resources, i.e., household and sectoral access to basic living commodities and health services. The  previous government has made strides in improving the macroeconomic standing of the country,  6 including a slow but steady decrease the poverty incidence, which provded momentum for the  7 Duterte admistration. However, whether this can be sustained remains to be seen.      Based on the latest Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) poverty incidence was down  from 27.90 percent in the first quarter of 2012 to 26.30 percent in the same period of 2015. Also in  2015, income poverty stood at 12.10 percent, which means that slightly more than one out of 10  Filipinos do not have incomes enough to meet even the basic food requirements. This group is  considered to be living in extreme or subsistence poverty. Still, this figure is lower than the 13.40  percent posted in 2012.      However, this is not enough. The so-called successes of the government to curb poverty, particularly  income poverty, have been criticized by basic sectors as dismal, even misleading. That is, the  decrease in the number of poor households over the years was a result of recalculation of poverty  thresholds, rather than concrete and sustainable changes in the living conditions of the people. The  poverty threshold was pegged by the government at PhP 18,935 per year. This amount translates to  only Php 1,578 per month or PhP 57.60 per day – an amount which grossly underestimates what is a  8 sufficient and decent life entails for a Filipino family of five. Although it was clarified that the  amount only referred to minimum food expense, it is still inadequate both in terms of the quality  9 and quantity of food it can afford. As IBON observed in 2012:      Even then, estimating poverty was based on a basket of goods that were assumed to satisfy decent  living as the basket included many fruits, vegetables and fresh fish. But eventually, fresh fish has been  replaced with the much cheaper salted fish group. Ten fruits have been removed through the years,  leaving only lakatan, latundan, saba, orange and papaya in the food basket. Baguio beans, carrots,  sitsaro, green native papaya and cucumber also no longer belong to the food basket.     The newest menu has removed children’s milk for breakfast, and any extra separate viand of fish or  meat and fruit dessert beyond once a day. It recommends coffee and cream, scrambled egg and boiled  rice in the morning; boiled monggo with malunggay leaves and dilis, boiled rice and banana latundan  for lunch; fried fish, boiled kangkong and boiled rice for dinner and pandesal for snack.    Related to this, the food and nutrition situation in the Philippines was categorized as “serious” by  the 2017 Global Hunger Index. The index was based on four components: undernourishment, child  6 Balisacan, A. M. (2014, 20 August). The Philippines: Human Development Index Ranking and Progress in Achieving  the Millenium Development Goals.  7 See for instance, Punongbayan, J.C. (2017, 15 July) “The PH economy under Duterte’s watch (Year 1)”. ​Rappler.​   Retrieved from ​https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/175597-ph-economy-under-duterte-year-1   8 Diokno, B. E. (2015, 10 March). Philippines will miss goal of halving poverty incidence this year. ​Business World​ .  9 IBON (2012, 31 July). Latest poverty measure: Excluding the poor from the poverty count. Retrieved from  http://www.ibon.org_features.php?id=250   5 RH Situationer: Phlippines (November 2017)