ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various forces which impacts upon the constructions of poverty in the Philippines. In practical terms why are the poor in the Philippines poor? What realities have caused and entrenched their position? How do various international and domestic forces interact to cause inequality and impoverishment? The chapter also examines to what extent devolved governmental administration operates effectively. It explains the limitations of quantification to illustrate why defining poverty is a problematic and often subjective process, especially when wealth of community or support networks are taken into consideration, as well as financial status. The chapter identifies issue, that the state and civil society, and various groups within civil society may have conflicting economic priorities, which necessarily impact on the way that poverty is addressed. In the Philippines different agricultural commodity types have discrete historical and economic patterns of production and exchange.
