Philippines is a Third World country; some call it an

underdeveloped country but actually it has development problems.

As in other Third World countries, one major problem of the

Philippines is poverty. This evidenced by the stark reality that

people are not able to provide even their basic necessities like

food, shelter, clothing, health and education. Poverty has a

cluster of effects. If one is poor, he may easily suffer from

diseases, malnutrition, famine, etc.

One of the poorest provinces in the Philippines is Northern

Samar. The economy appears to be growing and therefore can be

said that it is developing. However, unemployment is still high;

together with the high rate of school drop outs, out-of-school

youth – the uneducated percentage of the whole provincial

population is still high. In the province’s center of trade and

commerce and capital town of Catarman many residents especially

those in depressed poblacion barangays are either school drop

outs or are not schooling at all. There are still plenty of

street children which the government does not take care of. These

street children emerged because of poverty; and this is another

cluster effect of poverty. There are also a lot of beggars and

mentally impaired people roaming in Catarman. This only shows

that poverty is still evident here. A lot of gangs can be seen

especially in Barangay Yakal and Barangay Kalachuci. These

barangays are in the poblacion of Catarman. The gangs bully

around especially at night time. They are involved in petty

thefts. The supply of electricity in Catarman is inefficient and

insufficient thus residents experience intermittent brownouts

anytime and especially on weekends. There are a lot of signs and

symptoms of poverty. It is a very huge problem of the problem, a

problem that is very difficult to solve. A lot of help from

government, and socially responsible people and organizations

will be needed.

We are talking about poverty here. So, have you ever heard

of “The Vicious Cycle of Poverty”? What does it mean? The vicious

cycle of poverty are problems that tend to come up with another

problem and that problem gives birth to another problem; it’s

like a cycle - it just goes round and round and never stops. For

instance, poverty, it leads to malnutrition and malnutrition can

lead to death.

The vicious cycle of poverty is characterized in a situation

wherein:

… no sustained economic growth is possible because each

specific advance is rapidly checked by some counter-tendency in

the social system. The most important of such counter tendencies

is excessive population growth. Any significant economic progress

tends to prolong life by reducing famine and pesti-lence. When

death rates decrease more rapidly than birth rates, often,

indeed, while birth rates are increasing then rapid population

growth occurs. In poor countries population growth tend to “lead”

economic growth by setting rates of increase that must be

attained so that the society can stay at its existing levels of

poverty. No surpluses can be generated; hence no “leap forward”

is possible.1

Population growth leads to economic problems like poverty

and it goes on and on. It is like a domino effect.

To discuss more about the vicious cycle of poverty here is a

diagram.

Low Productivity

Lack of technology Not enough food

Low savings Malnutrition

Low-income Poor Education

Unequal wealth distribution High Birth Rate

Underemployment and unemployment

1 Introduction to Development Communication, Ila Virginia Ongkiko and Alexander G. Flor page 14

We can all observe that the problems are all inter-related,

from low productivity it gives birth to other problems and then

it goes back to low productivity. So, it is very difficult to

solve this situation because it is a cycle.

Another cycle which sociologists refer to is the cycle of

deprivation. It is somehow related to the vicious cycle of

poverty.

The cycle of deprivation suggests that poverty is

cumulative, in the sense that one aspect of poverty can lead to

further poverty. This builds up into a vicious circle which the

poor find hard to escape from, and it carries on with their

children. The problem with this explanation is that, while it

explains why poverty continues, it does not explain how poverty

begins in the first place. 2

What can we do about it?

Two communication scientists from Indiana University,

Michael Molenda and Anthony Di Paolo, observed a certain tendency

for problems in communication systems to come in clusters and

recur. They referred to the presence of this type of problems as

a “problematique” situation. Since then, the word “problemtaique”

has come to mean a complex cluster of problems that are so

virulent in nature that they recur every so often.

2 An Introduction to Sociology 2nd Edition, Ken Browne p. 81-82

The vicious cycle of poverty is one example of a

problematique situation; it has a complex cluster of problems.

Thus, it goes on and on. So, how do we solve this?

Molenda and Di Paolo also developed an innovative yet simple

way of solving the problematique by tracing and differentiating

between symptoms which thet called “subordinate influential

factors” and root causes which they referred to as “superordinate

influential factors”. They argued that in any given system,

problems are usually interrelated, one being the cause or effect

of another. Decision makers usually fall into the trap of

mistaking a symptom for the root cause. Hence, any attempt at

remedying the symptom will only succeed temporarily since these

are merely palliatives. Until the root cause is identified and

eradicated, the cluster of problems will always recur. The

important thing is to identify the superordinate influential

factors through a series of interviews. This procedure is known

as the “problematique technique”.3

Molenda and Di Paolo recommend that to end the vicious cycle

of poverty. One must find the root cause and solve it through

that method the problem will be definitely solved. Unlike if you

solve the problem through its symptoms it will only recur.

3 Introduction To Development Communication, Ila Virginia Ongkiko and Alexander G. Flor, p. 16

So how do we do this? How do we find the root cause of a

problem? It is simple. Let us now discuss the problematique map.

How do we come up with a problematique map.

First, identify a problem situation. For purposes of

example, let us pick up a personal, not a societal problem and

assume that our biggest problem is we don’t have enough money.

Now we shall proceed in drafting the problematique map. For a

better understanding I will demonstrate how to make a

problematique map. So, get a piece of paper and write down the

problem at the bottom of the page. Enclose this problem in a box.

The figure would look like this:

Next, ask “Why”? In other words ask yourself, “Why don’t I

have enough cash?” then list down the reasons that directly cause

this situation of not having enough money. Again, for the

I don’t have enough income

purposes of example, let us say that the following reasons

contribute to our cash flow problem:

1. Low income; and

2. High cost of living

In your diagram, link these reasons to the problem situation

with a line and an arrowhead pointing towards the problem to

establish causality. Our diagram would now look like this:

Now, go over these reasons one by one and ask yourself,

“Why?”

1. Why is my income low?

I don’t have enough income

High cost of living

Low returns on investments

Low Salary

Not enough opportunities

2. Why is the cost of living high?

Let us assume that you have two sources of income: your

salary and your investments. Let us assume further that your

salary is small and that the returns on your investment are also

small. Moreover, your salary is pegged to the minimum because of

the lack of advanced degree or you don’t have proper education.

Similarly, the low returns on investments and high cost of living

may be a function of unsound economic policies. In the previous

diagram link these factors to the respective situations to

establish causality.

We may continue this process by again asking “Why?” for each

reason identified until this question can no longer be answered.

The problematique itself, however, shares the boundaries of the

system under study. In other words, the factors identified should

not go beyond the system.

I don’t have enough income

High cost of living

Low returns on investments

Low Salary

Not enough opportunities

Unsound economic policiesLack of advanced degree

Let us assume that such is a case in our example. The lack

of an advanced degree could no longer be attributed to any other

factor and the unsound economic policy goes beyond the system

under study, i.e., our personal circumstances,

So, the problematique map was shown, it is the basic tool

for analysis of the problematique technique. The bold-bordered

box is the condition under study or our personal circumstances.

The boxes with arrows pointing towards them are the subordinate

influential factors or the symptoms of the root causes. The boxes

with no arrows pointing towards them are the superordinate

influential factors or the root causes.

The problematique situation may be described in the

following manner: The root causes of our poor cash flow are the

lack of an advanced degree and the poor economic policy

environment. Symptoms or subordinate influential factors of this

problem situation are: the high cost of living and low income,

which in turn is caused by low salary.

So, to solve our situation we must find a solution to our

lack of advanced degree and unsound economic policies. The

tendency of recurrence is large if we try to solve the problem

through its symptoms. For instance, low returns on investments,

if we think of ways to increase our profit it may work but only

temporarily because the root cause is still there. Hence, we must

go to the root cause of the problem which is unsound economic

policies and solve it there. It’s like if you want to increase

your income you will look for a better job but you can’t find one

because you lack on an advanced degree. So, the better solution

is to finish an advanced degree first before looking for a decent

job that will satisfy your basic necessities.

This is a simple way of solving your problem but we cannot

say that it can totally eradicate poverty. If a person tries to

analyze his or her problems this will be a good way to do it and

they can solve their problems. But I say this is not absolute.

There may be some other factors that may affect your situation.

In conclusion, Catarman needs development. So what is

development? Does it mean that our economic status should rise?

Or many business establishments should emerge and the gross

domestic income should also rise? During the early years of

people, yes, but now that Development Communication (DevCom) is

here, the answer is No. When we say development it must be from

man himself. The development must be seen on the people not with

the economic statistics. If there are no bums on the streets, if

no one is poor, if everyone is happy and satisfied with their

lives, then we can say that this place is already developed. For

instance, in the United States of America, it is a First World

country or a developed country. The people there are socially

responsible unlike people here in the Philippines and Catarman.

They don’t care about our society. Thus, we are still

underdeveloped. Most of the people in America can afford to buy

cars because of their sound economic policies. But here in our

country corruption is rampant, making the poor even poorer.

Development won’t be seen in our economy, or infrastructures and

other factors. Development can be seen in man himself. If we want

change in our country, we must change ourselves first since

development is in man.

Development Journalism

(An Article about Poverty)

Mikhael O. Santos