GUADES, JOCHRIS DANIEL Z.

4POL1 SEMINAR
ASSESMENT PAPER

POVERTY PORN
Poverty has been a common concern for discussion in the Philippines by different

sectors of the society. Different government agencies and non-governmental

organizations are focusing in reducing the poverty rate in the country. A tool or a medium

that are constantly being used to promote the advocacies in poverty reduction is “Poverty

Porn”. The poverty porn are being used by the different sectors of the society in order to

raise awareness to the public regarding the continuous increasing of poverty rate in the

Philippines. However, the poverty porn are being abused by different sectors for their

personal interests.

The students of Political Science in the University of Sto. Tomas conducted a

seminar about Poverty Porn. The seminar discussed the different faces of the Poverty

Porn used by the different sector and organization in the society. The seminar gave a

background regarding on how the poverty porn and poverty itself was used in the

Philippines. A portion of the seminar discussed on how the poverty in the country are

being used by the government to acquire donations and help from other states. The poor

are being exploited to generate sympathy from other state and other sector to acquire

help and donations. Since the Marcos era, the poverty in the country are not properly

addressed rather the government are focused on giving remedial solutions for the poor.

The programs, policies and laws in the country are not directly addressing the increasing

poverty rate in the country.

 The other subject matter that was discussed is on how does the media sector are

using poverty porn in their respective field. It was discussed that the media sector in the

country has been exaggerating the face of poverty. The poverty in our country are

continuously highlighted in an overstated way for the reason that it is the mass prefer to

subscribe. It was also undertaken in the seminar that poverty porn works for the media

for the reason that it gains public sympathy. Media men are mind setting the public that

there are many poor and struggling families in the country in order to acquire sympathy

in order for the public to clamor for government actions and for the public to contribute in

eradicating the poverty in the country.

The important issue in the seminar, however, was on how poverty porn are being

used as a political strategy by different politicians. Poverty are kept on being used by the

politicians especially during campaign periods to gain votes from the citizens. Poverty

porn are being used by these politicians as a way to show how they sympathize and

understand the situation of the unprivileged members of the country. These tactics using

poverty porn are kept on being used by these politicians even though it wasn’t completely

true and even though it was manipulated for their personal gains poverty porn. During the

2010 Presidential elections, candidates such a Manny Villar and Joseph Estrada used

these kinds of strategy and tactics in their campaigns.

The seminar “Poverty Porn” gave a different perspective regarding poverty to the

participants. The students who participated gained a different outlook on how the poverty

was really shown in our country. The real face of poverty in our country that was implanted

to the students mind by the government, media and other sectors was changed because

of the seminar. It could help the students to realize what really is need to be done in order
to eradicate the poverty rate in the country. The other participants such as professors and

student leader acquired the proper knowledge regarding the use of poverty porn in the

country. The seminar will serve as a starting point to propagate the knowledge to other

students regarding poverty in the country. The seminar had been beneficial to every

participants to explain the real purpose of poverty porn and to enlighten the real face of

poverty in the country.

The seminar “Poverty Porn” is one of the seminars that the youth should

participate. Since the youth belongs to a generation that are greatly influenced by media

and other social media networks, it is essential that the youth specifically the students to

know the reality regarding the poverty in the world and on how it was being portrayed by

the media and the government. The seminar will enlighten the youth regarding poverty

and will help them to be truly aware on how poverty is affecting the lives of different

individuals in the country. The seminar will instill a realization to the youth and will serve

as a driving force for them to be a catalyst of change towards poverty.

Poverty is such common problem that every citizen have already knew it, what’s

needed to be done is for the government leaders and media to show the strategies, plans,

projects on how citizens can help for the betterment of the problem in poverty; showing

of how the lives and how the people in poverty line survives their everyday life must stop,

pitying must put to end and how to help them must be the priority of every citizen and

institutions. The wrong understanding concerning poverty, caused mainly by the media,

should be transformed into a meaning that will lead everyone in action to eradicate

extreme poverty in the country. Poverty porn is a very essential tool to eradicate poverty

however it will be continuously abused by different sectors for their own benefit. Poverty
porn is not enough to eradicate poverty. Broadcasting poor people in televisions, gaining

sympathy, acquiring donations will never be enough to completely eradicate poverty in

the country. Every citizen must act and continue to be aware regarding the truth about

the poverty in the country in order to have a better and efficient solutions.

EDUCATION AS A PRIVELEGE

Access to education has been one of the main agendas of the current and previous

administrations in the country. (Presidential Communications Development and Strategic

Planning Office ,2011) Education is considered as one of the basic needs and rights of

every citizens in the country. However, the current trend in the Philippines had affected

the access to the education by the unprivileged members of the society. The trend was

recognized as the commercialization of the education system in the Philippines. These

trend was applicable to the higher education or the tertiary level of education of the

Philippines. As stated in the Article XIV Section 1 of the 1986 Constitution of the

Philippines, “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality

education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education

accessible to all”. (De Leon, 2011) It means that the government should support the

education of every citizen from basic education to tertiary education. However, the

education system in the country, especially the tertiary education, are considered that it

is for the privileged members of the society only.

The students of University of Sto. Tomas, who expertise in the field Political

Science organized a seminar regarding higher education as a privilege. The seminar was

attended by different speakers that discussed the implications and factors on how does

the education system are constantly being commercialized.

 The seminar discussed the recent trends that constantly contributes to the notion

that education in the Philippines are commercialized. The expenses to enter the

universities and colleges requires an immense amount of money. The tuition fees in the

universities and colleges constantly increases without the consideration of the students’

capabilities to pay. The other option for the students who wants to acquire higher

education is the State University and College (SUC’s). However, the Aquino government

deducted the subsidy to the SUC’s resulting to increase of other payments and decrease

to the performance of these SUC’s.(Presidential Management Staff, 2013) These factors

lead to commercialization of education, somehow, the universities and colleges turn out

to be a business. According to CHED, in every 10 high school graduate only 2 will go to

college. It means that 80% of high school graduates do not make it to

college.(Commission on Higher Education, 2014) This is a proof that higher education in

the country are only for the privileged members of the society and not a right of every

citizens.

The education in the country can be considered as a big market, where everything

has its price. The main concerns of these higher education institutions is to gain profit, for

these institutions, higher education is a business and not a social service. The

government itself is one of the reason why the education system in the country are

constantly being commercialized. Partnership with private sector in running the SUC’s

can be beneficial to the education system in the country, however, rather than being a

help to boost the quality of education for the unprivileged ones it became a hindrance.

The private sector who partnered with the SUC’s gained too much control and turned it

into profit generating institutions.

 The seminar enlightened the students on how the education system in the country

operates. It will be beneficial to the students to realize how privileged they were for the

reason that they were able to study in one of the prestige universities of the Philippine.

The seminar serves as an eye opener not just for the students and also for the other

participants such as professors, and leaders of different organizations that the education

system in our country are not accessible for everyone. The seminar is essential to be

conducted to different universities because it discusses the different concerns of students,

professors and other members of the education sector.

Higher education is one of the needed stepping stone to ensure the success of a

person; it is one of the requirements of the world to be employed for a better future.

Education as considered by many is the greatest social equalizer in the world. An easy

access to education can lead to development of a country. Education is essential to

improve the knowledge of every citizen in order for them to contribute in a much useful

way to the society.

Education and poverty in the country are closely related to each other. Poverty

leads to difficulty to access higher educations. On the other hand, difficulty in acquiring

higher education can lead to increase of poverty rate in the country. The government

must continue to implement policies and programs that will undertake the concerns of the

country regarding education and poverty. The sectors of the society must contribute in

dealing with the problems in poverty and education. The seminars conducted by the

students of Political Science in the University of Sto. Tomas are essential to the society.

It serves as a stepping stone for the students and other participants of the seminar to
contribute and to unite for a common goal. A goal that will benefit every member of the

society and will help for the development of the country.

Works Cited.

Presidential Management Staff. (2013). The 2013 State of the Nation Address Technical

Report.

De Leon, H. S. (2011). Textbook on the Philippine Constitution. Manila: Rex Bookstore.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office. (2011).

From http://www.gov.ph:ttp://www.gov.ph/past-sona-speeches/

Commision on Higher Education. (2014, November 8). Retrieved from

http://www.ched.gov.ph/index.php/research/